Last week I took time off to go camping with my father and my new girl friend and her 11 year old son.

As many of you know the entire state of California has been engulfed in flames for the past few weeks.
Unfortunatly two of the larger fires prevented our group from enjoying any real camping activities.

 The first place we stayed was near the Indian's fire along the 101 freeway. Arroyo Secco was our destination, however when we got there the official campgrounds and the day use area was closed for evacuation. Evidently the Indians Fire was just three ridges south of the area and Fire officials felt it wasn't a good idea to have campers and hikers in the burn zone, we agreed. So we searched a little and found a private campgrounds nearby that was still open and pitched our tents believing we'd found the next best thing to our yearly favorite spot located miles up stream in the Arroyo Secco gorge.

The next day the morning silence was shattered by the sound of a helicopter hovering closely over head. Evidently the fire crews had set up a retardant reloading operation just 1/4 mile from our campsite. Four separate helicopters took turns reloading creating dust and winds all day as we tried to enjoy the large swimming holes of the river. The sky was blocked by dense smoke from the fire and our spirits were starting to fade as we realized camping in the area of operation was not fun at all. After about 24 hours of noise and dust we decided to pack up and head out to the coast. We figured the coastal winds would keep the smoke to a minimum.

Kirk Creek campground is one of my favorites along the Big Sur coast. However due to the Gallery Fire 40 miles north the campgrounds was engulfed in a constant shower of ash. Despite the ash we set up camp hoping things would change. They didn't. We woke to a thick layer of ash covering everything in our camp. It  was time to go. So we left Central California headed for Los Angeles. Our logic was simple: turn our attempt at a fun camping trip into a day at Universal Studios Hollywood. Ironically it was the Backdraft  attraction that we found most interesting.