Bad Camping Experiences

Let me tell you about a bad camping trip. It’s funny now but at the time….Jeesh!!

My husband and I went up to 11 mile lake in Colorado. First off, we caught no fish. Not even a bite the entire weekend. It was colder than we expected (because of the altitude). On my way back from using the “facilities” on our last morning, I see the tent burning. My husband set the camp stove (that is supposed to be used OUTSIDE) too near the tent wall and the whole thing was in flame. We got that put out, decided it was time to go home. We loaded everything in our little boat. As luck would have it, the wind kicked up and we never made it to the boat dock. We had to beach the boat near the parking lot and make trips across a marsh to get to the truck. As we got the 1st load to the truck, we noticed that the wind had sunk our little boat with most of our gear in it. We wade out to the boat, retrieve our gear, a couple of strangers helped my husband carry it to the truck. We pack everything back into the truck and then the truck wouldn’t start (the altitude played havoc with the carburetor settings). We finally got home and have never been back to 11 mile. It’s been nearly 7 years.

This is probably not exactly what you were looking for…but… About twenty year ago I went on a 10 day camping trip in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with my 10 year old son and husband. The black flies were ferocious, it rained 7 days of the 10, on the night before we went home the zipper broke on our large (White Stag) cabin tent and we broke camp in the mud and rain… none of this made the trip bad for me, except the constant complaining from my husband from day one. The final straw was when he threw a fit while we were taking down the tent, rolled it up and threw in into the trash. I salvaged the tent and had the zipper repaired and have had many pleasant camping trips since with it… through rain, blackflies, whatever. And the husband? Well, unfortunately he was not salvageable and we have been divorced for 18 years!

All I can say is, we tried! Our bad experience was at the Great Sand Dunes in CO. The campground was fine, we didn’t mind the deer nosing through camp, people turned their generators off as requested. We had scoped out our neighbors everything pointed toward a quiet night until six young men pulled in around midnight next to us and proceeded to party until around 4 AM. They made a racket cooking, drinking and carousing. We broke camp around six and we were not the only people who “accidently” set off our car alarms or who had a very noisy breakfast. Our night was spoiled but everything else there was great.

When you camp in a motor home, how can you have a bad experience?

We went camping as a family for the first time about 4 years ago in July in the Leelanau Peninsula (Michigan). It was and is a beautiful camping spot–rustic, just the basics, no shower, but very quiet, peaceful, on Lake Michigan and just what we were looking for. Unfortunately, the Great Lakes are sometimes unpredictable and that night we were hit with gale force winds off the lake. I’ve lived in Michigan all my life and have never ever heard howling wind like this. It was scary. This lasted through the day. It was reasonably warm, especially when you moved a few miles from the lake, but the wind dropped the temperature at least 20 degrees at the campground. We were not prepared for chilly weather and pretty much cuddled together in our sleeping bags! We couldn’t light our stove due to the wind. We asked someone at the campsite if this was normal and she said no, definitely not. Otherwise it was a great experience and we’ve returned there since then (without gale force winds). The moral of the story is “be prepared.” We always are now.

I am 58 years young, (divorced since I was 35) and have 4 pre-teen granddaughters that have gone camping with me since they were toddlers. We do most of our camping at Lake Tenkiller, Oklahoma. Through tornado warnings, torrential rains, and howling winds; scorching heat waves, and frigid nights, we have never had a “bad experience,” uncomfortable maybe, but that gives us something to talk about for years to come. I love to hear them say “Hey, Nana, remember when we were camping, and the temperature dropped from 89 degrees to 48 that night? Wonder if that will ever happen again? That is what memories are made of. Those girls will carry those memories for the rest of their lives, and hopefully tell the stories of camping with Nana to their grandchildren some day.

Point Sebago Resort Me.
We arrived at our rental unit ($195.00/night) to find ants/silverfish throughout the camp. Also asked for safety plugs for outlets and never received them (they said they would bring them right down). We have camped there for our last time as we found our last two trips were disastrous. We had been going there for years, but it appears they don’t maintain their place as they used to. When we complained, their answer was, “well you know you’re camping.” For the price they charge, they should be providing a better service.

Went on a week long camping trip with friends (total of 5 kids between us) and one evening we heard a domestic dispute at the campsite next door. Suddenly a blood-curdling scream, we go over to find out what’s going on. Seems their young (20 something) son stabbed the father and grabbed a cooler full of beer and ran off. My son and his friend were in the shower room when he threw the cooler at them and took off running. After the ambulance came and took the dad away, and the police found the son and dragged him away. We spent the rest of the night helping the distraught wife and mother fold up her popup and gave her directions to the hospital and police stations. Interesting evening to say the least.

My boyfriend and I were putting up the tent and he mentioned that we were pretty close to a deer trail. I thought `no big deal`. We had stopped earlier in town to pick up supplies , one of which was a fifth of vodka and OJ. That night we had quite a storm come through and we went to go into the tent. Mistake no. 1 never take a coleman lantern into a tent-which he did. I told him to turn off the lantern so we could watch the lightning. When he did it malfunctioned and shot fuel up into the lantern which burned his hand. Mistake no 2-he dropped the lantern which caught the tent on fire! Now here was my worst fear coming to life.(I`m scared to light candles in the house). I`m screaming so loud I`m sure everyone in the park heard. So then I literally leaped over the flames into the mud. I thought I broke my arm. But we now had running water in our tent. I told him to give me my bottle of Vodka which I downed it in two gulps. We finally went to bed and around 4:00 a.m. I heard what sounded like a huge deer right outside our tent. You could hear him snorting and pawing at the ground. I wondered if we were going to be trampled to death because we were in his path. I had to pee (very badly) and my boyfriend said to just go ahead and stick my butt outside the tent. I said `heck no!!!` I had to hold it for what seemed like an eternity. The next morning was beautiful but we had to pack and leave. We still use that tent today because even though it has a hole in the floor, it is still the most comfortable tent we have.

Well I guess this isnt too bad in comparison. My Wife, Son, & myself took our old POP-UP to Branson. My (recently widowed) Dad followed us. Just a torrential downpour when we arrived. My Dad went into a tizzy and wanted the campground to refund our money (because of the rain — YEAH RIGHT) and finally threatened to just cancel the payment from the check. (Which is not real legal). Well he got upset and went back home (hooray). We unhooked and went to eat and shop. After about 3 hours the rain stopped temporarily, we set up camp at that time. The police visited me about Dads threat to stop payment, then forced me to pay cash for the site (and they cashed the check too). Now that we are $100 short on money we went to bed. It started raining again. The POPUP leaked all night right on my feet. I woke up with some kind of FLU. My wife and Son wanted so badly to go to Silver Dollar City, so I gave in FLU and all. I stayed sick for 3 days, which (as luck would have it) we had to go home the day I got better. Now we have a travel trailer. I hope the leaks are gone for good.

My family went to Modesto Lake for the weekend. We were the only campers there until a group of Mexicans set up right next to our tent and began playing mexican music and drinking until 4:00 A.M. The worse camping experiance I ever had.

My family likes to go camping at Tawas Point in MI. We always have a great time, you can go into town to see a movie. They have an ice cream shop,candy store and many other shops. I love the beach and sitting in a inner tube riding the waves. We also put our electric dart game on the outside of our trailer and have lots of fun playing. I can even beat my husband sometimes. There is always a crowd to watch the sun set, its so beautiful.

As a former Boy Scout, I’ve had my share of less-than-perfect camping experiences. However, probably the “worst” was in Joshua Tree in October of 2004. We had expected some cool weather, and were even prepared for rain, but not for a sudden blizzard! We pitched our tent in a bit of a hurry and didn’t put the rain fly up because the sky was clear and beautiful all day – first mistake. We also hadn’t checked the tent for rips or holes since the last time we’d gone camping. It started to get a bit chilly and windy just as the sun started to set, so we decided to go ahead and slip into our sleeping bags early in order to get an early start the next day. At about 11pm, I heard a noise that sounded like someone sprinkling sand on the tent roof. I didn’t think much of it and drifted back to sleep. About an hour later, I woke up because my feet were COLD. I looked at the bottom of the tent and saw snow slowly trickling in through a small hole. At that point I realized that we ought to put the fly up, so I pulled my poor wife out into the cold and wind to struggle with the kite/fly in the 40+ mph wind. After a haphazard attempt, we tried to go back to bed. By 1:30am, our tent collapsed under the combined wind and snow and developed a larger hole in one corner. I leaped out (narrowly avoiding a cactus in the process), restaked and reset the tent, hoping it would survive the night. I woke again just before dawn to find a veritable winter wonderland – our tent was nestled in about 1 1/2 feet of snow. When I realized that we hadn’t brought snow chains, I decided that rather than stick around and maybe get dug out by Spring that we needed to leave – NOW. I again woke my now shivering wife and we starting frantically packing everything into our small car. Without gloves, my hands were practically frozen, and I couldn’t get the tent stakes out of the ground. So, I ripped up the whole tent, corner by corner, wrapped it into a messy bundle, and stuffed it into the trunk.

As we started to pull out of the Big Rock campground lot, the one piece of good luck we had going for us drove by – a ranger in a grading machine (they hadn’t even readied the snow plows and hadn’t expected this weather either), followed by a carload of eager US Marines who were busily digging out every car they came across and getting them into a convoy of sorts behind the grading machine. We got stuck twice – both times all we saw were four cheerful Marine faces as they jumped out of their car, then snow flying everywhere as they dug us out. We had some muffins we’d brought along as high-calorie snacks and gave them gratefully to our rescuers. If it wasn’t for the timely intervention of those guys, who knows how long it’d taken us to get out!

Afterwards, my wife and I laughed, but we both realized that we were pretty close to a scary situation!

silver spur rv park silverton,or. don’t stay there. have open raw sewer ponds within a few feet of camping spots. this sewer sprays into the air and drifts onto the sites. also 5 open ponds on site that have no or little fencing.unknown how oregon permits this

There are no bad camping trips, just great adventures to laugh about the rest of your life!

Harpers Ferry W. Va, Nice place to camp, Not on Memorial Day however. We had a nice spot next to a meadow. We went to town for provisions only to come back to have a crowd of about 40 people on the three sites in the meadow below us. The party lasted till 3:00am. I thought jet engines were loud before I heard these people. Since we were between them and the bath house they thought nothing of walking right through our camp site to get there. We were laying there in our tents thinking that they would at least sleep it off till afternoon. WRONG. They were up yelling at 5:45am. I guess they only needed a little nap. We needed a little peace, so we packed up and went home. It was a privately owned well known franchise campground so I thought it would have a little better security than a state park but I guess I was wrong on that account also.

While I voted “Yes”, a less than perfect camping trip is, generally speaking, better than time not camping.

Noticed a number of negative camping trips were due to dumb alcoholic neighbors.
We have found the noisest and stupidest people in campgrounds near the cities. They really are not camping since they do nothing more than stay in the campqround and be obnoxious.
The farther from the city, the more likely to find some peace and quiet.

It was suppose to be the perfect weather for camping but it turned into 4 days of straight rain. On the 3rd evening it got so bad the thunder and lighting we sent the kids into the pop-up. My husband and I were outside folding up chairs and all of a sudden I see our camping carpet (9×9) being swept away by a flash flood along with our shoes and some gear. There was mud up to my ankles.
We gathered up what we could and went into the camper with the kids. Finally after getting to sleep around 11pm we were woken up around 3am by the sounds of a “screaming” animal. My husband was going out to investigate when it finally stopped. We layed back down and all of a sudden we could smell skunk. It sprayed under our pop-up. The smell was so bad my eyes were stinging. After setting up fans and airing out the trailer we got up at 7am. Threw all the wet stuff in the pickup and drove home. It was the worst camping experience in my life!

I agree with most on this board, I don’t really think you can have bad camping trips barring someone getting injured or something tragic. Maybe some uncomfortable or inconvenient ones but hey that’s camping where the motto is be prepared but remember you are supposed to be roughing it anyway! We do some pretty extreme weather camping so a little rain or wind does not bother us too much. I guess the most miserable I can remember ever being on a camping trip is when I decided at the last minute to join some friends for the night. One of the friends loaned me an extra sleeping bag and a tarp to put on the ground under the bag in case of rain which boy did it ever! The rain ran under the tent and the tarp was so full of small holes that the sleeping bag was soaked in no time. This is in February with the weather in the low 30’s. Needless to say I froze my Hiney to the bone that night! I did not have a watch on so I could not tell how much longer it would be until time to get up and commence with the days activities. That was a looooooooong night! It was still a good camping trip though, just should have been better prepared is all. I did go on a camping trip in one of the state parks one time where most of our cooking gear and all the food was stolen by some local high school kids out to ruin someones trip on Memorial day weekend, but then that is a whole nother topic…grrrrrrrr

We decided to take our 5th wheel out for a weekend close to home and called friends about a hundred miles away and make sure that they had no other plans, and would enjoy sitting by a nice fire and hanging out. We left the house about 7PM on a Friday night in an extremely cold October. We wanted to see if it was true that Cabella’s had a place to park overnight since our reservations were just for Saturday night and Sunday. It was so cold that night, and we were very glad that we had a generator! We found a fairly level spot and cranked up the genny, turned on the furnace…. no heat! While my husband did those “manly” guy things that they do to find out what was wrong, I turned on the gas stove and oven, hoping I actually got warm before we died from carbon monoxide poisoning. I also turned on the portable electric heater. He never got the furnace going that night and we huddled together to try to stay warm enough to fall asleep. And- yes, I did turn off the flames! We “awoke” early – not sure we ever really fell asleep- and gratefully got in the truck and got warm. We arrived at the campground- I love trees as much as the next person, but they never spared one in the “floorplan” of this campground! Fortunately my husband and I are truck-drivers and with one outside and one driving we managed to get the camper around the twists and turns and gazillion trees to our spot. I think we were the only ones there that were NOT permanently affixed to the spot. I suspect that that may not have been their original idea, but once they were in, they were afraid to try to get the camper out again! Back to the heat… can’t figure out why it won’t work…call the local friend who comes over and the two men proceed to work on it. I do the unpacking and bed-making, etc. It turns out that the problem was a little 1 amp fuse in the blower! AH YESSSS! HEAT! The friend calls his wife and we begin our weekend. Well, the fun part of the big roaring fire and sitting around it was not to be. Our friend, who all in all is a really fun guy, a short while ago discovered God, and like an ex-smoker, has made it his mission to show us the way. We are Christians, but came to it much earlier in our lives and felt no compunction to become evangelists. He got a phone call and “remembered” that he forgot that they had an award dinner that night for a prison ministry and happened to have 2 more tickets. The dress was very casual, our camp clothes were fine…yeah right! We became temporarily insane at some point, because we agreed to go, it was going to be a couple hours, what the heck. Four hours later, as we sit in our smoky-smelling CPO jackets and jeans among the gold lame’ and diamond and fur wearing celebrants some of whom were standing, swaying, and either singing or shouting Halleleuyah, we passed back the envelopes which did NOT contain money or our name and address, and prepared to leave! By the time we got back to the camp it was about 10:30 and our friends had to go home…. I mean really, it was late and our friends had church the next morning! The look on our faces, made it pretty clear that if they dared to invite us, the police might have to be called. Call us heretics if you will, but we were saying some not too Christian things about our friend and his new-found faith. I think I forgot to say my prayers that night….

We were camping in Southern Missouri when a family set up camp next door, complete with TV, electric frying pan, refrigerator (however, a small one), electric blankets, electric fans, electric stereos (at full volume), electric lights, etc. They were using only a tarp and were sleeping on cots. After 2 nights of having trouble sleeping due to the lights and sounds coming from 8′ away, we were pleased to see it start to rain. It rained for 3 days and totally washed them out of the campground. We enjoyed walking and running in the rain without the accompanying noise!!

We camped at Conowago Isle in PA one summer, to begin with the man that ran the place looked and dressed like a prison refugee, black leather vest, tattooed knuckles, greased down hair, get the picture? Well the plac was infested with rabbits, they would come right up to the camper or if sitting outside they would come right up to you, they were not afraid of anything. There were only 2 campers there and on Sat. my brother and his girlfriend came to visit us and they were going to charge them $5.00 each, that was okay, but they were not allowed to park at our site, they were told they had to park over across the road and walk to our site. Which also would not have been an issue, but, there was no one else around us and there was plenty of room for another vehicle. The man got real nasty so they left and we immediately packed up and left also. Will NEVER go back.

My only bad camping experience happened in 1988. I was camping with my then 13 yr old son and his friend at Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod. We ended up in a site that was lower than the usual spots. Well, it rained. The 3rd night it rained off and on all night, and when I got up I heard a weather forecast that said it was going to rain for the next 3 days, so I decided to go home. I figured one day would be tolerable, but three? No way. The minute I went to wake up the boys it started to POUR!!! There were rivers running through our campsite! We hurriedly took down the tents in the mud, stuffed them into trash bags, stuffed the car full, and drove home wet. (We had to set up the tents again to dry anyway, so we didn’t bother packing them right.) I have been camping there since 1981, and going again today, as a matter of fact, so it only stopped me that one time. There is NOTHING like Cape Cod!!!

We are in a nice enough campground in the Glacier Park area of MT. Our bad experience was not because of the facilities or the staff, but the other campers. We have camped for years and are now fulltimeers and have never experienced such rudeness. People refuse to use the roadways to get around. Instead they tromp right through occupied sites without an excuse me, or do you mind or anything.

Do these people walk through someones motel room to get to the pool? Do they walk through their neighbors homes and yards to get to their house? When did roughing it equate to rudeness? When did this become acceptable behavior?

Please ask your readers to do their part and teach their children to bring back the courtesy in camping.

Last week (07/18/07) we were in Sioux Falls SD. We were camping in a tent at the KOA camp ground. A storm come up with high winds. Of course we were not at the camp ground when this hit. When we got back the tent had fallin in. Everything in the tent was soaked. The tent had standing water inside. Since we were on motorcycles we had no car.So we loaded up everything in the trailer went to a landry mat to wash all our clothes,bedding. Of course the clothes we had on were also wet. We put air mattress outside against trees to dry. Just before all of this my motorcycle decided to quit working.So we are down to 1 bike at this time.
We got everything washed and dried. Got my motorcycle back up and running. I can laugh about it now but hubby is not laughing yet. Just part of camping.

Back in 1974, we,three kids ,wife and I decided to buy a pop up tent camper. We were to pick up at factory in Pa. We got there to pick up and it was not preped.We decided to take it as it was late(first mistake). We found a campground and discovered we had no keys to camper. Back to factory,get keys, then set up in the dark and rain)(second mistake).Thats when we found the propane tank was empty.
So here we were ,soaked hungry and tired.
Went to a fast food place, ate came back and went to bed.
The next day the sun was out, we filled propane and a great trip.
Moral of story. Camping may not always be without problems, but there is no better way to see this great country.
And today we look back and laugh at our experience.We are in our 70,s and still camping

This camping atory happened so long ago that I’ve forgotten some of the basic details, but it was such a disaster that I still think about it every time I think of trying to get the family to go on any sort of tent camping trip. Over 20 years ago I decided that it was time to take my boys (three boys–ages 13, 11, and 9) on a summer campout. We got all the necessary gear together, and set out for a local county/state campground in Prince Georges County, Maryland. Our first night went very well. The weather was great, and a “gentle” breeze provided a most comfortable temperature for sleeping. The second night, however was quite another story. The gentle breeze of the previous night was gone, and although the temperature was still quite comfortable the night turned into a real horror story.
I remember waking up after a few hours of sleep because of some discomfort. As I looked around I saw that the inside of the tent was covered with literally hundreds–if not thousands–of mosquitos. Of course all of us had been ravaged by them while we slept. As soon as I became aware of the situation, I determined that our only protection from the mosquitos was to stay in our station wagon for the remainder of the night. By the time daylight came, all of us–especially my boys–looked like they had slept in a bed of Poison Ivy. Their exposed skin had so many welts they probably could have been admitted to a hospital if I had thought it necessary.
Upon reflection, I realized the difference between the first night of camping and the second was primarily the breeze we had on that first night. It had kept the mosquitos away, while the calm of the second night helped them congregate inside our tent. Therefore, the moral of my tale: if camping in mosquito territory hope for “good” wind conditions at night–or set up a stronger anti-mosquito defense than I did, i.e., use sprays and any sort of other citronella candles or similar devices available to get ahead of the “bugs.”

Went camping in Wash. State at Bumping Lake (Chinook Pass) ,very hot,and dry, the three of us went hiking into even more wilderness to a high alpine lake. After about seven miles it started to storm, from a clearing we could see lighting strikes below us starting fires, the ground shook from thunder it was raining and blowing hard, we took shelter we did have survival supplies, food ,extra clothes, space blankets, we waited for over three hours and then two guys in a 4×4 came down the road. We rode in the back, the storm covered the whole western portion of Wash. and Oregon, two people died. When we got off the mountain to the camp we had stored everything in the car except tent and sleeping bags, they were soaked, it took us several hours in the rain with a huge fire to get the bags some what dry. Be prepared for anything it will happen sooner or later.

I see alot of natural events and equipment failure stories here but what can really turn a camping experience into a bad one is the company you have in the campground. We went camping over Spring Break in Key Largo. We had a great time every day but evenings were disastrous. There were so many parents who allowed their children and teenager to roam around after 11 pm. Quiet time was 11 pm but a group of about 20 children would gather at the basketball goal beginning around 10 pm. They would play basketball, scream, cuss ( alot) fight, and make more noise. It was horrible lying in our tents wondering why the parents think this is fine. The security guard would pull up in his little golf cart and try his best to make them leave but that didnt work. The campground was rated #2 in Key Largo behind John Pennekamp as #1. Many campers were afraid to go down there and make them leave. They were all ages from 6yrs old to 16.

Like they say about fishing, a bad day of camping is better than any good day of working!

A few years ago on 4th of July weekend my wife and I went tent camping at a campground near Reedville, Va. When we checked in the manager said “Oh, you’re tent campers” in a derisive tone. We were escorted to a site that was quite small, by the way, we registered via internet and made our needs known. The site was right by the road, we had to set up within 5 feet from the road. Campers came and went almost all night, quiet time wasn’t enforced and the manager was rude and obnoxious all weekend. If it wasn’t for being a holiday weekend and this campground was the nearest to activities we were attending we would have moved to another campground. At least the activities we attended went smoothly.

My husband and I went camping for what we thought would be 2 days at Plaskett
Creek Campground (Forest Service) at Big Sur, CA. The campground was pretty full so we thought we were lucky to find a campsite. It was near the toilets, but what’s the big deal? We found out when the septic tank overflowed into our campsite. Fresh sewage. Then we went to bed and woke up to find our cooler was stolen. The park service people were scary to say the least, and like my husband said, were likely suspects, so we didn’t say anything. We just left. The campground was happy to see us leave because the septic system by this time was overflowing very badly into our campsite, we lost the money we paid early for the whole trip. You are much better off at Pfeiffer State Park.

we had a horrible yet fun camping trip when our kids were younger. as a bribe to the kids for good grades hubby promised our younger son a he could do anything he wanted. what did he want? a gem hunting trip. so we went online and found hiddenite in north carolina and went emerald hunting. our trip started with a northbound start up to morris, pa, during labor day weekend. i think this is the trip we had a flat on the camper. the temps that year were high 90’s and we went to see the corning glass museum while there. in the wonderful heat, we could not get any ac going in our camper and the roof vents were not cooperating either. the kids, knowing in advance they were going to be out of school for a week, had home work to do. they were uncooperative to say the least. we left late on labor day monday and made a pitstop at home to do laundry and restock. hubby slept for the whole time as best he could. i did the restocking and the laundry as quick as you can do 5 loads of laundry. he drove all night and we sort of slept in the truck. we woke for real around 5 and it was poring down raining. you could not see 10 feet in front of you. we were also doing 40 on the interstate. i wanted him to pull over and sit on the side but he wouldn’t. he said we might just get rear ended by a truck that didn’t know what we were doing or worse didn’t see us. we made it through and he was right. the trucks were flying down through going past us. we got to hiddenite and followed our direction to the campground. it was nice and quiet. it also had an uncountable 23 turns from the dirt road to the actual entrance of the campground. there was a tiny wood bridge to cross a stream as well. when we stopped at the office, there was a sign to welcome us and a basket to leave the money. we never did see the owners. the pool (an actual inground tiled pool) was over grown and looked like there were critters living in it. there was a pond that was in the same condition. the bathrooms i refused to see after that. when we opened the door of the camper to let hubby get some rest, we met with disaster. it seems those 23 turns do quite a number on older cabinet latches. all the dishes and food were dumped hither and yon. clothes i thought were perfectly safe in the cubbies were dumped into the mess. hubby napped in the chair while i cleaned up. remember the rain from earlier? it now made it presence reknown by the clothes and bedding that had stayed where it was put by being soaked. guess who didn’t have access to a dryer. guess whose campground was covered in trees in the mountains so that no sun made it through for line drying. i did try. it just didn’t work. i tried making kids do homework again as i cleaned. they didn’t want to do that or clean with me. go figure. now we had gone south and i was under the impression that a) it is warmer the further south you go and b) the weather channel is to be believed. not so. our 90’s + temps during the day never left the low 70’s and night time temps dipped low enough for frost to form on the windows. we had packed summer (shorts and thin tshirts and sandals) clothes for this part of the trip. we were freezing. yes we had a furnace. but like the ac it didn’t work. all we did was fill the whole place with gas. also you can not effectively heat a camper with the oven nor use it to dry clothes. however, we had a blast digging for gems in the emerald mines and came home with some really nice stones. we are slowly getting them cut and appraised. both boys should have some really nice gems for their wives when this is done and they finally get married. was the whole thing worth it? yes. would i do it again? no. our family would like to go back there and dig some more but we will make different accomodations i think.

i don’t regret any of the camping experiences we have had. i just don’t want to have to do them over. these are the times i got lyme disease, discovered i have arthritis before the lyme was ever an issue, had sun poisoning, gotten dehydrated to the point of being sick. these are also the times i grew to know my parents better since we sometimes took the with us, gotten to know my inlaws better since we usually went with all of them for holidays, gained new insight into my kids and gotten to be able to read hubby without an instruction manual.

happy camping

My wife and I went camping in McCloud California, because of the anual Civil War Re-enactment we were to participate in. We were not going to camp with the troops, but at a neighboring RV and campground. Because it is a major event, spaces are booked well in advance. We booked our spot SIX MONTHS in advance. When we got there, we were shown to a grassy knoll and told to pitch our tent. What we were NOT told, was that everyone else who was tent camping, (most of the place was for RVs), would also be pitching wherever. There were no designated sites, and one picnic table. About 100 yards away was a large family reunion of about 100 people as well. Then the fun began. A group of about six tents showed up, and proceded to start throwing up tents of all shapes and sizes so close to ours that our tent stakes were touching. The only table and fire pit were claimed in the name of the new arrivals, who, along with an arsonal of airborne toys and very active children with healthy lung capacity and vocal cords, proceded to circle us like a raiding party closing in on a wagon train.
We were so close to the other campers that, and I am not kidding when I say this, I could hear someone in the tent next to us break wind in the middle of the night, and at least one couple was having rather intimate relations all night long.
The next morning my wife and I decided that we would try to find somewhere else to camp the next night, and were told that there were no refunds. I explained that I was not wanting a refund for the night we spent, although I felt that the experience had been far from satisfactory, but only that I wanted my money back for the night that we had not yet stayed. Since I had paid in cash, and the money had not yet been deposited, I saw no reason for any problem. It took almost an hour of heavy leaning to get my money back. We went on to enjoy the rest of the weekend elsewhere.

We have had three bad camping trips. The worst was a gang that came into a provincial campground. They started off partying on the beach where we were. I walked my wife and 5 year old daughter back to the campground away from them after one of them braced us on the beach wanting my wife to party with them. They raped a couple of young girls on the beach and beat up a couple of other kids. They were partying in the campground later on after dinner and started hitting up the campgrounds beat up an elderly couple and a couple of other campers. Stole their alcohol and food and a few other things. I did not notice this at first but started to hear them hitting the other campers when they got close. They went to my neighbors but he pulled a gun on them and they came over to my camp spot which I pulled up my shotgun on them. I also had to trained shepards that were ready to go as well and they left us alone. Around 0200 in the morning the police raided the place and arrested nearly all of them. I found out later about the beatings and rapes. Nasty business.

We were nailed by a huge storm another time in a tent that brought extreme rain and wind that ripped out trees on top of 4 campers, 1 trailer and 2 tents and injured about 10 or so people. One couple stayed with us in our camper getting warm and dry after their tent was torn from the ground and sent flipping into the trees from the wind.

The other one was a large group of about 50 or 60 people that were totally drunk and partying till the wee hours in the morning. We had to apply first aid for a couple man and woman that had been severly beaten and chased off the attackers again with the dogs and shotgun to save them. Later I ended up having to attend to one of the partiers that had been severely burnt falling drunk into a huge fire. During this first aid session I had to knock out a friend of his that kept trying to drag the guy off and the guy ended up swinging at me when I tried to stop him.

Fun stuff. Would rather deal with a maurading bear, cougar or wolverine any day.

I had a hard time deciding whether to put yes or no to the poll. I did end up putting yes although really it would be NO I have never had a bad camping experiencem, just different ones. The yes came about because on a few occaisions we have been camping and a storm has brewed and no matter how hard we have tried to keep dry the water has managed to get into the tent somehow. The last time the wind picked up and the rain was coming in at such an angle that it was forced under the tent floor and then puddles formed inside the tent. We used towels etc to try to mop up the puddles, by morning we were exhausted from being up for most of the night, the kids were only tiny and trying to keep the water off their bedding while they slept was hard. Our airbed was wet and felt cold and damp. Fortunately the night that this happened was our last night out so we headed home in the morning after breakfast.

As I said we really haven’t had a bad experience just different ones which make life fun and interesting. And as someone else said it is great for making lots of fun memories that will last a lifetime.

Jennylee

I have been camping just about every season for the last 30plus years, grew up family camping with my parents. Started out in a 1966 Ford and a puma tent top pop up. I have had a lot of great, and only a few bad experiences, some can be weather related or my failure to prepare but for the most part rude inconsiderate humans looking for a cheap place to party cause most bad experiences, I avoid the holiday weekends and extend my camping experience before and after the rest of the world packs up their tents for the winter. I have enjoyed quiet relaxing mid west weekends well into October and have even camped in Nov and Dec. When most of the generation x party goers get a room. Always try to be ready and watch the forcast, camping does not have to be from Memorial Day to Labor Day. When ever and where ever you go have fun. As quietly as possible. Bill

Remarkably, despite listening to the radio, I missed the “warning.”

Remnants of Hurricane Alison were headed up the East Coast around Father’s Day (June)…

Oh, my word, people! Never mistake remnants..(of any hurricane) as mild, or benign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My youngest daughter, who lived in the area, couldn’t join me this camping trip… I set up two tents…One to sleep in, and one to store stuff in.. (an appearance that I was not alone at the campground).

Oohhh….by late nightfall, rain fell in buckets!! The picnic table was covered in tarps! The wind howled and groaned !! Trees scraped together…

I was afraid! My single Coleman propane mantel lantern, which I set upon the firepit grate, shone bright in this fearsome night; it stayed lit, to keep my spirit, with hope, the storm would pass, soon!

-Thankfully, I staked my tent (ALL the pegs!)(as the wind WHOOFED!! my tent aloft–like a parachute), it remained on the ground…

I was frightened!! Tree branches fell right and left; I didn’t want to be pulverized by a huge tree log…at one point, an animal of some sort, was scraping at my tent, in an effort to get inside…it was terrified, too!

-I let loose with a blood curtailing scream!

A frightful night, giving way to a beautiful, bright, sunny, idyllic day–that dried out my tents, and equipment! Thank God it was over!

I will never forget the experience!

I’ve had bad camping experiences, but they are usually because of other campers. My poor husband, bless his heart, he’s not much into camping. But he does his one obligatory trip with me every year. And, every year on his trip, he’s always had to go tell some stupid neighbor to quiet down. Once was a group of college kids who were drinking. The other was some moron who was so drunk, he decided to start singing some Creed song at 4am. His singing was so bad that even our dog started growling at him! That was pretty funny. Most of the weather issues I don’t consider bad experiences because it’s part of camping. Ohio’s not the best place to camp anymore either. They’ve gone to an online reservation system and it’s so hard to get a good spot anymore. I liked it better when you could drive in and stake out your spot instead of having to look at some vague description on the internet. Oh well, technology at it’s finest!

We don’t tent camp anymore.We always get a cabin now. It never failed, every campground has always had it’s share of late night rowdy hooligans. Camped at a place once that had a stocked trout stream. Five in the morning people were up to go fishing, not being quiet or considerate to those of us in tents. Car and truck headlights shining on the tent. It’s cabins for us!

When camping and setting up a tent, always look up under the tree and make sure the limbs have green leaves in summer. Never set up a tent by a weak tree, one that will fall over in the dark of night and crush your tent and put you in the hospital.

I’ve been a camper for years. My wife’s idea of roughing it is a hotel without room service – until this past year. A group of about 25 from our church went to Delaware State Park this past summer for a “church retreat”. We “tent camped” (in a very small 3 person tent (now overcrowded with 2 people and gear) – what I usually use when I camp solo), right on the Indian River Inlet on a “sandy beach”. It was 97 during the day and 85 in the tent at night – with not a single breeze. About 3 AM she had to make a “rest stop”. I walked with her to the facilities (which were GREAT), and came back to the tent. My air matress had deflated. I decided to rough it. My wife was awakened at 4 AM with the sounds of “heavy breathing” – it was me – trying to blow up my air matress – by mouth – (forgot the pump) – WHILE I WAS STILL ON IT!!! A VERY difficult feat for a big guy – LOL! What was supposed to be 2 nights of camping became one for us – my wife couldn’t handle 2 nights like that. But, God bless her – she’s anxious to try camping again – as long as I keep her off the ground – in a camper!

husband off work that day, wife at work that day. husband was left a list to get ready and pack, wife wrote everything down. husband is waiting for wife to return home, wife returns home after work. husband starts truck up and wife jumps in truck. husband answers Yes Honey after wife asks if he done everything on the list. husband and wife arrives after a long time on the road to a remote camping facility. husband sets camper all up, wife very excited ! yeah ! wife starts to cook dinner, husband forgot the cookware ! wife starts to take shower, husband forgot bath products. weather starts to pour the rain..run to camper LOCKED ! husband & wife soaking wet. got into camper. husband packed his clothing, husband didn’t pack wifes……no way to cook, no clothes, no shower…we went home the next day….on the flip side…we get have alot of time together alone in the woods ! life gives you a husband, just enjoy him and laugh !

We just went to a A J Acres Campground in Clearwater, Minnesota. If you have family with kids, don’t go. Foul language, underage drinking and noise every hour of the night. Neither management nor the police did anything. They do not enforce quiet hours. Stay away.

We went to a place that was known for fly fishing. That trip we used a tent (now we use cabins) Approx. 4:00 A.M. The fly fisherman all start getting up, starting their vehicles, talking loud, and shining headlights on the tent. The funny part was all these men were shoulder to shoulder in the river fishing. That was ridiculous. We went out of the park to do our fishing. We use cabins now, much more peaceful and quiet. There were also rowdy teens setting fire to their picnic table, but they were thrown out by the authorities. State Parks are better than smaller campgrounds.

I’m sure everyone has a thunderstorm story. We were with friends at a weekend camp-out, within two hours of home. Just before sunset, a park ranger came by and told us a storm was rolling in, but there was nothing to worry about, just some wind and maybe a little lightning. The wind proved to be mostly untrue, but the lightning show was a spectacle. We had our boxer with us, who had been romping and playing the entire afternoon, and was “dog tired.” Pardon the pun. We had three other friends with us in 2 other campsites, and the storm rolled in just about bed time. We decided, once the lightning started, that it would be safer to hold out in the tent since we could get struck by lightning making a break for the vehicles. (Later, this idea was proven very unsound. NEVER stay in a tent in a lightning storm.) The lightning and thunder claps made for a symphony we would never forget. Several times, I felt the illusion of being lifted of the ground with particularly loud peals of thunder. We were OK, but the experience was harrowing, to say the least. One of our friends’ tents proved leaky (just so happened it was OUR tent that they were borrowing) and they spent a miserable night in wet sleeping bags. It was not until I was home that I understood how dangerous it was to stay in our tents during the storm. The funniest part of the story, our boxer, who never misses anything, snored like a bear through the entire thing. When the thunder and rain slacked enough for a moment’s peace now and then, we could hear him sawing logs with the best of them.

Several years ago we were new to camping and had just purchased our first motor home. We took the entire family including grandmother and pets. We arrived after dark ( first mistake) and had our site number and info taped to the door of the office. This campground had no designated areas by type of camping so tenters and others were scattered around the grounds. That is not good at night as camping gear can easily blend into the surroundings especially ever popular camoflague. Each time we would roll over a twig it was horrifying to think it would be a camper or worse. Finally with screams and prayers, we maneuvered into our site and decided not to put the awnings out that night. Good decision- the next morning we realized the sites were so close we could not extend our awnings without a possible lawsuit. A later event at this campground happened when we found near the dog walk a pit bull in a really bad mood chained to a tree. The noise factor alone was incredible.Our dogs became the most humble of creatures. We decided to make the best of well laid plans as the info on this campground from written descriptions to pictures never prepared us for this. We firgured camping isn’t always like this or else no one would continue to spend the money or time to do so. Our story of this experience continues to delight and scare many. It is four years later and we still love the experiences of travel and camping.

Howdy all, I’ve been camping going on 41 years. I’ve had many positive and negative experiences. I’ve been bit, stung, burnt, soaked, blown around, destroyed all kinds of gear, dealt with obnoxious, rude, drunk people, been dissapointed by sites, and bad weather. But all that said I don’t believe I’ve ever had a bad camping trip, I’ve survived them all and continue going at least once a month. I’ve seen so many beautiful places and have explored places some only dream of, I’m looking forward to retirement and going fulltime Rving, maybe volunteering at my state parks or even national parks. I thank God for my camping it gives me the peace I need to continue in my everyday life no matter what experiences come my way.

This tale starts, as many do, on a dark and stormy night.

Well, truth be told, it started earlier that day and it wasn’t particularly dark or stormy then.

I was supposed to go camping with two of my friends (KC and Lou) who I worked with at a Mexican restaurant down in Tacoma. We had all arranged to get shifts that ended about 9pm. We were then going to leave directly from the restaurant and drive for about an hour and a half over to the peninsula where we planned on hiking and camping in the Deer Park Area. We all brought our share of food and supplies and were going to throw them into my ‘ 76 Honda wagon.

When we arrived one of the guys found out a cook had called in sick so he had to close the kitchen. That meant we couldn’t leave until about 1am. I also found out the other friend (Lou) had invited one of his friends (John) along. I was concerned at first thinking we didn’t have a big enough tent for four or enough food. I was told this new guy would bring a tent and his own food, so I didn’t raise to big a fuss.

By the time we left it was quite dark and there was a sense of foreboding in the air. Being the tough, rugged individual I am, I ignored it. And so we drove 30 minutes the wrong way to pick up the fourth fellow.

By the time we crossed the Narrows Bridge, the rain was heavy and the wind blowing something fierce. About the time we saw the first flash of lightening, an ambulance came tearing up the highway and passed us. Just ahead, it took an exit for Gig Harbor.

Now I feel I should mention that the powers that be had decided to warn us away from going on this hiking trip. You’ll understand in a moment.

A few miles later the ambulance rushed back onto the highway right behind and passed us again just to get off at the next exit. Now, there are no hospitals in that area so the only explanation I have is that the driver got lost and took the wrong exit.

Emergency vehicles have all kinds of gadgets to prevent them from getting lost. This was the first sign.

A good half hour or more later, we ran into heavy traffic… at 2:30am! One lane was closed and there were several emergency vehicles were on the side of the road just past where the traffic had come to a full stop. They had one lane closed and the other pushed over to the shoulder where traffic could crawl by. As we crept along we came up even with a white pickup truck. The fire department was using a jaws of life to try and open the driver’s side door.

Right as we pulled up on it, the door swung open and a body fell out landing on the pavement right in front of us. That’s right. A body, not a person. Dead bodies landing in front of your car should always be seen as a sign to turn back.

But other than stopping long enough for the firemen to bag the body and carry it away, we just kept going. Of course we are now way behind schedule. I had been hoping to be making camp at the trail head by this time. And we still had well over an hour and a half to go before we even got close to the first camp sight.

Well, not terribly long after we left the flashing lights and emergency vehicle behind, the impending storm finally broke. The rain was driving into the windshield causing us to creep along. Lightening was flashing everywhere. Of course I was busy watching the road, but every time the other guys ooed and awed, I tried to look up and see what was going on. Of course, it would be long gone by the time I looked.

The flashes and the thunder got to the point that they seemed instantaneous meaning the storm was right on top of us. Suddenly the radio, which had been broadcasting little more than static anyway, ran through several channels then stopped dead. At the same time the entire car and surrounding highway lit up brighter than noon on a clear day. Shortly there after the storm seemed to break thought it kept raining lightly.

Eventually we got across the hood canal bridge and I found the turn off I was looking for.

The trailhead camp area was packed with other campers, including the space I had reserved. But since I was sure everyone was asleep and it was now coming up on 3 in the morning, I decided to let it slide and we looked for another spot to park and set up tents. The area I selected was off from the other sites a little bit, up against a small hill. We got out of the car and proceeded to set up our tents in the rain.

Sometime later that morning, just before the sun came up, we were awoken by a stream of water cascading down the hill and flowing through our tents. By the time we had all managed to get out the only dry gear we had was what had been left in the car. Unfortunately, that did not include our sleeping bags were by this time completely soaked. We spent a good part of the morning, which arrived with blues skies and the promise of a hot afternoon, wringing out our sleeping bags and hanging over branches to dry as much as possible.

It was sometime just after getting up that Lou noticed the top of my car was crispy black and where there was still paint, it was peeled up and burned. Yes, we had been directly hit by lightening during the storm. This, my friends, is the third and final sign from above indicating that we should all go home and hide under our beds. But once again, we were too stupid to notice.

After lunch I decided we needed to get moving as the bags were as dry as they were going to get. So we rolled up our sleeping bags, donned our packs and started up the trail. Our plan had been to arrive the previous night, get a good nights sleep and start out right after breakfast. We would hike for 5 miles along the river before ascending into the hills by means of switchbacks. There was a site after about 2 miles from the start of the incline. I figured 7 miles would be enough hiking for these guys as I was the only one with any hiking experience. I checked their packs before we left and removed some unnecessarily heavy items from their packs to leave in the car and redistributed food and items so that while I carried the majority of weight, I was not carrying all of it. Two items deeply concerned me. One was a pillow. A full size pillow. Do you have any idea how much space a pillow takes in a pack? Lou would not leave it behind, so I advised him that he could carry it by hand, or he could carry his share of food in his hands and the pillow in his back. He made the right choice. The other item was a can of chili. John had said he would bring food for everyone and he apparently felt the best way to accommodate our needs was a can of chili. And not a small can of chili. More like a gallon of chili. The big can you get at Costco to feed twenty people for a company picnic can of chili. Probably about 10 pounds of chili.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I do not look forward to sharing a tent with anyone who has consumed their share of 10 pounds of chili. Nor did I want to carry it. Little did I know how glad I would be later that we packed that monster all the way in.

After the first night on the trail, I had planned a short 1 mile hike back down on the other side of the ridge to an area where two rivers and a large creek all joined together. We would camp there for a couple days. There was a lake a mornings walks up the creek that was supposed to be great fishing and there should be plenty of areas to explore and relax in. On the morning of day five we would pack up and take the day to hike back out since it was mostly down hill. If we needed to camp again, we still had a day, though personally, I would have preferred a day home alone to clean up and goof off.

So we started out much later than I had planned with a lot less sleep and some very damp equipment.

A short way in, I mean no more than a few hundred yards, there was a log across a small creek. I let the others go first then tried to make my way across. Now, I was much heavier than any of the rest of them and I have a bad knee. So for whatever reason at the halfway point across the log, I lost my footing and fell backwards into the creek. Fortunately it was no more than a few inches deep with water. However, the mud went down for at least another foot. So I laid there on my back kicking with my pack sucked into the muck until I managed to get my pack off and back onto my feet. It took two of us to pull the back free.

But we hiked on. The day was glorious. Sunlight filtering through the trees. A lovely trail meandering along a sparkling river. The sound of birds… I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect piece of trail. Little did I know what was coming.

About 3pm it was getting really warm so the guys wanted to stop for a few minutes and splash in the river. So we dropped our packs on the trail and cut over to the river. KC stuck his foot in the river and yanked it out exclaiming that it was ice cold. I explained that the source of the river was in the mountains towering above, so ice cold was probably accurate.

Lou, being the funny crazy guy he was decided he would grab a log that hung out over the river and ease himself in from above. We all laughed at him as he inched his way out until he swung underneath and the end of the log broke coming down on his head. Stunned, he fell into the water where it was about 4 feet deep and flowing very strongly. Having been a lifeguard I reacted very quickly and shed my clothes down to my shorts (the others had all done so earlier but I hadn’t planned on going in) and raced into the water after him. Just before I got within reach of him the current washed my legs out from under me and I went under and was dragged along the rocky bottom. Lou and I must have been washed downriver a good 20 feet before I could grab him and get us to shore.

Pulling ourselves onto the bank I checked Lou and he was fine. We both ran up and down the trail for awhile in our skivvies trying to warm up and dry from physical exertion as well as the hot day.

When we redressed and moved on we were all much more tired than I had anticipated, and everyone wanted to set up camp and relax. It was still early and there was plenty of light. So KC and I said we would start the fire while Lou and John went ahead to check out the next days terrain, leaving their packs behind. KC grabbed a few pieces of kindly and I looked around for dry branches. At the end of the clearing I saw an old tree that was down from a previous storm. Checking it, I found is was dry and brittle and exactly what I was looking for. So I retrieved a hatchet from our backs and went to chop some branches free.

The first swing met with a good solid thump followed by the whisper of missile silos opening. I looked around. Nothing seemed out of place, KC was about 30 feet away blowing into a small fire and the others were still gone. So I took another chop. Thump and a whirring sound like turbine jet engines on the worlds smallest F15s. I looked high. I looked low. But I could see nothing out of the ordinary. However, on the third mighty swing with my little hatchet, instead of a thump, everyone in the valley heard me screeeaaaam as the biggest black wasp I have ever seen nailed me on the thigh. As I leapt away from the tree I saw dozens of holes opening in the ground with more of these giant wasps shooting at me stinger first like missile fire. So of course I turned and ran away… straight towards the KC and the fire… with a hatchet in my hand… screaming like a madman….

KC took one look at me charging him with that hatchet and took off running. I mean he booked outta there.

Most of the wasps stopped one I past the smoke of the fire, but I ended up with 5 huge welts where I’d gotten nailed. KC never got stung. But when Lou and John came back down the trail awhile later and found us a hundred yards up the trail from the clearing, KC and I made them go get all of our packs.

So it was that we found ourselves once again on the trail, the evening light fading away and starting up one bastard of a nasty hill on switchbacks. I trudged on slow and steady, knowing full well that my knee was going to give me fits the next day. The other three forged ahead with all the energy that youth and inexperience allows. I passed KC about 20 minutes later. Being a smoker, he was the first to drop. When I got to john he was puking off the side of the trail and he begged me to help carry his pack. I told him once I found a spot to camp, I’d come back for him. I was pleasantly surprised to see Lou had made it all the way to the campsite most of the way up the hill I had been planning on using all along. I was not happy to see that the storm from the night before was forming up again. Lou and I went back down the trail to get John and KC. By the time we got back it was pouring buckets again. I tied a tarp up across three trees and started building a fire. KC started putting up tents but had a lot of difficulty in the dark, so I left the fire to help him. Lou and John took flashlights and went ahead to see how much higher we had to go the next morning.

When they returned, Lou saw the “Sorriest sight ever”. I was still trying to light a damn fire from wet twigs with soaking matches. KC was trying to retie the tarp so water wouldn’t pool up in the center and tear the whole contraption down on my head. Fortunately, Lou had a lighter full of fluid so he poured the fumes into a cup and used it to get a flame going hot enough to get the fire started. After I cleaned up from dinner and nursed the welts I’d gotten from the wasps we crawled into our tents and listened to the wind and rain as we drifted off to sleep.

In the middle of the night we all awoke to a cracking sound followed by what sounded like an explosion. The ground shook beneath us and our tents felt like they were about to be blown away with us inside. We huddled in our tents and reassured ourselves that no one was hurt as the forest quieted once again. In the morning, Lou, who was first out of his tent, discovered that one of the trees I had tied the tarp to had been blown down, landing between the two tents. The tie lines had been ripped out of the ground but as the tents collapsed they came to rest against the fallen tree. We were lucky. The tree was easily a foot and a half around. Had it hit come down a foot to either side the occupants of the tent hit would have been seriously injured or possibly crushed to death.

Once we were over the shock of it all, I cooked up some breakfast while the guys tried to take down the tents and get all the stakes and lines out from under the tree.

As this had been where I initially planned to stay the first night anyway, we only had a short ascent left before reaching the top of the ridge and going down the other side. Our luck held and we made it to the three rivers camping area to spend the next few days relaxing and having fun.

The weather cleared up again, this time it seemed liked it would last. We pitched our tents just off the trail and Lou and KC tried their luck at fishing the river. John went exploring and I set the camp up to be semi permanent. This meant assigning a kitchen area, including a cutting board, firebox and trash area, as well as a latrine. I set the latrine across the trail about 40 feet from, using a downed branch as a toilet seat and dug a hole in the ground beneath it with the pile of dirt to the side and the shovel so we could bury as we went.

That night I got out my large cooking pot for boiling water and filled it from the river. I brought it to a full boil then made spaghetti and sausage for dinner. I even had dinner rolls with garlic and butter to warm over the fire. After dinner I washed all the pots and pans and took the large pot back to the river to refill and boil for drinking water. KC was very impressed by the way I cooled the boiled water. I had place three large rocks in the water to keep the pot from washing away and set the pot in the river near the edge so that the river rose up to the bottom third of the pot. After an hour the pot contained clean, ice cold water.

The next day Lou and John went up river to the lake to see if there was better fishing there as no one had caught anything the day before. I stayed in camp and read for awhile, but KC soon got quite bored and I decided to break out a throwing knife I had just bought and teach him to throw. There were a few dead trees standing n the area from a fire many years ago and I selected one that had a wide trunk located where I was certain there was nothing beyond the tree like a turn of the trail or another campsite. So for a good bit KC and I took turns throwing the knife at the tree, walking up to it, walking back to our mark and throwing it again. Eventually, I went back to read and prep dinner. KC stayed and practiced with the knife.

I suppose he got bored with all the walking because he decided to throw the knife at a tree, walk to it and instead of walking back, threw it at another dead tree. Unfortunately, he missed the tree. Now, this tree was located just above the bank of the river. So his throw sent the knife spinning out into the river. Far beyond the point where either of us felt even slightly comfortable going after it. He felt really bad, and to be honest I was a tad upset with him for losing it for me.

Lou and John returned around lunch time and we discussed the idea of hiking back out the way we came in instead of taking the major uphill hike to reach the summit of Deer Park. I figured we could get to the summit in half a day, but it was all uphill and a lot of switchbacks. But the other direction would mean we’d have to leave a day earlier. We decided to stay with the original plan and KC and I hiked out without packs to where the car was parked so we could move it up to the summit for the next two days.

I was amazed at how poor the trail had been maintained all the way back to the car. I hadn’t noticed it on the way in but under a heavy pack you don’t necessarily notice as many details of the trail. Anyway, KC and I got back to the car in about 3 and half hours. These seems really fast but you must remember we were going downhill most of the way and we weren’t carrying a weeks worth of equipment. When we got to the car, I drove back out to the main road and headed for Port Angeles. We would have to pass through the city to get to the turn off for Deer Park. On the way we stopped at McDonalds and got some burgers and fries. Being hot out, I think we got ice cream cones, as well, to enjoy on our drive up the mountain. We discussed the idea of bring some burgers back for the others but decided they would be cold and greasy by the time we got back to camp.

The road up the mountain on the way up to Deer Park wound around the edge of the mountain. On one side was a sheer drop off going down hundreds and hundreds of feet. The other side was a cliff face going up just as far. That is until we came to the beautiful meadow of wildflowers. Before I describe the meadow in detail, let me describe the car.

This was back in the early nineties. Just after the neon splashes on picks ups and sporty cars went out of fashion. Of course, I was late getting the word and was the proud of a 1976 bright yellow four door Honda CVCC station wagon. Now, it is important to understand that no one but I thought it was cool. And to add to my car I had pinstriping running the length in both neon pink and lavender. And of course my windshield wipers were hot pink to match.

But let me get back to the meadow full of flowers. And bees. Many many many bees. Apparently every honey bee on the entire mountain came to this meadow to collect pollen. After all they had more colors of flower to choose from. And today they had the most promising day of their little bee lives. because up the dirt road came the biggest brightest most yellow flower, with pink and lavender pin striping and hot pink windshield wipers that they had ever seen! KC and I rolled our windows up as quickly as we could before the swarm overwhelmed us. The car was covered in bees and I could barely see out the windshield. But I floored it and tried to get away. But we were going up a very steep hill, and my car was not a fast car. Fortunately even under these conditions I managed to get up to 35 miles per hour and most of the bees were blown off. Unfortunately, honey bees can apparently fly about 35mph. I looked out the side window and saw hundreds of bees keeping pace with us. After a good while, most had given up and gone back to the less active flowers in the meadow. I figured we were also getting beyond the altitude they were happy with as the last bee disappeared behind us. And I had to pee.

So I stopped the car in the middle of the road (no shoulders to pull off on) and walked a couple dozen of yards up the road to whiz off the side of the mountain. No sooner did I have matters in hand, ready to go, than a fuzzy little honey bee caught up with me and decided to take a rest from his long flight on my… ding ding. Confucius say “Man can not take leak while insect with stinger is sitting on his manhood.” Turns out the ol’ Chinaman knows what he was saying. The bee and I had a little stand off. Neither of us moved. I’m not sure either of us breathed. KC was sitting the car wondering what the hell was taking me so long. When he got out and started walking towards me I tried to waive him off with as little motion as possible. I’m not sure if he got the message or if he just followed the code that states “Man shall not get to close to other man with penis hanging out”. Either way he stopped a fair way off and I screwed up the courage to explain the situation. I think maybe it was his hysterical laughter that finally motivated the bee to leave his perch and fly away. Thankfully I finished my business and returned to the car. I still carry the emotional scars from the trauma.

Finally we made it to the top and parked the car at the Ranger station. The Park Ranger came out to talk with us a little and we told him we had hiked in. He looked at us in wonder and told us that rail was closed because the park service had not come in to clear the trail for the season yet. He was surprised none of has twisted an ankle or hurt ourselves. I guess the closed sign must have fallen over in the storm. Now that’s a sign I may have heeded. We asked about the trail from the summit back down to our camp. He indicated that that trail was in pretty good condition, but also advised us that that trail made an elevation change of over half a mile in less than four miles. That, my friends, is steep. But we had made it in through a closed trail in disrepair so I wasn’t too concerned. So we started down the trail back to camp.

It was steep. And it was narrow. At many points you walked a trail along the edge of 100 foot drop offs with nothing but nasty looking boulders at the bottom. It took us all of one hour and fifteen minutes.

When we got back to camp we told Lou and John about our trek (except for McDonalds) including the bees and the trail.

The next morning, Lou approached me and asked if he could borrow my car keys. He and Lou wanted to hike up the trail to see it and take my car into town for the day. They left just after breakfast.

KC decided he would take care of boiling water for the day so I cleaned the breakfast dishes while he got water on the fire. When it was at a full boil he took it over to the river like I had done the day before. Except he felt it would cool faster if he put it deeper into the river. When he went to check on it a little later, it was gone.

When Lou and John got back they too were a bit put off by the steepness of the climb out. But they said they had a great time checking out Port Angeles and had refilled the gas tank for me. They also brought us some McDonald’s cheeseburgers. They were cold and greasy. But man oh man were they good.

That evening we had chili. Lots of chili. Any chili not eaten got thrown out so that I could use the can for boiling water for the next couple days. It didn’t work anywhere near as well as my old pot, but it worked. And no one let KC near it.

Speaking of KC. Now he was a problem child all trip. Throwing things and losing things in the river. And he would not shut up about how badly the latrine smelled. Now, none of us could smell it at camp, but it did smell like what it was when you were using it. That’s normal. A latrine smells like a latrine. An outhouse like an outhouse. So we kept telling KC to calm down and deal with it.

Unfortunately, his method of dealing with it was to not use it at all. He went out and made his own latrine. He imitated mine with a hole with a branch above it to sit on. But the first time he used it, the day before we were planning on hiking out, the branch broke under his weight and he impaled himself on part of it when he landed. He came scrambling back to camp with his pants halfway up and we could tell he was in a lot of pain. I grabbed my first aid kit and started check the injury. He had landed so that it had entered from near the hip and gone into his right cheek about 2 inches. The stick itself was more than an inch across. So I had to pull out the stick, remove several slivers then clean the wound and pack it with gauze. I slapped a big bandage over it and told everyone to start packing as we needed to get back to the car, and get KC to a medical clinic.

Everyone, including KC, pitched in and we were packed and ready to go in short order. Except for the garbage.

Lou had once again packed his pillow case in his pack and said he would carry the garbage out. I strongly suggested he rethink that, but he insisted. So we started up to the peak.

I could go on and on about what a monstrous pain that mountain was, how my knee ached with every step or how all of us were whining after an hour. But the thing that kills me more than anything is that when we go to the top, Lou did not have the garbage. He claimed that he slipped at some point and dropped the bag over the side of the mountain.

The one thing I was taught growing up is that you do not leave trash in the forest. It’s not good for wildlife and it just makes some place beautiful a little more ugly for the next guy. But I sure as well was not going back after it, especially if it really was at the bottom of some ravine.

Nothing unusual occurred on the ride back and KC ended up with four subsurface stitches and three more to close the wound. He also got a good dose of antibiotics just in case. After that, I dropped everyone off and went home.

I still love hiking and camping, but don’t be surprised if I change my plans based on the presence of a rainbow, black cat or any other “silly” reason. I can read the signs.

Camping isn’t like normal life as there is always something that bothers us. Like the crying baby piercing the night air or the incessantly barking pooch.

A favorite experience: One night we were in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows CG. I did not use a tent that trip. One night, the CG was overrun by bears. We heard them galloping by as we lay in our bags. Our food was stored in a safe, but something near our site attracted this curious bear who stopped for a sniff. And she sniffed and sniffed. We all lay there, frozen in our bags, until someone pulled out a whistle. The bear lifted her head, turned towards the noise and the light of a flashlight shone into her eyes.

The bear froze as did everyone in our campsite. Was she gearing for an attack or startled by our brazenness. We became braver – one person yelled, another clapped and another sang soprano and blew the whistle, then all in unison. Mama wasn’t welcome and backed off to locate another less challenging quarry.

My bad trip was with the bears. We were camping in the Adirondack about 5 years ago at Lime Kiln state park. The first night in we have a family of bears come down and take a gander at us and mossey off. There were 8 of them. So some one told me if you see bear and are concerned take some bleach and water and spray it all around and this will deter them from coming in youe site. For the next 2 nights we had no bear and I said it’s working. What a load of bull that was. The following night they all came right through the site checking everthing. They went into the coolers and took all the beer and juice. They turned everything upside down and in the mourning there was empty beer cans and Capri suns all through the woods and at another site across from ours. It was like the bears were watching us drink vodka and clean up their mess. I’ve been camping with bears before but this was the worst. The next mourning we are leaving to go to another camp and we pass the garbage building and it turns out it was right over the hill behind our site. No Wonder. Moral here is do not use bleach, it doesn’t work.

Wow! My bad camping experience pales in comparison to some of the dillies I’ve read here, but I’ll share it anyways. My family and I once went camping with a group of about 15 other people. Some of these people were friends; others were friends of friends. One guy we went with “doesn’t like people” so we ended up in a remote campsite that was a good 15 minutes away from the closest bathroom. The distance to the bathroom wouldn’t have been a problem if I hadn’t had to go in the middle of the night, but of course, I did! And no, finding a tree was not an option for me. On top of the 2am bathroom trip, the temperature dropped like a rock and I spent most of the night freezing in my -20 degree winter coat and shivering under mounds of blankets. The only good part about the 2am run to the bathroom was that it was invigorating and warmed me up enough so I was able to fall back asleep. Then, at about 3am, I was awakened by a tune on a cell phone that seemed to go on for an eternity. I didn’t hear anyone speak and wondered who would be calling at such a time. I learned the next morning that everyone in our campsite had been woken by the cell phone. Then our our friends’ friend piped up, “Oh, that was mine. I set my alarm so my wife can feed the baby!” Having had a baby myself, and knowing that a baby will TELL you when he is hungry, I was dumbfounded as to why someone would do that. And if this baby needed to be fed at a certain time for whatever reason, wouldn’t you think that it would make sense not to go on a camping trip with a group? What really got to me was that the guy didn’t even apologize for waking the entire campsite up. Oh, and I can’t forget the freeloader who was on the trip, too. He didn’t bring one single thing, including a tent or a chair, and mooched food off of everyone. Then at the end of the trip we stayed with our friends until the campfire was completely burned out while the friends of the friends headed out. I guess the moral of my story is to avoid camping with friends of friends – it’s not a good way to make new friends.

When I was a child I went camping with my parent to the beach, I was quite young and somehow I got lost, My mother was so panicked when she noticed me missing, they all thought that I had gone into the sea and was washed away, they frantically searched the water while I was actually lost in the dunes and shrubbery. Eventually I found my way back to them on my own but the whole experience left it’s mark on me. Now I am a parent and terrified that I could loose my children and not be able to find them so this year we are going camping in the mountains and I got new Tracfones for each of them. The Motorola W376 that comes with DMFL and a camera, FM radio, web access and blue tooth. They also have games like Suduko and Tetras built in which I think are good for math and co-ordination. Anyway, I got them on promotion for less than $30 which means that I only really paid something like $6 per phone considering what the DMFL costs. Tracfone is great because they are inexpensive so I’m not going to bite the kid’s heads off if they get damaged and they can’t run up huge bills. I at least have piece of mind now that I know they can cell me if something goes wrong.

Tribune Bay Campsite – Hornsby Island, BC, Canada.
The camp-ground from hell. One outdoor toilet for over 100 male campers, dirty, stinky (you couldn’t breathe inside it), and disgusting. Obviously hasn’t been cleaned or painted in years. Dogs defecating in camp sites. Dust everywhere. Impolite and harassing staff. Campsites are holes in the bush!!!!

Hey everyone, it’s Labor Day! I’m happy with my extra day off, and I am planning to doing something fun that will probably involve a car trip and seeing something new in Sandwich I haven’t seen yet.
You write new post on this Monday at the labor day? … HapPY bLOGGinG!

I can say that I have never had a bad camp out. That is because in my opinion, camping is all about the experience. I have come home cold, wet, muddy and miserable; but satisfied at the same time.

I’m an Eagle Scout, so I’ve been on a lot of camp outs. Some of my best experiences are having to evacuate my troop at 3:00 am with golf ball sized hail pounding us. Camping is all about self discovery, you can find so much about yourself when you’re trying to whittle forgotten tent stakes out of sticks, start fires with wet wood, and calm down the children who inevitably run through river nettle and also got their only pair of shoes and socks wet. You try to keep the knife play to a minimum, take the cell phones, get them to stop talking about video games, tell that they have to dig a hole when they need to poop, and put up with the fart noises that two of them always seem to make at night.

And I know that sound rough, but like I said, I think it’s the things you find out about yourself. I have spent too many nights wanting to go out a punch a few kids so they would shut up, I’ve had to sleep without a sleeping bag on 40 degree nights because somebody got theirs wet.

And even then, when I go camping without the troop, with just the simple joy and tranquility of the world around me; I can’t describe a better feeling in my life.

The one thing I can blame for the most tears shed on camping trips is expensive, low quality “Camping” equipment. I can go down the camping isle at any department and know which gear is crap and which is not. Every year I see my scouts go on trips with expensive new gear that is made out of cheap plastic, polyester, and rubber. I see so many “Water Proof” boots and coats leak in the rain and melt by the fire. Too many heavy plastic flashlights that break from a single drop, those unsharpenable stupid Swiss Army Knives, so many all-in-one devices whose gadgets interfere with each other (i.e. whistles that have compasses built in, the compass points at nothing but the metal clip built into the whistle), aluminum mess kits that bend under the slightest pressure and have so many pieces that they are almost impossible to get back into their original compact form, and finally cheap leaky tents. I have a deep seated loathing for cheap camping tents. The zippers will always break, they will always leak, they must be treated with the upmost care or the owner will be sorry. Is it so much to ask for a new tent that doesn’t cost over $200 and will last more than three to five years? The old Boy Scout tents are some of the best I have come across. The oldest my troop has are made out of canvas, CANVAS! They have a mesh door along with a pair of canvas doors to keep the rain out. And they go up with two aluminum poles and two ropes. Even the other polyester tents that we have are no where new, they have been in the troop for at least the ten years that I have been in it and have never suffered so much as a break in the zipper, tear or leak. They are small and were very inexpensive.

Well that’s my rant. I think there are no bad camp outs, just bad gear and sometimes annoying people you are stuck with (those people being human or not). The colder the morning, the crisper the air, the better.