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Home for the night |
Back in the old days, RICKA held an annual summer camping trip – the Bastille Day Campout. Bastille Day is a national holiday in France that celebrates the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Why Bastille Day was chosen as a theme for a RICKA camping trip has been lost to history. The connection to summer is obvious, and maybe it was a simple as that.
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Campfire Paella for dinner |
Reviving this RICKA tradition seemed like a worthy challenge, so Bill and I posted a trip on the flatwater message board, and we ended up with a group of six. We met at the Bradford Landing at 2:00 to load up our boats and paddle up to the campsites. There was one small complication - a large group celebrating a bachelor party had already set up camp at the Burlingame sites. Rather than intrude or put up with the noise, we decided to check out the bootleg sites along the river.
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The Molson toast around the fire |
We hauled our gear up from the river and set up camp. Once camp was up, Aaron went out for a paddle, and the rest of us took a break to enjoy a few cocktails. Before long it was time to light the fire and cook dinner - campfire paella. After dinner, Dan, Aaron and I took a moonlight paddle up to the Burdickville Dam. Then we settled in around the campfire for the night. After many tall-tales and war-stories we finally turned in at around 10:00.
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Dan cooks breakfast |
After breakfast we packed up camp for the trip back to Bradford. The sky was cloudy, and we even got a few drops of rain. Once there, we packed up the cars and said our goodbyes after another great tip. We will definitely have to put the Bastille Day Campout on the RICKA calendar next year.
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Packed up and ready to go |
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