Share some of your favorite camping stories

[rubicon327]

In college I went with my girlfriend (now wife...amazingly enough) to tent camp at a place in northern NJ called Round Valley Reservoir. You have to boat over or hike into the sites. Beautiful place that I had been many times with my family as a teenager. The lake is situated such that it funnels wind and is known to go from flat to white caps in minutes and has had quite a few drownings over the years. We took a canoe across with our gear for a couple of nights. When heading home a few mornings later we knew a storm was rolling in but packed up and decided to go for it. We got about half way across the lake and an incredible rain and heavy fog rolled in. We couldn't see 10 feet and had no bearing whatsoever. I just told my girlfriend to stop crying and paddle. I paddled as hard as I could for over an hour in dense fog and finally spotted the campers boat launch. After composing ourselves my wife said she would never go on that lake again without a motor. I was just glad it remained flat with no wind and we didn't get hit by another boat. We've been back many times since, now with our kids, but with a 14' runabout with an outboard motor. No more fog but I have had to cross with 2-1/2 foot waves and towing a canoe for some college gals that got blown ashore by our campsite.

http://njscuba.net/z-sites/round_valley_aerial.jpg

[cpaharley2008]

Something like this on Lake Michigan yesterday....

[David H]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Do I dare? I do When 18, my 17 year-old girlfriend and I went camping. We first tried to check in at a campground, I think it was Wekiva Springs in Seminole County, FLA. They wouldn't let us in as we weren't married(1971). So we found us a boondock site and all was great until about 3 A.M. when Deputy Dog rousted us. Will spare all the details but they weren't very happy they didn't find any contraband(I hid the Boone's Farm behind a tree) and hauled us in for trespassing.
Car got towed and I had to pay a $25 fine. Still- a great memory!

Did you share the story with your own teens when they were 18?

[Rossue]

Not for any particular reason, but no I didn't tell them at that age. Just did to my 26 year-old daughter and she thought it was a huge waste of resources. My son, now 23 didn't need any of that kind of role modeling- he probably just inherited it and I've said for a long time I was going to get some payback which I have, none too serious fortunately.

I remember it fondly now as it made me never want to go back to jail- which today that probably wouldn't happen for tresspassing- and made me want to get the heck out of Central FLA which back then was very redneck. Went to CA for a vacation with some CA natives who did not like it either shortly after this episode and never went back. Now its LTD baby!

[Dave Rosebaugh]

cpaharley, that photo sure looks like the Aerial Bridge in Duluth, MN. That would be Lake Superior.

[gbaglo]

Took my daughter and her friend camping well off the beaten track. I got back to camp after fishing and found they had packed up the tent trailer and wanted to go home. Her friend had gotten her first period. Campground store had limited supplies. Bought every panty-liner they had. Kids managed to cope another couple days, but I was under pressure the whole time to go home early.

[wetzk]

Mid 70's and my wife and I being a military family had a small tent to go traveling with. We stopped in Townsend Tenn and got a really nice campsite down by a stream in one of the small campgrounds. That night it started to rain, and quickly became a downpour. I'm woken by water in the tent and we quickly discover the creek is rising. So we grabbed as much as we could and moved it to the car. Wisely we decided to move it up by the road as in the morning where we had parked at the site was a malstrom. They did give us our money back for the site. We never did find the tent.
PS this is the hubby using the wifes account

[Mike Lewis]

About a dozen years ago or more I flew from my home in Maryland to New Mexico for a vacation. I took along my tent, as my first stop was an amateur astronomy "star party" in the White Sands Desert.

I landed in El Paso, rented a car, and drove north to the star party. I arrived after dark. I found my spot and tried to set up my tent. It was one of those bubble tents with a spring-loaded frame (I don't know my tent lingo) that I had used it only once before. The spring wind was blowing, and every time I got the tent set up a gust would come along and blow it away. Others had their tents anchored in the loose sand somehow, but I couldn't figure it out.

I had been traveling for ten hours and was exhausted. So when the wind blew the tent away for the third time I snapped. I chased the tent down, tossed it into the rental car's trunk, and drove into Alamogordo. I threw the crumpled up tent into a dumpster and got a room at a motel. That was the last of my tent camping.

Merry Christmas!

[dfandrews]

When our boys were still teenagers, we had camped for a week at Moro Bay State park, with a couple of other families. We had brought our two tents: one for us and one for our boys and a couple of their friends. the family next to us brought a tent trailer.
Results of the week:
--one night, we had all of our kids, from the 3 families, around the metal campfire pit, along with kids and adults from across the road. At one point, there was 34 kids and an unknown number of adults in a big, big circle around the fire, playing games, and having fun. Now, that's camping!!!
--My lovely wife (MLF), found that she was much more comfortable hanging out with other moms in the tent trailer.
--End of the week, both tents' zippers and flaps were no longer functionable.
Result: MLF declared that we are done with tents. I quickly agreed, of course.

Fast-forward to camping at Yellowstone (as part of a bigger trip to a variety of National and State parks): we had borrowed that afore-mentioned tent trailer, and were set up at the KOA at West Yellowstone. An afternoon/evening squall with accompanying winds came up. We were snug as a bug and dry in the tent trailer. The campers next door had a tent, but were away seeing the sights within Yellowstone. All their gear (tent, sleeping bags, etc. appeared to be brand new).
When they returned, we heard some wailing, some commotion, and a lot of activity, so we peeked out the window. They had found their tent with a bent center pole, 2-3 inches of water in the tent, and everything soaking wet. They packed up, hauled it all to a dumpster, and left; gone!
We love our Escape!

[Jim Bennett]

Just to be clear, tent camping can be done with great comfort. I have camped many 100s of nights in a tent, during lots of thunder and rain storms, and always stayed dry. Using good products and good sense is key to comfy camping no matter the style.

RV camping just adds more convenience when using campgrounds.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

RV camping just adds more convenience when using campgrounds.

Maybe for you, for me it means that my wife's traveling with me.

Ron

[padlin]

My most memorable camping seems to be when there is adversity. Natchez Trace SP in TN, stuck for 3 days, spending a night in the bathrooms through numerous tornadoes. If I ever run into open waterfront sites on what should be a busy weekend, I'll know better then to stay. This was when the Grand Ole Opry got flooded in 2010?

Canoe camping down the Allagash in ME. Crossing Umsaskis lake in a heavy wind and chop with a loaded canoe at dusk to get to the only camp site, 60 miles from town.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Maybe for you, for me it means that my wife's traveling with me.

Ron

Fortunately Lisa enjoys the backcountry too, and though would prefer sliding in the trailer, does not balk when a tent is the only option.

When we met I was a very active outdoor enthusiast, and she had done little outside of downhill skiing. She embraced most of what I did, short of technical climbing, which is probably one of the main reasons or relationship endured.

[float5]

Originally Posted by Dave Rosebaugh

cpaharley, that photo sure looks like the Aerial Bridge in Duluth, MN. That would be Lake Superior.

That is what I thought.

We were camping in the Duluth area in a tent during a big storm. I always think of that time and I am glad that we now have a trailer, so that one has a much better situation if a tree or branch falls.

[cpaharley2008]

I got it off the weather channel story about the sea fog across one of the great lakes, so that seems to be the correct prognosis.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

sliding

Sleeping

[float5]

I was wondering what kind of sliding she did. Lol

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by float5

I was wondering what kind of sliding she did. Lol

She refuses to let me divulge that information.

[float5]

Merry Christmas to you, too!

[Ian G]

One of our favourite camping stories happened with our new Escape 19'
We arrived at ETI in May 2014 to pick up our Escape, while we listened carefully to the orientation our 4Runner was being set-up with the Andersen hitch. With everything complete and the trailer attched we said our good-bye's and headed off to the ETI Customer Appreciation event in Osoyoos.

We had a great time at the event and when it was time to leave we realized this was the first time we were hooking up the trailer ourselves. This shouldn't be hard, we had been towing trailer for a number of years, the previous Casita had a WDH so the Andersen should not be a problem.

We hooked up the trailer and tensioned the chains on the hitch, all went well and although it probably took us twice as long as it does now we were please at how easy it was. Then Joan calmly says "Will the tailgate close with the trailer attached?". Nope, the tailgate hits the top of the tongue jack. this was a great lesson and we also got to practice unhooking the trailer, making sure the tailgate is closed, the hooking up again.

We have since upgraded the Andersen hitch bar with their long version so we can open and close the tailgate when everything is attached.