Best camping experience ever!

[dkramarczyk]

I don't remember most of my own camping experiences, but I would like to know yours. Feel free to share only a couple details or make a huge story about it. I think it will be very interesting.

The only story I can think of off hand is going camping at High Cliff in WI and swimming in the lake there, there was a bunch of weird tiny little green dots that were floating in the water. I'm not sure what they were or if it was even safe to swim in the water. I was under 10 so I really didn't care. But I found it especially funny that after getting out of the water, all those tiny green dots were all over my body. So me and my sister went the shower rooms and found out that there was a huge spider in there and then we didn't care about the green dots anymore. We decided to just towel it off. That day I had gotten a huge horrible sunburn (I have the skin that makes me a lobster) and I decided to just sleep in my swim suit on the ground in the tent and it was so nice and relaxing.

 

[Barney]

Nice story and good idea for a thread. I have quite a few stories but instead I will just state that each outing is a story in its own and you never know how interesting it may turn out to be.

 

[kcareconnections]

I think one of my best camping experiences ever was a three day camping trip. There were such beautiful landscapes to see and trails to explore. There was also a bridge to cross that was among one of the most amazing I haver ever seen. It is huge. Sadly it was destroyed by a tornado some years back.

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


I got mighty cold a couple of times...!!

 

[april222]

My best camping experience was also my first camping experience without my parents. I went on a camping field trip in Mount Diablo with my school or maybe with my Girl Scouts, I'm not sure on that. Anyway, we had been running around playing and hiking all day and was trying to go to sleep in our little sleeping bags. After a little time, I believe everyone was asleep except for me, I was still in that age of fighting my sleep.

As I was lying there looking at the trees and everything else a female deer had wondered up with 2 of her babies. One of them was a little braver than his or her sibling and walked right up to me and had actually came about two feet from me. I remember lying there holding my breath and wishing with everything I had for it to come just a little closer so that I could pet it. Of course it didn't, but I still remember that moment with a fondness.

 

[ppine]

Best camping has been on river trips and pack trips. Remote beautiful country with real food and adult beverages. Places like No Minn, nw Wyo, central Wash and so Colo. Northeast Nevada last fall at 8,500 feet was a lot of fun chasing the elk around. The Colorado River Canyon is a magnificent place to camp.

I miss the annual fall hunting trips with my Dad and 2 brothers. They got old and too fat to go. We hunted WY, CO, ID, AZ, SD, and WA.

 

[Pathfinder1]

April222

As I was lying there looking at the trees and everything else a female deer had wondered up with 2 of her babies. One of them was a little braver than his or her sibling and walked right up to me and had actually came about two feet from me. I remember lying there holding my breath and wishing with everything I had for it to come just a little closer so that I could pet it. Of course it didn't, but I still remember that moment with a fondness.


Hi...


I understand just how wonderful that experience must have been...!!

 

[Grandpa]

Only because of how simple it turned out to be and the satisfaction of knowing it could be done.

A friend and I were elk hunting in the Frank Church Wilderness. We took a long ride on the horses scouting for sign. Basically, it was a 30 mile horshoe set of trails with a 4 mile across the points to get back to camp. All went well, we found a good place to come back later to hunt except....yeah, that last 4 miles of trail had not been cleared of deadfall, dark was coming on, we were on a ridge at about 9000 feet, in two feet of snow and the wind was picking up. We sheltered up in a spruce/fir thicket just over the edge in the lee side. I found a good big down tree for a windbreak and another good deadfall nearby for firewood. Partner rubbed the horses down good while I got a fire going. I then just curled up in my poncho and had a good sleep. Partner was scared we were going to freeze to death so he stayed awake all night and kept the fire going. I woke up once and tried to get him to take my place but he wouldn't have it. We were both well dressed and I think we could have been comfortable without a fire. It was a real confidence builder for me. I'll never forget that night.

 

[TroyS]

The best camping experience I've had so far was when my dad, brothers and our sons went on an all boys camping trip last summer. For me and my brothers, it was great to finally get some time off from work and just hang out and enjoy the outdoors with our dad just like we did when we were younger. Sharing all those stuff with the boys, and seeing them really have the time of their lives made it priceless.

 

[mariaandrea]

Best experience ever... hard to pick... one year in early April the weather was unusually warm and sunny - in the 70's, which just doesn't happen here for a couple weeks in a row, and the forecast was amazing, so I impulsively asked for vacation time, took the kids out of school for a few days and went to the most popular campground in the state which is always booked up in the summer a year ahead of time. It's Deception Pass on Puget Sound, with an awesome bridge (you can see it in the movie 'The Ring') lots of great hiking, miles of beach, a swimming hole... and we had the campground practically to ourselves. Our section of it was empty except for us. Awesome.

 

[shaun]

My best camping experiences were when I was a young boy, with my dad and brother. I love camping now but nothing compares to the curiosity and feeling of adventure when you are a kid.

 

[ppine]

Maria,

Deception Pass is a spectacular place and one to be careful around. I have gone thru it a couple of times in large boats a little before and a little after slack tide. It is dramatic. The river kayakers play in the rips. Isn't the average max current abut 6-8 knots?

 

[ChadTower]

Heh, having grown up in NS, I'm actually fairly comfortable with places like that. They are all over the place in NS.

 

[ponderosa]

I have so many great memories...backpacking with my grandma and her sister, the first camps with our little girls, our honeymoon in Hawaii where we had 3 miles of beach to ourselves, lots of trips with my dad...

My favorite of all is a memory that happened many times. My grandpa was a great woodsman, but he was struck by severe arthritis in his 60s. He would come with us and car camp at the trailheads where we started backpacking trips. He would do a little fishing and reading, and wait for us to return several days later. On the last day of those trips, my grandma would remind us to watch for Grandpa. Sure enough, we would always find him making his way slowly up the trail, coming to meet us. He'd have his cane, and would have been walking a long time to get just a short distance up the trail, but he always came to meet us. My grandma would shout his name, drop her backpack, and run to greet him. They would hug and kiss, and walk the rest of the trail holding hands. He'd usually have a watermelon cooling in the creek or lake for us.

My grandpa died 18 years ago, and my grandma is now 88 and suffering from poor health. I often think about watching them hurry to embrace each other at the end of those trails, and I wish for the day that my Grandpa will come to bring Grandma home from this journey. She's tired, and it's time for them to be together again.

 

[Pathfinder1]

I have so many great memories...backpacking with my grandma and her sister, the first camps with our little girls, our honeymoon in Hawaii where we had 3 miles of beach to ourselves, lots of trips with my dad...

My favorite of all is a memory that happened many times. My grandpa was a great woodsman, but he was struck by severe arthritis in his 60s. He would come with us and car camp at the trailheads where we started backpacking trips. He would do a little fishing and reading, and wait for us to return several days later. On the last day of those trips, my grandma would remind us to watch for Grandpa. Sure enough, we would always find him making his way slowly up the trail, coming to meet us. He'd have his cane, and would have been walking a long time to get just a short distance up the trail, but he always came to meet us. My grandma would shout his name, drop her backpack, and run to greet him. They would hug and kiss, and walk the rest of the trail holding hands. He'd usually have a watermelon cooling in the creek or lake for us.

My grandpa died 18 years ago, and my grandma is now 88 and suffering from poor health. I often think about watching them hurry to embrace each other at the end of those trails, and I wish for the day that my Grandpa will come to bring Grandma home from this journey. She's tired, and it's time for them to be together again.

Hi...


What a beautiful story...!!

 

[ejdixon]

That first camping trip I had with my girlfriend in Bryce National Park. One of the best days of my life!

 

[harmony]

Pathfinder your beautiful story made me cry. How lucky your grandparents were to have found each other, and to have held on to their love their whole lives. Thank you for sharing.

 

[themanikin]

i broke my back in a motorcycle accident and could not sleep in anything but a hammock i went camping with my wife in febuary in mckinney state park in texas. temprature dropped so much when i woke up in the morning my hammock had frozen shut lol

 

[Judy Ann]

I have so many great memories...backpacking with my grandma and her sister, the first camps with our little girls, our honeymoon in Hawaii where we had 3 miles of beach to ourselves, lots of trips with my dad...

My favorite of all is a memory that happened many times. My grandpa was a great woodsman, but he was struck by severe arthritis in his 60s. He would come with us and car camp at the trailheads where we started backpacking trips. He would do a little fishing and reading, and wait for us to return several days later. On the last day of those trips, my grandma would remind us to watch for Grandpa. Sure enough, we would always find him making his way slowly up the trail, coming to meet us. He'd have his cane, and would have been walking a long time to get just a short distance up the trail, but he always came to meet us. My grandma would shout his name, drop her backpack, and run to greet him. They would hug and kiss, and walk the rest of the trail holding hands. He'd usually have a watermelon cooling in the creek or lake for us.

My grandpa died 18 years ago, and my grandma is now 88 and suffering from poor
Health. I often think about watching them hurry to embrace each other at the end of those trails, and I wish for the day that my Grandpa will come to bring Grandma home from this journey. She's tired, and it's time for them to be together again.

Thank you for sharing such a lovely story Ponderosa. You have a tremendous outlook on life and death. Your stories always inspire me and teach at the same time. Have you thought about publishing a few of you family lessons? Thank you for yet another blessing!

 

[ponderosa]

Judy Ann, thank you for that. You're too kind. Backpacking and hiking with my family has been such an important thing in my life...I don't know who I'd be without it. I'm definitely blessed and grateful for the life and family I've had. I've never thought of publishing anything. I have thought that I need to keep a journal.