Hog Wild Camping Trip

(This is a long post, but if you want a good story, take the time to read...)

We went camping at The Pinnacles, near Holister, CA. Upon arrival, the camp rangers made us sign a waiver stating that we would keep all our food in our car due to the gophers and racoons. So, we did, thinking nothing of it, and then set up the campsite.

We made delicious Tin-Foil Dinners, full of yumminess, including some bacon to give it an extra burst of flavor. (Yes we cook it on the camp stove instead of the fire. It is just easier... don't judge...)

The finished product.

Kyle enjoying the finished product, including the bacon. Remember the bacon... it is important...

Our friends made it up to the campsite after we finished dinner. We had a grand time roasting marshmallows...

...and filling up on dutch oven cobbler.

At about 1:30 in the morning, we headed off to bed, first making sure all the food was in the car.

At about 2:00 in the morning, we heard a HUGE crash and then a lot of scruffing and huffing. I woke up in a panic. I had forgotten to throw out our garbage bag. We knew it had to be a raccoon, because afterall, we signed a waiver to keep our food from the raccoons. Then, we heard Brett, our friend yell to us, "Guys, what is that thing? It looks like a small horse." We grabbed our flashlights, unzipped the tent, and shined the lights out on the garbage bag. This is what we saw.

OK, this isn't the actual one that we saw, but it was for sure a WILD BOAR. With Kyle growing up in Idaho, and me growing up in Wyoming, neither one of us had any experience with wild boars. We had no idea what to do. And, to make things worse, we had just finished all the seasons of LOST, in which the wild boars attack the people. So, we imagined the worst, and we didn't have John Locke's hunting knifes to fight back. Our only source of weapon was a pocket knife, which was on the picnic table right by the wild boar. So, we decided to be silent, hoping it wouldn't hear us...

In the meantime, this boar got into EVERYTHING. He ate the entire garbage bag. The garbage bag had all the leftover tinfoil dinner stuff in it, including the bacon. We like to think he was a cannible, eating his own cousin.

He ate EVERYTHING else that was on our table, including our plates/utensils, the table cloth, hot dog roasting sticks, the bottle of PAM left on the table, and a bottle of tums, that we accidentally left out. He even tried to eat the cast iron skillets.

We could hear him puncture the PAM bottle and lick the spray coming out. It was the most disgusting sound I have ever heard. At least he had the TUMS bottle to settle his stomach.

The stupid boar was there for 3 hours. We would try to sleep, but would wake up to his little feet trotting around our tent. Finally, by 5:00 am, he left the site, probably because his large tummy couldn't handle any more plastic or tinfoil.

When we woke up in the morning, this is what we found:

This picture doesn't do it justice, because Brett and Sariah had already cleaned up half or more of the mess.

We cleaned up the mess, made a delicious camping breakfast, played some whiffle ball, and then the boys went on a hike.

It was a very hot day (over 100 degrees) to be hiking without a lot of shade.

It was quite the weekend. But it will always be a good story. Thanks to the Tolley's for camping with us. The Pinnacles are great, just watch out for the wild boars!