Big Basin Redwoods State Park

August 5-7, 2007

Description
Big Basin is California's oldest State Park, established in 1902. Home to the largest continuous stand of Ancient Coast Redwoods south of San Francisco, the park consists of Old Growth and recovering Redwood Forest, with mixed conifer, oaks, chaparral, and riparian habitats. Elevations in the park vary from sea level to over 2,000 feet. The climate ranges from foggy and damp near the ocean to sunny, warm ridge tops. (excerpt from the State Parks website).

Location
Big Basin is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains about 23 miles northwest of the city of Santa Cruz. Hwy236 runs through the park and is accessible from Hwy 9.

Activities
Hiking, Camping, Backpacking, Jr. Ranger and Campfire Programs during the summer, Picnicking

Review

If you'd like a Yosemite experience in a little package, this is the State Park for you. A stay at Big Basin Redwoods State Park during the summer should be at least a 3-5 night stay, since there are so many things to do. The park offers more than 80 miles of hiking including the Skyline to the Sea Trail popular with backpackers as well as some pleasant camping.

When you arrive at Big Basin, you actually pass many of the campgrounds before arriving at the Park Headquarters. The HQ looks like a mini-lodge and houses the Campground Check-in and a Visitor Center where you can purchase a State Park Map ($3.00) and Redwood Trail Map ($0.25). The State Park Map is a must for anyone interested in hiking at Big Basin.

The park also has a mini-mart, a gift shop, Nature Lodge that contains a small museum, and a campfire center. Big Basin has the best campfire program we've ever attended. During the summer, campfire programs are scheduled several times a week, unlike the one Saturday night program at most parks. Each program begins with the roasting of marshmallows, followed by campfire songs to get the crowd going. The program for the night changes during the week and focuses on a different aspect of the park. The two nights we attended, we learned about the Marbled Murrelet as well as Migrating Species through little plays and slide show programs. Thank you to Interpretive Specialist Sheila for an excellent campfire experience.

Along with its nighttime campfire program, Big Basin offers a daytime Jr. Ranger program for 7-12 year olds as well as a nature program for 3-6 year olds and their parents. Programs are scheduled several times a week during summer and focus on different wildlife and geological aspects of the park. Big Basin is also a big promoter of the California State Park Litter Getter program. This program encourages children to pick up litter around the park. Kids are given a green plastic bag and plastic glove to pick up trash. Once the bag is full, kids may trade it in at a Camp Host or the Ranger Station in exchange for a special State Park sticker. Collect six bags of trash and you receive six different stickers along with a special park gift (i.e. pencil).

Camping
The only downside to this park is the camping reservation system. Unlike most State Parks, Big Basin does not allow you to reserve a specific campsite. You are able to reserve the type of spot (i.e. walk-in, tent-only, or standard for trailers/RVs) but not the exact location. Your campsite is assigned the day your arrive, so plan to arrive early to get the best picks (Check-in is 2:00pm; Check-out is 12:00pm). Reservations can be made through www.reserveamerica.com

Our campsite #115 was a bit disappointing. It was a tent-only site in the Blooms Creek Campground. Sites 113, 114 and 115 felt like one long continuous campsite. If it weren't for the fact that we had nice neighbors, it could have felt intrusive. Plus our campsite was not level. We had to find a location for our small 3-person tent towards the back of our campground that I'm sure the rangers would have told us was not technically on our site. Plus we still tended to slide around at night due to its incline. But luckily we got over the deficiencies of our campsite and enjoyed our stay immensely.

There are four family campgrounds and two group campgrounds located in the park. All campsites (walk-in, tent-only, RV/standard and tent cabins) have a fire ring, picnic table and wooden storage unit and handicapped sites are available. A dumpstation is located in the Huckleberry Campground.

Mosquitoes were very prevalent in the campground, so bring plenty of repellent.

Blooms Creek Campground is the closest non-group campground to park headquarters. This campground contains 54 campsites with tent-only and a handful of RV/standard sites. Water is available in many spots throughout the campground as well as four restrooms with multiple stalls. Restrooms have flush toilets and sinks but no soap or towels. There are also no mirrors in a few of the restrooms. Hot showers are available for $0.25 for 2 minutes.

Note: For more private bathrooms and showers, visit Jay Camp. These restrooms have individual rooms and showers for the handicapped. They were not visited often because the gate to Jay Camp was locked (not sure how a disabled person would be able access this bathroom facility).

Sempervirens Campground is located just a short walk east of Blooms Creek Campground and is
divided in two areas by Hwy 236. The campground contains 31 campsites with a mix of tent-only and RV/standard sites. Hot showers and handicapped accessible bathrooms are available.

Huckleberry Campground is a campground that answers the call for a variety of campers with its 8 walk-in campsites, 35 tent cabins, and 22 RV/standard sites. Walk-in campsites are sites where you must carry your supplies at least a 1/4 mile from a parking lot. RV/standard sites are supposed to accommodate a trailer as well as a tent, but these sites were a bit small. Although there is space for a 27ft trailer, there did not seem to be a lot of room for extra tents at many of the sites.

Tent cabins are available for those who do not wish to "rough it" in a tent. These cabins are wood buildings with a fabric roof and contain two platform beds, a wood stove and a table inside (A platform bed is a sheet of wood elevated off the ground with a 4-5inch thick sleeping bad on top.). A fire ring and picnic table are located just outside the cabin These cabins are available for reservation through a third-party operator by calling 1-800-874-TENT.

The Huckleberry campground also has hot showers and restrooms with flush toilets and sinks. Water is also available throughout the campground.

Wastahi Walk-in Campground is a walk-in campground with 27 campsites. Campsites are a short walk from a main parking lot meaning you must walk all of your supplies to your campsite. The campsites in this campground seemed a little close together than other walk-ins we've seen. Most seemed very close to the parking lot with only a few sites that were remote.

This campground still has the same amenities of other campgrounds with flush toilets, sinks and hot showers.

Sky Meadow Group Campground is a walk-in group campground with two campgrounds accommodating 40 people each. Sky Meadow is the campground furthest from the Park HQ as well as being very remote from everything else. Water is available but no hot water. There are two restrooms with only a single pit toilet in each and no sinks (there also appeared to be little light available in what I would really call an outhouse). Considering a total of 80 people could be in this campground at one time, you need to know your party well.

Sequoia Group Campground is the only campground we did not visit. This is a group campground that can accommodate 50 people at each of two sites. Sequoia is the more modernized of the two group camps in that it has flush toilets, sinks with hot water and hot showers. This campground is the closest of all campgrounds to Park HQ

Hiking
Hiking is the activity of choice in Big Basin with its 80 miles of hiking trails. There are trails available for every level of fitness. A State Park Map ($3.00) available from the Visitor Center is a must if you intend to hike here. This park map has all of the trails listed as well as trail mileage listing with approximate length of time to finish each hike.

Redwood Trail is the one trail that all visitors to the park should visit. It is located next to the campfire center and across the street from the Park Headquarters. The Redwood Trail is a self-guided nature trail explaining traits of a Redwood Forest. A trail guide is available at Park Headquarters or at the trailhead for $0.25. There are 11 stops along the trail including the Mother of the Forest and Father of the Forest; redwood trees that are believed to be the tallest and oldest of the trees in Big Basin.

The Redwood Trail is an easy 1/2 mile trail that will take approximately 30-45 minutes to finish even with young children. This trail is a great starter trail before accomplishing many of the other trails in Big Basin.

Sequoia and Shadowbrook Trails both lead to Sempervirens Falls, a small 17 ft. waterfall. The Sequoia and Shadowbrook Trails are fairly short trails (about 2-4 miles one way) compared to a lot of the others available at Big Basin. This is a loop that you can accomplish in 2-4hours depending on your fitness level or about 4 hours if you have small kids. These are trails with some inclines but no more than a 200' elevation gain.

The Sequoia Trail begins at Park Headquarters and another trailhead is available near Jay Camp. Most of the trail follows alongside the road to Wastahi, Huckleberry and Sky Meadow campgrounds. So if you're not a hiker, you may drive to the Sempervirens Fall (there is a small 2-3 car parking spot not to far past the Falls and near Slippery Rock, another feature along the trail).

Sequoia Trail also passes the Wastahi Campground, so this makes a great stop for a restroom break.

The Shadowbrook Trail begins on the other side of the road from the Sequoia Trail near Slippery Rock. This Trail goes a little further into the interior of the forest and passes Sky Meadow and Huckleberry Campgrounds. It eventually ends near the Sempervirens Campground.

Keep an eye out for banana slugs on the trail. If you haven't seen a banana slug, it's a sight to see. When we were hiking, I was looking for trash to pick up for the Litter Getter program (you would be surprised how many people throw their trash on the ground while hiking), and I thought I spotted a banana peel. As I got closer, I realized it was a banana slug. The kids will love watching these slow-moving creatures.

Berry Creek Falls Hike is an out and back hike along the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail (popular with backpackers). It is a 10-mile hike that is approximately 5 hours long. But we hear the Falls are worth it. Unfortunately, this was not a hike we could take since we have a young child. It's just too long for a 5-year-old and the hike is listed as strenuous on the Big Basin website.

Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail is a backpackers dream. This trail begins in Castle Rock State Park and continues for 38 miles through Big Basin to Waddell Creek Beach at the Pacific Ocean.

There are many other trails throughout Big Basin that are listed in the State Park Map. It is definitely a park to visit often if living close by or to camp for at least a week to get your fill.

Prepackaged Backpacker Food Review
Backpacker Pantry Kung Pao Chicken (4 out 5 stars) Serves 2
Between Backpacker Pantry and Mountain House, I think I prefer Backpacker Pantry products. The flavors of their entrees as well as the consistency are better. This time we tried the Kung Pao Chicken entree and it was very good. As always, it comes in a resealable foil pouch and only needs boiling water added. This entree had a small package of peanuts and a package of red pepper flakes that you could add to the entree. Be careful with the red pepper flakes, a little goes a long way in the spice department. Again, the chicken bits were small but well-cooked as was the rice. The flavor was consistent with Kung Pao chicken although the spice was a little too much for me.

Mountain House Mac & Cheese (3 out of 5 stars) Serves 2
For the last few camping trips, we have been trying to find a box of mac & cheese that was small and easy to cook because our son is always asking us to bring Mac & Cheese. All of the Mac & Cheese single serving cups out there are microwaveable only. So we had to turn to the backpacker freeze-dried products to get our son's Mac & Cheese. He was happy to have the Mountain House Mac & Cheese. Our son thought it was yummy. It definitely rivals Kraft when it comes to cheesiness. The macaroni was nice and big but unfortunately too chewy for me. I think maybe letting it "cook" a few minutes longer would help. Also it was very salty; it didn't make me feel good feeding him so much sodium. And still there was too much leftover mac & cheese. I guess the three of us could have easily eaten the Mac & Cheese as the only entree, but Mac & Cheese isn't really appealing to our adult palates. Can't anyone make a one serving portion that just needs boiling water (no milk or butter to lug around)?

Backpacker Pantry Mocha Mousse Pie (3 out of 5 stars) Serves 2
This was the first time we've tried a backpacker dessert. Of course, I didn't read the directions before buying them and assumed all you needed to do was boil water and use the pouch it came in like the entrees. I was wrong and it lost one star because of this ease of use issue. You need a bowl to mix it with the cold water. It's still easy to make, but it is one more bowl to clean. As far as taste was concerned, it wasn't bad. It's supposed to be a mousse but the texture was closer to a pudding. The pie crust is a crumb topping that you sprinkle onto the mousse. It's very good as long as you don't mix the topping into the mousse. You don't get the pie taste if it's mixed into it. I might actually buy this dessert again.

Backpacker Pantry Hot Apple Cobbler (2 out of 5 stars) Serves 2
Again, this dessert loses one star because of the ease of use issue mentioned above. This dessert takes two bowls to make, takes about 20 minutes to cook and needs to cook on your camp stove. One bowl is used to heat the apples and water. You boil the water with the apples and let it simmer for five minutes. In another bowl, you mix the cake mix with cold water. Then you put the cake on top of the reconstituted apples and then cook on low for 10 minutes. It actually had to cook for about 15 minutes for us and the cake mix still didn't look cooked. It also leaves your bowls and plates quite messy. We eat this in a well-stocked campsite and I didn't like cleaning everything. I can't imagine a backpacker wanting to go through all of this trouble in the backcountry.

As for flavor, it was okay. There was too much cake compared to the apples and there was not enough cinnamon flavor. I wouldn't buy this dessert again.

Sugar Pine Point State Park

July 9-11, 2007

Description
The largest of the state parks at Lake Tahoe, Sugar Pine Point is 2,000 acres of sugar pine, fir, aspen and juniper forests set behind nearly two miles of lake frontage. Located ten miles south of Tahoe City on the west side of Lake Tahoe, the park's acreage extends three-and-a-half miles into the U.S. Forest Service's Desolation Wilderness Area. The park's showpiece is the elegant but rustic 11,000 square foot Pine Lodge, also called the Ehrman Mansion. (excerpted from the Sugar Pine Point State Park brochure)

Location
Located in Tahoma, CA just ten miles south of Tahoe City on Hwy 89.

Activities
Bike trails, hiking, camping, picnicking, tennis, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, tours of Ehrman Mansion/Pine Lodge, Jr. Ranger programs in the summer, and swimming and boating (no boat launches).

State Park Review

Although Sugar Pine State Park is touted as the largest of the state parks in Lake Tahoe, it is a small, quiet park compared to others in the state park system. There are only a few trails within the park itself, although the General Creek Trail can be rather long depending on your destination.

Sugar Pine Point is a great place to camp. The General Creek Campground contains 175 family campsites. Included in that number are 10 Group sites located towards the front of the park. The campsites are large and generally flat as well as shaded by beautiful pines. Most campsites in the campground are standard sites that will allow for an RV, and there are a few tent-only sites scattered among them. A dump station is available.

Our campsite was site 155 towards the back of the park. It was a nice spot. Although not listed as a tent-only site it had a nice area for one or two tents and the parking spot was sized for a very small trailer. We had a site on each side of us as well as across the road, but we had a nice distance from all of them. It felt quite private. The weather during our stay was nice. It was cool through most of the day. We also experienced some thunderstorms but the rain was more tropical in that it was light and would disappear as quickly as it appeared. It wasn't until we were breaking down our site that it began to pour.

Amenities for the campgrounds include fire ring, picnic table, bear locker and restrooms with flush toilets, electrical outlets and sinks but no soap or paper towels. Hot showers are located in the middle of the park.

A camp host is present and is available to answer any questions about the park as well as provide firewood for a fee.

Sugar Pine Point does have a campfire center but no program was scheduled while we were there.

Bears live in the area, so it is wise to put all food and fragrant items in the bear locker provided. Do not leave food in your vehicle or bring it into your tent. Trash should be placed in the provided bear-proof bins. A bear sighting was made the last night we stayed in the park; too many campers were not heeding the warnings.

Hiking:
Although there are several hiking trails in Sugar Pine, be sure to print the Park map provided on the State Parks website. There were no efforts made by the staff, especially at the park entrance, to inform you of the trails available for hiking. As such, we missed quite a few of the hiking trails available to us and didn't know how far Lily Pond was from our campsite.

Rod Beaudry Trail is a 1/2 mile, paved hiking trail that travels between the Nature Center and park office, through the forest. Be careful, although clearly on the park brochure map it says that bikes are not allowed, a sign at the beginning of the trail indicates otherwise. It is also quite hilly.

The Lakefront Interpretive Trail is a flat, paved 1/4 mile long trail. There are several stops along the trail including North and South Boathouses.

The General Creek trail is a 6-1/2 mile loop, dirt trail.

The Lily Pond trail is a trail off the General Creek trail that is four miles long. This trail can also lead to the Desolation Wildernes but hikers to these areas must obtain permits.

There are other hikes within Lake Tahoe that are more spectacular than the ones at Sugar Pine. One is the Rubicon/Lighthouse Trail at D.L. Bliss State Park; a fabulous dirt trail that is an approximately 2 mile loop and has beautiful views of the Lake. It is fairly easy for children around 5-6 years old although portions of the trail have only small railings that are between you and a cliff. The campgrounds at Sugar Pine seem nicer than those at DL Bliss, so I recommend staying at Sugar Pine while hiking at DL Bliss (day-use fees are waived for campers at a nearby state park).

Biking:
The cycling in Sugar Pine is spotty. Portions of the paved trails allow cyclists but then will end abruptly and you have to turn around. Many families tend to ride their bikes along the paved roads through the campgrounds which is a nice distraction for the kids.

There is a great bike trail that runs parallel to Hwy 89 just outside Sugar Pine. The West Shore Trail runs from Tahoe City to Meeks Bay, but then ends abruptly. It's a nicely maintained trail but is a bit tough for small children as there are plenty of inclines not easily negotiated without multiple gears.

Day Use Features:
Aside from the hiking, Sugar Pine has some other great little day-use features. If visiting Sugar Pine for the day, I recommend visiting the portion of the park just off the lake. Sugar Pine has both a Nature Center and Gift Shop. The Nature Center is small but provides a glimpse of the wildlife present in the area as well as a history of the park. The gift shop is just off the Nature Center and is quaint. Since you are not allowed to take any "souvenirs" from the park (ie. rocks, sticks, pine cones, etc.), I like state parks that have a gift shop. It's a nice stop to take and pick up a little something for the kids.

Also in this area is the Ehrman Mansion/Pine Lodge. Tours are given throughout the day during the summer (tickets may be obtained at the gift shop).

The Lakefront Interpretive Trail is a nice, self-guided hike especially good for the disabled since it is paved (the access to this trail, however, is a bit steep, so proceed with caution). Guides may be picked up at the gift shop. This trail has a beautiful view of the lake and easy access to the beach as well. You may also view the lake from the pier located off the trail.

A tennis court is also available at Sugar Pine. Use is first-come, first-served.


Prepackaged Backpacker Food Review:
Mountain House Beef Stroganoff (3 out of 5 stars) Serves 2
This prepackaged, freeze-dried backpacker meal was good for beef stroganoff (I'm not a big fan of beef stroganoff, so that accounts for one star being removed). But the noodles were al dente, beef chunks were a little small, but overall the meal was tasty and creamy. We paired it with a nice pre-bagged salad mix: Fresh Express Pacifica! Veggie Supreme.

Welcome to Trail Heads!

We are a family of three who like to hike, bike, camp and kayak around California. Since we are at the beginner to immediate level in each outdoor activity, we want to share our experiences with others especially those with young children.

Each year we take at least two-three camping trips, always to a different campground so that we can see what's out there. When reserving campgrounds, we'd like to see what the campsites look like (to avoid rocky, sloped, too sunny and just plain, uninteresting campsites) but photos are hard to come by. We also like to know what types of activities are available at each campground and sometimes reservation systems don't tell the whole story. So we hope to highlight the pros and cons of each campground we visit, provide photos of the campsites themselves and highlight the activities available.

We just bought our first kayak, so we hope to highlight great kayaking spots in the near future!

We hope you enjoy Trail Heads!

Samuel P.Taylor State Park

June 8-10, 2007

Description:
Samuel P. Taylor State Park is located just north of San Francisco in the steep rolling hills of central Marin County. It is just seven miles east of spectacular Point Reyes National Seashore. It is also close to Mount Tamalpais State Park, the Marin headlands and Muir Woods National Monument. (excerpt from Samuel P. Taylor State Park brochure)

Directions:
From Sacramento, take I-80 West towards San Francisco. Just before Vallejo, take Hwy 37 West to Hwy 101 in Novato. Take Hwy 101 South to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Exit at Sir Francis Drake Blvd. and head west several miles to the park entrance (note: the sign will say Camp Taylor, it's former name from the 1880s.)

Activities:
Bike Trails, Camping, Picnicking, Hiking, Equestrian Trails and Horse Camp

Experience:
We chose Samuel Taylor Park because of its proximity to Sacramento (less than two hours away), its probability of cool weather since it's near the coast (we had just endured our first 100 degree days of summer in Sacramento), and the fact that it had paved bike trails. The latter was the most important to us. My five-year-old son Sam recently learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels. I knew that if we were to keep him happy on this trip, he had to be able to bike ride. Samuel Taylor Park did not disappoint.

Friday, June 8, 2007: We arrived in the afternoon (2:00 pm check-in time) to our campsite in the Creekside Campground. Sites in the Creekside Campground are tent-only sites (Small trailers can reserve sites in the Orchard Hill Campground, but electricity, water and sewage hookups are not available.) Our site was camp 23. I was a bit late in planning our camping trips this year, so I had slim pickings for a weekend trip. The only spot left was site 23. Our site was across the street from Papermill Creek and surrounded by four other campsites. These campsites were a bit secluded among the redwoods. Ours seemed to be in the middle of the parking lot. Two parking spots for a different campsite were right outside our tent, and there was no other place to set up the tent. We felt on display. Our spot also got a lot of sunlight during the day, but luckily the nice bay area weather kept us cool. Note: Sir Francis Drake Blvd goes through the middle of the State Park and is about 200 yards away from the campgrounds. Traffic noise is highly audible at all times.

Saturday, June 9, 2007: You might think we didn't have a great time, but not counting Yosemite, this was the best camping trip we've had. In the morning, we rode our bikes along the Cross Marin Trail. This is an out-and-back, paved bike trail that extends from near the park entrance west to the town of Tocaloma (although we stopped at the Tocaloma bridge; the rest of the trail becomes a bike route along Sir Francis Drake Blvd). This was a great bike trail for kids. There are no cars, it was level, paved and a perfect length for my 5-year-old. The scenery was pretty and included Papermill Creek where the endangered Coho salmon spawn in the winter (there are even cute wooden, red salmon placards on the bridges along the trail). What amazed me was we completed the trail within an hour-and a half, including a break for lunch. So we got back to camp and wondered what we were going to do the rest of the day.

We decided to ride the rest of the Cross Marin Trail. The Cross Marin Trail also heads east of the park entrance; this time, on a multi-use dirt and gravel trail. We figured we would try a portion of the trail to see where it led and to see if Sam could handle riding on gravel. The first portion of the trail east was a little more populated with hikers and camp visitors because it was close to the park entrance. But once we crossed the bridge at the Irving Group Picnic Area, we only encountered a handful of hikers. We surprised ourselves by riding the entire multi-use trail to the end at Inkwells Bridge, then crossed Sir Francis Drake Blvd. (by walking the bikes) and continued on a dirt road to Peter's Dam on Kent Lake. We thought we would be level with the top of the dam but in fact, we were below the spillways. It looked like you could ride up a dirt road to the top of the dam, but it was long and very steep. (Once home we found out that our entire trip east and west on the Cross Marin Trail was about 10 miles. Our son was a trooper.)

That evening we attended the Campfire Program presented by the Parks system that included a slideshow about the history of the park and a short campfire sing-a-long. I recommend attending these presentations because it's something to do in the evening (when scheduled), it shows your appreciation of the park to the rangers, and you always learn something about the park that was not highlighted in the park brochure.

Sunday, June 10,2007: We broke down our campsite (Noon checkout time) and headed to the parking area at the Redwood Grove Picnic Area to take in some hiking. There are many hiking trails at the park. North Creek, South Creek, Ox and Pioneer Tree Trails are short hikes quite close to the campgrounds. Devil's Gulch Trail, Stairstep Falls Trail, and Bill's Trail that leads to Barnabe Peak are located in the foothills across Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Devils' Gulch looks like a short, level hike but the other two hikes are much longer with larger elevations gains (400'-800').

We decided to try the Pioneer Tree Trail, a short 2.2-mile hike. The trailhead starts at the eastern portion of the Cross Marin Trail. It's a lush trail through a redwood forest filled with ferns (as well as lots of Poison Oak). There was about a 200' elevation gain on the trail and it is not stroller or wheelchair accessible. About two-thirds of the way along the trail, we came across the trail's namesake, the Pioneer Tree. This is thought to be the oldest Redwood in the park, since most of the current redwoods are second growth trees. It's a nice place to rest and take in the beauty of the trees. We continued on and soon came to the end of the trail near the pedestrian bridge at Irving Grove Picnic Area. We walked another 1/2 mile along the Cross Marin Trail back to our car at Redwood Grove.

After a brief lunch at the picnic area near the park entrance, we got back in the car and headed home to hot, hot Sacramento. We vowed this would be a park to return to.

Prepackaged Backpacker Food Review:
Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice (4 out of 5 stars). Serves 2

These freeze-dried backpacker foods are packaged in a resealable foil pouch. The only cooking requirements are boiling water added to the package. After about ten minutes of "cooking", the meal is ready to eat out of the pouch. The consistency was fairly good with the chicken pieces tending to be a bit small and chewy at times (longer cooking time could help). The mix did have a nice sweet and sour flavor and the rice cooked well. Pair it with a pre-bagged salad mix like Fresh Express Pacifica! Veggie Supreme (includes lettuce-veggie mix, poppy-seed salad dressing, soynuts and sunflower seeds), and you have a well-balanced dinner.