Last week I was talking to a buddy and the conversation ended up going into a discussion about camping. He was telling me that he was going camping with his son and wanted to know if I have ever done that, liked doing that and would ever consider doing that?
Then we started chatting about funny camping stories and found ourselves laughing up a storm at stories we have heard in the past.
My funniest camping story was when I was in college my buddies and I had rented a tent, all the other stuff and drove down to Cape Cod to rent a camping spot. We were all excited except one thing didn’t cooperate the weather of course… It basically poured and we couldn’t set up the tent. Ok I am not handy but my friends were and after battling the elements for a few hours, we ended up in a hotel room and tossed the tent in the corner for the weekend.
Ok stop laughing please – we tried and failed. Actually I am not a camping guy and hope I don’t have to do it anytime soon.
Ok your turn:
- Do you like to camp?
- Have you run into any animals in the wilderness?
- Any funny camping stories to share?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Tara Cantore says:
I’m actually going on my first ever camping trip at the end of June in Myrtle Beach. My mom is coming with me, and she has never been camping before either. I have a feeling the entire experience is going to be a riot…and there will be lots of funny stories to tell after the experience.
janet says:
I’m out. My husband is the camper in the family and he knows better than to ask me. When my friends and I all went whitewater rafting, they camped, I stayed in a hotel. The last time I camped was over 4th of July many years ago with my then young daughters. One threw up all over the tent and no water close by. That was my swan song.
My husband has many wild stories including coming face to face with a mama bear. My last words to him every time he drives away headed for the mountains are “dont’s get eaten by a bear”. So far so good.
Lisa Lockwood says:
Hey Merrill! We used to camp all the time when I was a kid. We owned a giant, 4-room family tent and camping was the vacation Mom could always afford. When my parents divorced, my aunt started going camping with my mom, my sister and me. I think she only did it to keep Mom company because she was NOT the outdoorsy type by any stretch. The thing she hated most about camping were the spiders. Of course, my sister and I would torture her all weekend long by catching the biggest spiders we could find and giving them to her. Remembering her shrieks of fright at the sight of a Daddy-Long-Legs make me giggle to this day. Thanks for stirring up the great memories!
Debra Semans says:
I’m out as well. The family joke is that my idea of roughing it is a three-star hotel. Camping? No thank you! My son loves to camp and is always asking, but so far I have successfully avoided it.
Jami Pulley says:
I haven’t camped since I was a little girl. When my youngest gets a bit older I would like to attempt it. Camping with a 9 month old sounds miserable to me, but I’m always up for a family vacation in a hotel. I do participate in hunting trips with my husband. The meanest thing I’ve encountered is a deer several feet away. I have personally killed a Copperhead snake by my back door, and we have caught two more in the garage. So, I almost feel like I go camping by just walking out my back door.
Tim Sunderland says:
Twenty-eight years ago my wife and I gathered the kids (we had four then), packed them into our VW camper van, and traveled to a campground to meet my parents and a group they camped with. I knew these folks to be a fun-loving gang and bull sessions stretched well into the night. But on this particular Saturday evening everyone turned in early, including our kids. We were left unsupervised. Kid number five arrived nine months later.
The other memorable camping trip (there have been many) was 16 months later when we thought we’d catch Yosemite in the early spring. It was one of those vacations where we had just enough money to get up there and back and buy some food.
They didn’t have weather.com in those days, and I had not done my homework. Spring was another two weeks away. The snow was 12 feet on both sides driving in and the valley was just below the snow level. We had planned four days, but as we drove in, I was thinking we might have enough money for one night in the lodge–my wife and I with five kids in one room–and then turn around and go home. We scraped together enough money to buy a bottle of Kahlua to spike our coffee.
Two rainy days in a tent and I told my wife that we needed to go home the next day. But we awoke to clear skies and warm temperatures. I even called my boss and asked for an extra day.
Rachel Campbell says:
IN! 100%
Camping is one of my two favorite pastimes (caving the other…)
My husband and I went camping one weekend where we were meeting some friends. We didn’t have a signal at our site so he left to head to the rangers station to see where they were while I tended to dinner. Long story short, something else was rather interested in my cooking and by the time my husband came back, he shined his light on our site to me next to the fire with a knife in one hand and a giant spatula in the other, circling around to ‘protect’ our food! (that was my first fox spotting)
Another trip at the same campground, we went on my birthday weekend which happened to be a full moon (and mid October in the south). My husband thought it was cute to bring his Jason mask and put it on the car so that I would get scared…alas, first thing the next morning, he almost jumps out of his skin when he walks up to the car to get something…it was an amazing trip though…we woke up with snow on the ground and 3 deer grazing in the field right in front of us
We have seen an owl in the middle of the day too and there is nothing more amazing than watching the stars with my kiddos in the middle of nowhere
Merrill Dubrow says:
Rachel,
A fox and deer that is really cool. Glad there was NO snakes!
Thanks for sharing.
Merrill
Jonathan says:
I love camping or at least I did – I haven’t camped in about 15 years, but I plan to take it up again as soon as my kids are old enough. As for animal encounters…I’ve camped with rattlesnakes in West Texas and tarantulas in Palo Duro Canyon. I’ve been surprised by a fox sitting on a boulder hacking up a hairball outside our campsite and chased by havelina in Big Bend National Park. And while on a 70 mile backpacking trek in New Mexico had bears come through our campsite looking for food. Lot’s of great experiences.
Amber Leila Esco says:
I don’t do nature…..
Ron Crane says:
Communing with nature is a fantastic experience. But, as the sun sets in the, I think, Western sky, a shower, a/c and a good meal are the perfect end to a day of “camping”
Ron
Naomi Walters-Lenoci says:
I have camped twice in my life and it was two – to many times. I did learn that if you take several bottles of wine you can get help to set up your tent! I also found out that you cannot and should not put a candle into your tent for “atmosphere!” They would not let me do that so we just put the candles closer to the campfire. A hotel room, with a door that locks, a real bed sounds great to me! My daughters still laugh about our adventures – thank goodness!
John Castellano says:
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York we do not camp. I have had a few occasions when I was <35 to camp and it never thrilled me. I prefer stepping into a sparkling, crystal clear pool to a mucky cold, dark lake. I like knowing my food is kept under refrigeration. I have evolved and have no real desire to start a fire let alone cook a chicken over it on a stick. If I roll over during the night I'd prefer not to end up laying on a stone.
pbracken says:
Sorry to be so shallow….. I prefer camping at a 5**** hotel.
Dan Krason says:
I used to snub my nose at campers when I wenr backpacking… Campers have their cars nearby while backpackers pay their dues and hike for a few hours before finding an idyllic spot…. Times change, though — and I’ve learned that camping is very kid-friendly. My 5-year old daughter still thinks it was the coolest thing in the world when we heated a can of spaghettios over a camp stove last year. Who knows, maybe we’ll start backpacking when they get older…