How Old Were You When You First Went Camping?
Friday February 6, 2009
Do you remember your first camping trip? How old you were? Seems like yesterday when I was eleven years old, and I went camping for the first time with neighborhood kids, who had invited me along on an overnighter under the stars along the banks of the Licking River in northern Kentucky.
My family wasn't much into outdoor recreation except for the occassional fishing trip to a local pay lake, so I was unaware of camping up to this time. My first overnight campout turned out to be a blast, and I was ready to try longer camping trips.
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We did all our camping in our back yard. It was depression time and we couldn’t afford camping any other way. We got together with our neighbor friends and dug deep holes in the far end of out yards. We lived in the country and had very big back yards. We secured old rugs or blankets over the top for the roof. We made a campfire and cooked hot-dogs and roasted potatoes drank hot chocolate We ate crackers and peanut butter and sang songs. And told those scary ghost stories. Couldn’t wait for bedtime boys slept in one hole and girls in the other. We slept like rocks until morning sun and the rooster crowing.
Wow I havent thought about this for almost 70 years
I was 50 the very first time I went camping.My husband and I were invited by my brother and his family who are avid campers.We borrowed my son’s friends tent and invested in a comfortable air mattress.We brought our own water and did not have any electricity. What we most vividly remember and still embrace was our natural harmony and peace with nature.It made me fell young and it renewed our sense of discovery.We fell in love with camping this very first time and to this day, seize every opportunity to go!
I had always camped in our back yard, but I was about 14 when we experienced our first real camping trip. We always vacationed as a family in the Adirondack Mountain area, eight of us. We stayed in motels, needing to get two rooms. The cost was becoming too much. We stopped at a beautiful lake for a picnic lunch and my dad noticed the campers. The next year, he borrowed a horse trailer, scrubbed it out and the 5 children stayed in it, Mom and Dad in a tent. Needless to say, we became avid campers since then! Now the next generation are campers also. What wonderful, fun memories of childhood camping I have!!
My first trip was with the Boy Scouts to the Watchung moutains in Jersey, it was in a old canvas Baker tent with no floor. It was cold and wet. We hiked,fished,and worked on merit badges. We sat around the campfire. I was hooked, that was 43 years ago and the first of hundreds of camping trips.
By the way David, I was also 11 years old.
We camp in luxury now, with a class C motorhome.
But my first camping trips were really roughing it. I was 8 years old and we went camping and fishing on the Chickashaw River in northern Oklahoma. Dad and his friends would leave after work for a two night fishing trip, which was either (or both) trot-lining and catfish noodling. My job was to help net minnows for the trot line, and hold up the coleman lantern at night while they checked their lines in the river.
We had no tents. Slept on a blanket with a second blanket for cover. Fortunately we only went in the summer. They boiled river water for coffee and brought a water jug. Fried catfish and potatoes were dinner.
I learned to swim in rivers, but I would not recommend it now due to the dangers. In my old age a lap around the pool is just fine or a snorkel in Hawaii.
My first camping trip was with my best friend when i was around 11-12, it was to a brownie camp, quite enjoyed it and didn’t feel home sick cos i was older in the group. I don’t remember it being devastating! I think it was more at night when things slowed down.
Started camping with my family, aunts, uncles and cousins in tents. Our parents would put the younger one in playpens with a sheet over it on the beach. We would go to Arrowhead at Myrtle Beach or Table Rock State Park. Wonderful family times.
My daughter Kim’s first experience camping was in an old pop up camper. She was a baby and slept in a playpen with my husband on one bed and myself on the other. Our weights proved to be uneven and the whole camper tiped over on my husbands side with the playpen lodged in between and Kim lying on the flimsy net. My husband only had his underwear on and he was trying to tip it back from the inside. It probably looked hilarious but it could have been a disaster!