CAMPING STORIES

[RedRaven]

Do you enjoy camping?... Share your stories of adventure...

Maybe even share a good campfire ghost story, under a star filled, moon lit sky... :shock: :wink:




Boo!... Woof!... Boo!.... Woof! Woof!... BOO!

[shyykatt]

My 'camper'; (needs to be finished in the dressing room area yet, but its a lot better than the tents or back of a pickup like we used to do lol)

[Roadhog]

I started camping as a youngster. I would spend almost the whole summer camped out in the back yard. I built a TeePee, but soon learned to get up in the trees...so I built tree forts. Every little sound on the ground...especially with big shadows...freaks you out too much...I don't care who you are...or how old.

Our back yard was wooded, and hilly...with lots of critters around...like Bear, skunks and such...but we thought nothing of it. My earliest job was to get up at night and chase the Bear out of our yard when they came in to pick our trash...with pots and pans. Mostly it was raccoons though. They'd even tip our outhouse over. I was like 8 or 10 I think before we had an indoor toilet.

As I got older...I was allowed to camp further away from the house.
Mostly would go sleep on the sand dunes of our beach. (couple blocks away) But that was only until it became obvious I had an interest in girls. (15)



I still would sneak out of the house...but getting back in was tricky.

I have so many stories. Of course the most memorable are the moments of danger. One time...my Dad and I were camped on the ground in the Rockies of Montana...I was 12 years old...and a pretty big boy...but I woke in the morning with a Timber Rattler who decided to share my warmth through the night. He was so big...he made me look like a twig.

Another time...camped in the California Sierra Nevada foothills with my horse...with the dim light of the campfire...it looked like the ground was moving. Shined my Coleman lantern...and the place was crawling with Tarantulas. Actually...they weren't as scary as the scorpions. Saw more than my share of them too.

Scariest moment of ever...was when I was like 10 years old. I was camped with a bunch of my friends...and it was a pitch black night...with billions of stars twinkling....all except this one. It was more like pulsating. And changing colors...with erratic movement. I'm certain I was changed that night. Not sure completely how though. Still a great mystery.

[madpuppy]

I live in the mountains, so when the kids were young and wanted to camp, I`d tell them go on we will leave the door unlocked. Now my idea of camping is a suite at a 5 star Hotel! 8)

[RedRaven]

ShyyKatt, funny you mentioned camping in the bed of your pick up truck...

Since I've had my 4x4 pick up, that's how I go camping... I have a 2 person tent, toss it in the bed of my pick up, and I'm all set... Works out great when you want to camp somewhere remote... That way you don't have the wildlife creeping up on you in the middle of the night... :wink: Before I got the tent, I used to just toss the sleeping bag in the bed, and camp out under the stars, but, you have to make sure you use plenty of Mosquito spray... :P

I take the dogs with me, and we manage... They'll let me know if they hear anything rustling around in the woods at night... :shock: I keep them tethered though, so they can't chase whatever maybe passing through the area...

Now, I prefer camping in remote places, traditional camp sites are o.k. if you want to use a campfire. But, I don't care for the noise from people using radios, or hearing cell phones... After all the point of camping is to get away from all that, to me anyway... :wink:

Just you nature, and peace, and quiet...

I've had some fun camping trips with friends. One time while camping with a friend, we had brought fresh peanuts in the shell with us. We camped at a traditional campsite. Well, apparently the wild squirrels, and chipmunks in the area had been used to be fed by campers... We would hold peanuts in our hands, and they would come up on the picnic table, and take them from our hands... It was cute... :wink: 8)

What was funny that trip was, that when my friend ran out of peanuts to feed this one chipmunk. He chased her around the campsite, looking for more peanuts... He just wouldn't take no for an answer...

It was funny, she took photos of us feeding them... That was a fun camping trip. The best part was going swimming in a local waterfall, that ran through the mountain range we picked for our camping trip...

I do enjoy a traditional campsite once in a while, when I want to have a campfire, and roast some marshmellows, though for the most part, I like to go camping at my favorite remote secret places... You get to see the Moose, Porcupine, Raccoons, deer, etc... haven't come across any bear yet, though I've found their tracks... I like exploring the woods, and meadows, looking for animal tracks, I've found deer, coyote, and Moose tracks...

I just enjoy being out in nature...

[Jackrabbit379]

I love camping. Ahh what fun! Here is my idea of camping.



:P

[Roadhog]

Goll Blimey..Guvna...I didn't figure you for a Red Coat!

[Jackrabbit379]

Goll Blimey..Guvna...I didn't figure you for a Red Coat!

Well, my collar is blue :P

[RedRaven]

Another type of "camping", I enjoyed was, spending some weekends on my parents Yacht (Sailboat).
We would go sailing off the ocean coast line, and fish off the side of the boat. My favorite time to sail was when there were high winds, and white caps on the waves. I'd have that yacht heeled over so far, you could touch the ocean from you seat (if you were on the low side)... It was funny to have those seated on the low side, get hit with spray coming over the bow...

At the end of the day we would tie up to the mooring, and spend the nights sleeping over on the boat...

Kind of like a camper on water... There's something about the ocean air, that by the end of a days sail, your good, and tired. Sleeping on the boat was great, it was like being rocked in a hammock. The motion just makes you doze right off to sleep...

It was fun at night on the boat, most of the time the water was calm like a mill pond, and the quiet was wonderful... Night fishing was great... You could catch Flounder, Skate (a type of stingray), or, other types of fish...

One time we were fishing during the day on the boat, and my mother actually caught a Lobster just using a drop line... It grabbed onto the bait, and refused to let go... Well, needless to say it was of legal size, and she had it for dinner that evening...

We've seen basking sharks, whales, and other marine life, sailing... It's a relaxing way to spend a weekend, and get a great tan as well... :wink:

[Shawnee]

Camping is one of my favorite things to do, I always tent it, anything else is not really camping. I like back country camping in remote places, you have to bring all of you stuff with you in your canoe. No facilities, no other people around, just you and mother nature. You havn't gone camping until you have gone back country camping.

[ben45750]

I love camping. Ahh what fun! Here is my idea of camping.



:P

Ditto!

[ybwen]

Yes, I worked for a wilderness residential youth camp in the Fl. Everglades-as a counselor, slept 5 nights a week in an open air semi-permanent tent (I had trouble sleeping inside when off duty because there was no background noise). With a promotion, I slept during the daytime and roamed 300 acres of wilds everynight.

There are few jobs that allow you to see some of the amazing sights I saw there-from sunsets/rises, hurricanes, 80* in february, etc. But the most amazing thing was the abundant wildlife-tracking a 200 LB panther, seeing a juvenile panther right outside a coworkers home, watching a hawk and getting the feeling of being watched-seeing a bobcat watching me when I look up, the large whitetail deer, gigantic wild hogs, snakes of many kinds, lizards, spiders, and flying monkeys (tiger and regular mosquitoes big enough to carry you away!), and of course aligators.

The wildlife itself was great, but almost as good was that it set the scene for good pranks on coworkers. I worked at night, walking up to 20 miles per night alone, in the everglades most of the time without a light (saved on batteries and let me move without letting people know I was around); by contrast, most other people were terrified of the dark woods-including those that had to be in them. One night, I set my boss up good. He usually tried to show tough love to the kids there-and acted like he was tough. Well, I waited for him to leave a campsite while I hid in the dark-when he was only a couple feet from me, I snarled loudly while making "claws" with my hands by my face (think scooby doo like)-this poor guy did 4 things at once-jumped about 2 feet up, crouched in the air, swatted with one hand and squealed like a 5 year old! When he landed, he couldnt even curse at me because there were kids nearby. He never did pay me back for that...

[Slimland]

Ahh Camping--I love camping living in the wild, well when I was a kid I did.. The cold didn't matter, niether the heat.. But I remmember! Thankyou for bringing that back!

Slimland