Our organized backpacking trip began when we all met at the Cal Adventures office on Centenniel Drive in Strawberry Canyon (above the UC Berkeley campus) at 5pm Friday evening. Danny and I were the first to sign up for this trip, I think, since we paid our fee near the first of June, and had been looking forward to it for some time.
Our first night was spent at a campground just outside the main park, where most of us laid out our sleeping bags on a tarp under the stars.