What's The Worst.....

Paige · 08-31-2010, 07:24 PM

...experience you have ever had while camping. It can be anything. Just what is the worst time you've ever had?

I'm first soooo... The worst time I had while camping is when we went on an overnight hike into the woods, total wilderness, and I got food poisoning. I was not a happy camper. I got the food poisoning before we went into the woods but I didn't know it. My tummy was a little upset after we ate at a little diner on the way to the drop off point. But, by the time we got to our camp site, I was sick as a dog. We were so tired we couldn't go on so I threw up and shall we say, had other gastrointestinal upsets all night and then I had to hike back. My husband carried everything and just let me carry me but it was really hard. I didn't know if I would be able to hike all the way but I did it. I've never been so sick in my whole life. He had to take me straight to the local emergency room for fluids because I couldn't stop vomiting. I couldn't even keep water down at that point and I wound up staying overnight in the ER.

OK-your turn.

Gracy · 08-31-2010, 07:48 PM

Worst camping experience was a family memorial camp out with a big group of my ex-husbands family... about 15 either RV's or tents. The weekend started really great but quickly turned into a living nightmare. Long story short, one of the fishing buddies of the person we were there for the memorial service for (older grandfather man)..... he waited until we were distracted and at dusk took my just turning 2 year old daughter (who was NOT potty trained at all) off to bathrooms that were clear across the campground. WE FREAKED! I thought she was gone... had gone over a cliff or wandered off so everyone started looking for her and screaming her name.... what seemed like a lifetime went by (but I think it was only 5 minutes) and we hear someone yelling from the distance "She's here"........... and there they are walking back. This happened about 8 years ago and still makes me sick to my stomach... all I know is mn=y daughter was wearing overalls with a sweatshirt over them and when they walked back the sweat shirt was under them. I'll never know what happened in those 5 minutes but it hurts to think about. I almost killed that man that night.... and like it was nothing he got in his truck and just left.

Not sure if this was the kind of worst camping experience you were referring to but it certainly will always be my worst nightmare experience. Sorry

hummingbird · 08-31-2010, 07:50 PM

That's horrible Paige! I would have never made it!

Let's see, we went camping once when we hadn't been married too long. I was fascinated but I didn't know one thing about the outdoors or what to do. We had been wandering around and my husband left me resting on a rock and went around some trees to explore a creek and get us some fresh water to boil for the next day. So I'm looking around and I see the prettiest shiny leaves. I was making an album of leaves and plants to label later so I picked a couple to put in my album. I put them between waxed paper between the pages of a book I had with me which I was using to press these specimens between.

I didn't mention it to him because he knew what I was doing and by the time he came back I was done. The next morning, I woke up and had a rash from head to toe (it felt like). You guessed it, I had picked poison ivy for my specimen book. I was miserable and thank goodness we weren't far from the camp site because I had to have steroids to make the swelling go down.

I now know what poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac looks like. I can spot it in flower and in berry when the leaves have fallen. I learned that little lesson well.

Next!!

hummingbird · 08-31-2010, 07:53 PM

Oh my gosh Gracy! I would have killed him before he could have said anything! I'm so sorry you had such an experience like that. Your children are precious and you hate to think anything like that would have happened.

Gracy · 08-31-2010, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hummingbird

Oh my gosh Gracy! I would have killed him before he could have said anything! I'm so sorry you had such an experience like that. Your children are precious and you hate to think anything like that would have happened.

Yeah tell me about it! I think its also one of my biggest regrets... not bashing his head in..... nope he just got in his truck and left as the family (oddly enough) held me back. Needless to say that nailed the coffin for the divorce...... very sad series of events.

Camoguy · 09-01-2010, 05:14 PM

That's horrible Gracy! I would have to say that is the worst experience I've heard of! No wonder you divorced the guy who wouldn't take action on that one. You weren't able to take action on it so I wouldn't beat myself up about it. But if you ever saw him again......

Newanderthal · 09-02-2010, 10:54 AM

I was under an overpass outside of Saraland, Alabama last year. I'd walked about 22 miles that day, dealt with the crooked Mobile cops and the rude a##holes that inhabit that city and was finally settling down for a nap. There were two homeless people under the overpass with me. They didn't seem to mind my presence. Then they started snorting some kind of random drug and I decided that it was time for me to move along. When I started off, they got up and started following me. The guy started yelling at me. I'd injured my ankle previously and couldn't outrun them, especially with my pack. So when they threatened to kill me if I didn't turn over my bag, I pulled my knife (it's large, vicious and sharp). They retreated and I got to keep my stuff, but had to hike another 3 miles to find a suitable campsite.

HikingGuy · 09-02-2010, 09:22 PM

Back in high school a bunch of us went camping back to an isolated spot, many other campers showed up and their kids caught some eels, they ended up throwing them at me and my friends and subsequently ruined our tent, we ended up packing everything up and leaving in a torrential downpour, was the worst camping experience ever!