During the pandemic, we have temporarily ceased our camping and hiking activities. However, we do have stories collected from before the pandemic that we are publishing now. All activities and photos were taken prior to the current health crisis. Campsites and locations mentioned may or may not currently be open, based on current guidelines of local governments. Please check beforehand if you do intend to visit any of these spaces. And as always, stay safe when going outside and maintain proper protocols.
Back in July [of 2019], we were fortunate to spend a weekend with some of our closest friends camping to celebrate my birthday. It was a great excuse to get us all together for some good food and quality time. It was also a great way to share our love of the outdoors with our friends. What could be a better way to celebrate another trip around the sun?
We hosted 20 people for dinner and camping for the weekend. To get started, we prioritized on some key criteria:
- Campsite that could fit 20 people, 10 tents, and 7 cars
- Park that was easy to drive to from across the Bay Area
- Ability to prepare at least 2 meals (dinner and breakfast)
- Ample space for cooking and hanging around the fire
- Able to provide for a good experience to some camping novices
Usually when we camp, we also look into the trails and nearby activities to make sure we get in some fun hikes. However, for this trip we focused on spending time within camp hanging out, talking, and eating. So we didn’t have to consider the terrain and trails.
Read on to hear how we pulled together this special weekend, and hopefully you can get a few ideas for your next dinner party.
The Venue
Amidst all of the chaos of the pandemic, this year also turned out to be a historically difficult fire season across California. This story references a park that may have been impacted by those fires. All photos and stories were collected prior to fire season.
We were fortunate to be able to find a location that met our criteria at Portola Redwood State Park. It is centrally located so easily drivable from all corners of the Bay Area within 1-2 hours. To find our location, we used the handy California State Parks reservation website. There, you can easily search based on geography and availability, as well as see details of campsite sizes, parking, and park amenities to help envision your perfect stay in the woods. Due to the popularity of some parks, reservations book quickly. So plan early (we recommend up to 3-4 months if possible) and check often to see if any openings come up, as last-minute cancellations could happen.
The Menu
Preparing a dinner party for 20 people can already be quite hard. When your kitchen has no electricity or running water, it can make things even harder. Or does it? Actually, we’ve found that when cooking outdoors, given the limited cooking methods, it helps to focus your menu. For example, eggs and ramen always work great for breakfast. Not only are these satisfying morning options, but they also require very simple cooking utensils. A small stove with a pot for boiling water takes care of the ramen, and you can usually repurpose the same pot afterwards for scrambled eggs.
We were fortunate that our campsite came with grills. This helped us quickly finalize our dinner menu around tacos, which are easy to cook in large amounts and can easily accommodate different eating preferences. Plus, having the grill allowed us to easily cook all the necessary ingredients, from heating the tortillas to cooking the protein, all using one heating source and fuel. Given the versatility of a grill, and the range of ingredients we’d like to cook, we brought grill liners, aluminum foil, and even a cast-iron griddle to cook on, making it easier to switch between ingredients without having to clean the grill each time. Plus, it also made for a better surface than just a grill to sauté vegetables or heat tortillas. The cast-iron griddle was especially useful as we also could use that over our firepit once the grill got too crowded.
We also wanted to have some fresh dishes, so anything that didn’t require cooking and was easy to put together on site would be best. For example, prepared salad kits are always a good option. Once again, a menu centered around tacos worked well as guacamole is a good option that required no cooking and is a versatile dish. We even came with a lot of ingredients already prepped to help speed things up. And fresh guacamole can step-up your dinner party no matter if you’re eating it indoors or outdoors.
Here is a sample of our dinner menu:
- Grilled shrimp and fish tacos
- Grilled bulgogi tacos
- Grilled chicken sausages
- Guacamole (freshly made on-site!)
- Chips and Salsa
- Salads
- Grilled corn
- Banana s’mores
And here is our breakfast menu:
- Scrambled eggs with bell peppers, tomatoes and onions (leftover from dinner)
- Ramen
- Instant oatmeal
- Coffee 3 ways — French Press, hand-made espresso, instant
When supplying any large dinner party, Costco never disappoints, even when cooking is done outdoors. We got most of all our ingredients from Costco. For any additional items, some of our friends stopped at H-Mart on their way to camp for pre-marinated meats. The best thing about camping in a park that is centrally located was that it was easy for each of us to stop along the way to get all of our supplies, which helped to ensure freshness for all our ingredients.
Here are some pics of our fabulous feast:
The Equipment
Some of our friends were new to camping, so they didn’t have any gear. So for them and most folks, we always recommend to have at least the following to make your night outdoors pleasant:
- Tent + a tarp or footprint
- A warm enough sleeping bag
- A good sleeping pad (for insulation and padding)
- Headlamp and/or handheld lamp
- A chair for sitting around the fire
For the tent, sleeping bag, and pad, we recommend balancing between the weather and the space you have for transport. For example, for colder nights, it’s best to invest in a thicker sleeping pad if you can fit it. The thicker pad not only provides for a softer night’s sleep, but the insulation should help you stay warm by being farther away from the cold ground. Of course, these usually mean larger and heavier sleeping pads, so if you need to hike miles to get to your campsite, you’ll have to balance that tradeoff.
For this weekend, we picked a site that was easy to drive to and park at, so it was easy for everyone to bring along the best amenities for maximum comfort. In fact, one of our friends brought a tent so large that we could’ve pitched another tent inside of it!
If you don’t have any of these items and are worried about investing in the wrong one or maybe not even wanting to keep them for the long-run, then renting is always a good option. It’s a great way to try out different models before you commit to buying. REI and Sports Basement offer great choices and affordable rates. Plus, their staff are great resources to help you walk through any future buying decisions or answering questions.
The Plan
Finally, when trying to host any camping trip, we always want to make sure we didn’t miss a thing. The worst feeling is when you’re trying to settle into your campsite and then realize that everyone brought stoves but no one remembered to bring any fuel. So we started a spreadsheet to track and coordinate among everyone in the group. Best part is, once you start with one spreadsheet, you can easily copy/paste and adapt it to all your subsequent trips.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed our chronicling of this adventure. We could go on and on with more tips and tricks, but we’ll save that for future stories. Needless to say, we had an amazing time with 20 of our closest family and friends, eating by an open fire and sleeping beneath the stars. It was definitely a birthday one will never forget. We hope you were able to get a glimpse into how we pulled off a very memorable weekend. We also hope to have slightly inspired you to celebrate a special occasion in a bit unconventional way, but one that should definitely make for an extra memorable celebration for you, your friends and family. Leave comments below if you have any questions about anything covered in this story, or with ideas for future ones. We’d love to hear from each of you. Thanks for reading, and now let’s get back outdoors!
WeCampHike 