Worst camping story..

[Flygal]

I assume we all have this story somewhere. Good trip gone bad. I remember a trip from Spokane to Arkansas with four kids, one sour aunt, and a chevy luv pickup that had a canope and a piece of plywood over the wheel wells to divide the space into two sleeping areas. Lets just say I was the crying child being purposefully ignored despite my taping on the back window since the truck had no sliding window dividing the two parts. Tap tap tap tap tap tap....she stopped when she wanted and only when she wanted so we learned quickly not to consume to much. Funny this seems like a great camping memory now. Whats yours...Brandy

[Ron Wrighton]

Your Chevy Luv had windows?

[Flygal]

Your Chevy Luv had windows?

It was a very small white pickup..thought it was a LUV pickup very distant memory...The window that would be behind the driver that nowdays some truck owners put a slider in to access the back. Still trying to purge this memory

[Byron Kinnaman]

Here's mine..
4th of July week end. We shouldered our packs on very warm summer day. Short sleeves and shorts were the uniform of the day. We hiked about 6 miles to a beautiful lake (elevation around 5500ft) with a fantastic view of The South Sister in the Three Sister's Wilderness, Oregon. We set up camp, enjoy the view and pleasant evening. A few skeeters, but no too bad. Next day, another warm sunny day. We packed up and decided to head for another lake on the West side the Cascades. So up and over the crest we went. We met a group of college age guys coming the other way. We asked for a skeeter report. One poor guy in his shorts and short sleeve shirt looked like one big skeeter bite. We talked a bit and decided that we would go back to the crest where we had seen a couple pretty lakes a short way off the trail. We set up camp right between these two lakes, sat and relaxed to enjoy the evening and discuss the next days plans. As the even grew on the temperature started getting colder. The warm clothes started coming out of packs. Mist started forming over the lake, not a good sign. By the time we were ready for bed we had all of our warm clothes on. Sometime during the night the winds came up a bit, sounds of something falling on the tent would come and go. Anne asked me what that was, we both knew it wasn't rain. With the wind I said, "it's just pine needles". About the time it got light I was getting so cold that I needed to do something. Got up and the noise was sleet. There we were with a cold rain mixed with sleet. I put up a quick plastic tarp and sat down, heated water and started eating instant oat meal as fast as I could make it. I still couldn't get warm. It evident that we needed to start back to the trail head. We packed up, wet and cold wearing everything we had. Shoulders our packs, put ponchos on, along with rain chaps were already wearing. These things don't breath. Off we went walking and shivering. About 1 hour later I was able to start removing some layers of clothing. I know if we had waited much longer I might not be here today, hypothermia is nothing to fool with.

[dsheets70]

I remember before I graduated High School, my best friend Jim (now a Forrester and soil scientist) and I went backpacking in Sapillo Creek in the Gila Wilderness of southern New Mexico. We hiked in about five miles when the monsoon started up. Pouring Rain was immense. We always counted on being near a clean (relative with filtering or iodine) water source.
During the second day, heard a rumbling sound from upstream. Apparently the creek had flooded and all we could find for miles was murky muddied water. This was disheartening to say the least because we needed silt free water to filter. When the rains come to New Mexico in July, they stick around for a week straight. We braved it on up the canyon for a day. That night we were both trying to find a “dry” spot to setup a tent and wait out the rain. The sides of the canyon were steep and the only land we could find was an island in the middle of this river. We pitched the tent on this island and bedded down to wait out the rain. Later on that night, we finally gave that idea up due to the two inches of water “inside” the tent. We dismantled the tent and tried to find something above water to lay out the bags and tent. I can’t remember if we were successful, but we spent the night curled up in rain ponchos.
The next morning the sky was blue and clear. We hadn’t had anything warm to eat or drink in 24 hours. At 10am that morning, we finally had dried out enough to get the stove out and cook. That was the best freeze dried spaghetti I’d ever had.
I’ve always cursed those type of trips, swearing that I would never do that again, but each time I went I was glad I did

[Adrian W]

Nothing like a flooding canyon, but in high school and while home during summer vacation during college I did my camping on South Padre Island, we had cool breeze off the Gulf a lot of room to jeep on the beach and over the dunes (can't do that legally now days). Had some great days and night, always cool nights sleeping. Except one night after I was married and I wanted to show my new bride were I loved camping out, the wind stopped. What woke us up and kept us awake was not the heat but mosquitos. We were sleeping out under the stars on the beach. What we need was a tent or at least a screen tent. We had move off the army style cots and more inside to sleep in my '65 Mustang. It was a little warm but not as bad a
the mosquitos.

[steven jones]

back when i was 16, a friend & i went to the campground my family had been traditionally frequenting since i was a little kid... except that my friend & i chose to go during the busy season, 'cuz we were mostly interested in meeting girls...
we setup 2 tents, one for us, one for our bikes... the first night it began to rain @ 9pm... no big deal, as we were on high ground, & figured that we could weather the storm... the storm gradually got severe... at about 11pm, the tornado siren went off, & we scrambled for the only solid shelter, the toilet/shower facilities... we were crammed in there with about 80 other people for almost an hour before the storm let up... the tornado had touched down a few miles away, but the storm winds/rain had made a huge mess of the park... there were tents blown down everywhere, & debris scattered all over... we managed to get one of our tents back up, but couldn't sleep in wet gear...
some campers managed to get a few bonfires going, & people huddled around them for the rest of the night... the local sheriff came by to check on the area, but nobody was injured...
the next morning, we cleaned up our site, hung the gear up from tree limbs to dry, & helped others clean up & sort the debris, which was mostly other people's camping gear & blown-over garbage bins... a couple of small stickie-trailers got blown over, & it took a group of people to flip them back upright... by the early afternoon, it was 80+ degrees out, & everything was starting to look like a campground, again... the rest of the week was an enjoyable camping experience...
--- steven

[Connie M.]

Hiking down the creek in Escalante Canyon, slipping and badly spraining my ankle.
Dave getting hypothermia as we hiked over a pass in the Wind River Mtns, and having to set up camp very quickly just below the pass.
Camping and wandering all around Goblin Valley, then big wind the next day, and oh-so-gritty.
Getting heatstoke hiking down to Spanish Bottom, and recovering in the shade of a big rock, then friend puts raft in the Colorado, gets swept out to mid-river, just above Cataract Canyon, but paddles like mad and makes it back.
Spilling a milkshake all over myself on the drive down to big backpacking trip. No spare jeans.
Getting snowed on during another trip to the Wind Rivers, forgot warm pants.
Getting a flat tire on little teardrop trailer coming to Alaska, then dropping tongue on our feet as we unhitched, but Dave's steel-toed boots saved us both.
Poking holes in our thermarests that were stored under teardrop trailer foam mattress, when I decided to trim the foam away from the doors.
Dog throwing up all over the truck camper on first day of a 10day trip around Alaska.
Crossing a roaring creek on a low wet log in the Idaho Primitive area, friend falls in, current's holding her down, both husbands dance across log and scoop her out.
Hiking up Mt. Borah, end up helping with first aid and stuff, as young man in group ahead of us slipped down a snow chute. Interesting to watch a helicopter rescue.
A few unpleasant campground hosts, though most are quite pleasant and interesting.
Never really had a bad camping trip - some were just better than others!

[Morgan]

On a trip to Mazatlan with another couple, I headed for the beach immediately with the other wife. I ran out and dove through a wave. When I came up, she said, "Weren't you wearing glasses?" I went to a Mexican optometrist and got new glasses after three days.

The next year on a rafting trip down the Colorado, on the first night I went down to the river to wash up before dinner. I laid my glasses (now with a new head band) on the raft and proceeded to clean off the day's sweat. I felt the raft move as someone stepped into it. I spent the next six days enjoying the view rather myopically.

The next year when we started discussing vacations, my wife said, "We could save money by staying home and flushing your glasses down the toilet."

[Alf S.]

On a trip to Mazatlan with another couple, I headed for the beach immediately with the other wife. I ran out and dove through a wave. When I came up, she said, "Weren't you wearing glasses?" I went to a Mexican optometrist and got new glasses after three days.

The next year on a rafting trip down the Colorado, on the first night I went down to the river to wash up before dinner. I laid my glasses (now with a new head band) on the raft and proceeded to clean off the day's sweat. I felt the raft move as someone stepped into it. I spent the next six days enjoying the view rather myopically.

The next year when we started discussing vacations, my wife said, "We could save money by staying home and flushing your glasses down the toilet."

Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Domenica and Sheila]

I love all the stories!! Thanks for sharing them.

Here is one of our worst and one of our best.

Feb 05’ we drove our 1994 F150 to Rice Texas to pick up our Casita. The drive there was uneventful outside of an 800-mile day driving fast in front of an ice storm coming in from the west. The rest of the trip went something like a country western song. Instead of, all my x’x live in texas, we sing all my mechanics live in Texas and Nevada.

The first mechanical need was at the Casita factory; we found a big lug nut imbedded in our tire while hitching up our new Casita. We left our new Casita at the factory and headed to Corsicana were they repaired the tire, thank goodness (cause we made a big mistake of keeping our snow tires on for the trip – and they don’t sell snow tires in texas!). We made two good friends in this shop – both real Texans. Next, we headed to our first night of camping on Richland Chambers Lake and the water lines were frozen and the bathroom was locked – we were very happy when they opened the store in the morning.

Next, in Aransas Pass we decided we had to have air shocks to improve our towing experience.

Our transmission died in Quartzite, Az and we limped to Blythe, Calif to a recommended transmission shop. Now this was after we sat in line at the only mechanic in Quartzite for two hours without talking to anyone. Our new friends in Blythe towed our trailer to a campground on the Colorado River, after taking us to the bank to withdraw cash for half of the payment. The job took a week and we did not get a rental car for the first four days – in fact, we finally got the rental car when they called another name at our number and asked for directions. What can I say, not something I’m proud of, but we had eaten everything out of our pantry and the camp store and the only place that delivered was a really bad pizza place. We made the best of the rental car and after a week or so, picked up the truck, hitched up the trailer and headed to our friends house in Vegas for a needed break from driving.

Our last mechanic was in Wells, Nevada were all the campgrounds were closed due to a landscape of frozen tundra. We pulled into the mud puddle they called free camping and then pulled out and straight into the local motel. Next day, a new very loud noise, and a puddle of water under the truck and onto our final mechanic of our month long trip. Not much was needed; just a few bolts tightened on our new transmission. But what a wonderful shop and a great crew. Maybe I said our last too soon. On the way out of Wells, we filled up at the gas station and the owner ran out and said – do you hear that? And in a hurried voice, ordered us to open the hood. After he described in detail our demise if we did not let him fix it, we told him thanks for the info, but we have a great mechanic in town, which in turn told us we had no such problem, and the gas station was known to find problems for all their spare parts.

Now you may thing we had a rough trip – but we had so much fun in Texas and loved everywhere we stayed, in fact we fell in love with Alpine/Marfa area so much that I’ve only just stopped planning our relocation. And you might say Blythe?!?, but the surrounding areas have so much to offer.

Lastly, I’ll add for all you capable individuals. We did have our old truck check out ahead of the 5000-mile road trip – can you imagine what the trip would have been like if we didn’t.

[CharlynnT]

I told this one before the hack, so forgive me if you've heard it before.

We were camped beside a local river where a lot of people were fishing during the day. It was starting to rain, and an angler told us the river would swell because the rain would be heavier upstream.

We were parked a good 20 feet from the water's edge and so weren't too worrried. But we did place our new plastic flamingo at the water's edge, figuring that if the water reached her wings, they would stop whirring in the river's breeze, and we'd know she was under water.

By suppertime, it had stopped raining at our spot, but it was still pretty dark upriver.

It was about 7 am when hubby woke up and started making coffee. After he removed the perc from the stove, he noticed another sound had stopped: the flamingo's wings!

Looking out the window, he could see not only was the river over the top of the bird's wings, her head was also under, and our Boler was now just a few feet from the water's edge.

We went from full camp mode to travel mode in record time: seven minutes.

The small puddle we had splashed through the night before had disappeared, as it was now a deep channel in the rushing river.

"Gun it!" I shouted, holding the coffee pot. Hubby put the pedal to the metal and I looked back to see our wonderful egg ACHIEVE FLOTATION for the five yards or so til we reached the road and higher ground.

Kid says, "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

Inspecting the unit once we reached a level spot, it was all ship-shape inside!

We had wondering what to call our new plastic friend, now we had it: "Flo the Watch Flamingo."

Oh, and I didn't even spill a drop of coffee.

So I guess that's a GOOD camping story, eh?

[Kurt in BC]

I'll share a quick one.....

Brought my Boler to a site near our house (Silver Lake in Hope) on a Friday of the Canada Day long weekend to reserve a spot for my 2 year olds first camping trip. Got a great spot, set everything up and then left my trailer there to come back the following morning with my wife and daughter.

Went grocery shopping packed the supplies and my wife and I had a late dinner while our daughter was in bed. We were leaving as soon as we got up in the morning.

As we sat down for our late dinner my phone rang. It was work calling at 9:30 pm. Got called into work on an "issue" that was bound to interfere with out trip.

Went to work that night (all night) and into the next day. My wife and daughter waiting for me to get finished at work so we could go.

Got so tied up with work that on Sunday night at about 10:30 pm had to drive back to the camp site to load all my stuff up and drag my trailer back home. Camping trip cancelled before it even started. It was quite depressing packing and hooking up in the dark while the rest of the families were sitting around their fires together enjoying their weekend. My wife and daughter were not impressed

Thats my story.

[CharlynnT]

I'll share a quick one.....

Brought my Boler to a site near our house (Silver Lake in Hope) on a Friday of the Canada Day long weekend to reserve a spot for my 2 year olds first camping trip. Got a great spot, set everything up and then left my trailer there to come back the following morning with my wife and daughter.

Went grocery shopping packed the supplies and my wife and I had a late dinner while our daughter was in bed. We were leaving as soon as we got up in the morning.

As we sat down for our late dinner my phone rang. It was work calling at 9:30 pm. Got called into work on an "issue" that was bound to interfere with out trip.

Went to work that night (all night) and into the next day. My wife and daughter waiting for me to get finished at work so we could go.

Got so tied up with work that on Sunday night at about 10:30 pm had to drive back to the camp site to load all my stuff up and drag my trailer back home. Camping trip cancelled before it even started. It was quite depressing packing and hooking up in the dark while the rest of the families were sitting around their fires together enjoying their weekend. My wife and daughter were not impressed

Thats my story.

Best laid plans...
A road not taken....
At least you tried, so that's GOOD!

[Pat B]

When my husband, Jim, and I first began camping in a tent, he was not a keen participant but he agreed to ‘try it out’. It was the August long weekend and we joined friends who were already camping in the Alberta Rocky Mountains. Our first night went well but on the second day it began to rain and it rained most of the day. Jim is by now very unhappy with the whole situation and we crawl into our sleeping bags quite damp. I’m not sure how long I slept but I woke up while it was still dark struggling to push my ‘sleeping bag’ away from my face. It took a couple of minutes to sink in that my sleeping bag was red flannel and it was soft green fabric that was resting on my face. Now anyone who has spent any time in the mountains has probably already guessed what has happened. Our tent was supported with tension-poles and it had cork-screwed down around us because of the weight of the heavy wet snow piled on it. I can hardly move so I start nudging Jim saying “Jim, wake up, it’s snowed and the tent has collapsed, wake up”. The mumbly response I get is “Yeah, yeah, its okay, I’ll get it in the morning” and he promptly starts quietly snoring again. So I huffily think “Well fine then. If he doesn’t care, I’m sure not going to bother” and start to drift off again. I just barely start snoozing when this great flailing and thrashing begins beside me and I hear “( ) the *#&!# tent fell down! It snowed! (more ) unprintable) And, with a great TWANGGG, and a whoosh, the tent snaps back up and out! It took quite a bit of talking and agreeing that, yes, we can leave in the morning (well, I crossed my fingers) before he gave up on the idea of packing up the whole ‘damn mess’ up and throwing it in the car and going home. We did end up staying – thankfully the rain and snow stopped – for the rest of the weekend. And here we are, twenty years later and still going out camping and Jim loves it as much as I do. Though, of course, NOT in a tent. Jim and Pat

[Randy Magee]

OK, I'll bite on this one... my adventure started out as an innocent April canoe/camping trip on the Buffalo River between Ponca and Pruitt, a distance of 25 miles or so. We planned to spend one night out on the river so we had a fairly heavily loaded canoe due to the extra camping/cooking equipment. We had an excellent first day and camped about 3/4 of a mile downstream of Kyle's Landing (the halfway point of the trip) on a gravel bar. After we went to bed an extremely nasty storm blew in about 2:00 AM complete with high winds and a torrent of hailstones. The hail started out about the size of a marble but kept getting larger and after what seemed an eternity, ended with baseball sized hail. My wife and I were sitting in a Eureka Timberline Outfitter 4 man model A frame style tent watching those huge hailstones pelt the fly of the tent to the light of a flashlight. When the hail ended, I looked outside and it looked like it had snowed! There was a couple of inches of ice on the ground. Then the rain began falling in sheets... it was raining so hard that it looked like the rain was coming from every direction including from below. About 5:00 AM our gravel bar became an island in the river with the water still rising fast and plenty of rain still falling. I decided it was time to pack up and try to get off the river and since the Buffalo River has limited access points, the closest place was Kyle's Landing some 3/4 of a mile upstream in an increasingly angry, swollen river. We didn't take any time packing things, we just wadded the tent, sleeping bags, pads, stove , cooking pots and ice chest into our Old Town Tripper just as our campsite became part of the river. We struggled against the current for well over and hour before we reached Kyle's Landing, which looked like a newly declared disaster area. Tents were shredded, windshields broken out of vehicles and the campers were all congregated telling their respective horror stories. The cabin style tents seemed to have suffered the worst damage and the testimony from some of the occupants of those tents confirmed my suspicions. One decidedly haggard looking fellow told me that his tent didn't even slow the first of the golf-ball sized hail down and after those had shredded his roof, he covered his head with his sleeping bag and got pelted with the baseball sized stuff. While my wife and I were dragging our equipment into the campground, a Forest Service Ranger showed up in what was a few days earlier a brand new Dodge Ramcharger... that morning it looked like it had been worked over with a sledge hammer... the windshield and all the windows on one side were completely knocked out! The Ranger posted the "River Closed" signs and did what he could to calm the huddled masses. I managed to catch a ride with him back to Pruitt where my vehicle was parked expecting it to look just like all the other vehicles I'd seen at Kyle's. Thanks goodness, that wasn't the case as the hailstorm missed that area. I think what I learned most from that trip was to never buy one of those cheap cabin style tents... I was on the river again the next week getting back on the horse that threw me...

[Joseph Domingos]

My experience like this was with my extended family, so it was quite a crowd of us. Picture it...
My folks, three little brothers, one cousin, and several friends (Basically added up to ten people!) are all headed out for five days of camping and dirt bike riding in the desert. It's a family tradition trip for us, but it almost didn't happen this time...

Poor Dad has spent the last month getting everybody's motorcyle/ATC/Quad shipshape for this trip. He's spent the last two days (with all of us boys as labor) loading all the machines onto the trailer to go. We were suppose to leave the day before, so we're already behind, everybody's tired and grouchy. Dad's classic 1957 Chevy Pickup is going to be the tow vehicle for the bike trailer. Mom is following in her S-10 Blazer, and I'm pulling up the rear in Grandma's Chrysler LeBaron (My car was in the shop!). Gotta have seatbelt spots for all these people, right? Anyway, our merry band got as far as the edge of town and the brake controller in the truck fails, so no electric brakes on the trailer. Dad can stop the rig, IF he STANDS on the brake peddle, and that was only going 35 MPH in town... If he has to do the repairs, we'll be even later than we already are...

So we're pulled over in an empty parking lot, everybody grumbling and depressed. My folks had already discussed renting a motorhome or trailer before this, and we all knew they couldn't afford the outrageous price that the local places were charging. Plus it was Memorial Day weekend, so we KNEW everything would be rented now...

It just so happens that right across the street is the local Ryder truck rental place. I see my folks huddled together talking, glancing over at the truck rental place, talking more, glancing more... And then my parents turn to us kids, say 'Stay here, we'll be right back,' and they cross the street heading to the Ryder truck place.

One hour later we're back at my folks place, just finished hitching the motorcycle trailer up to the Ryder truck. ALL the people and stuff that we'd had distributed between all three vehicles originally is now stowed in the back of the Ryder truck, along with all eight of us kids, and away we went on our camping trip! We'd all spread out our sleeping bags here and there in the truck, so we were all sprawled out, reading, playing video games, or just sleeping while Dad drove.

Was it illegal as hell for us kids to be riding in the back of the Ryder truck? Well of course! Was it pretty sad that we'd basically made this Ryder truck into our motorhome for the weekend? Well yeah, but you know, that was one of the FUNNEST trips we ever had, and this trip has been going on for over thirty years! We'd pull up at a McDonalds to eat, park WAY in the back of the parking lot so nobody would see us all pile out of the back of the truck, just all kinds of kooky stuff. My folks had rented the truck with the little cargo area over the cab, and that was where my little brothers slept, like a loft bed. We had a porta-potty along for use once we got to the campground.

So was it a 'worst camping story'? Well, sort of, for a while there it seemed like if anything could go wrong it did. But as I said, we ended up having one of the best trips in memory, with tons of fun and good times. And to this day that story still comes up around the campfire, and we all smile fondly and have a good laugh over our ' Okie Motorhome'! hehe

Joe

PS-Grandma's LeBaron, that was suppose to go along on this trip originally, stranded Dad on the side of the road with a busted timing belt like 10 miles out of town the next time he drove it.

[Anne H]

What you don't want to hear from your friend who brought the tent when camping in the spring in the Olympic Rain Forest - "OOOOh! That was a rainfly? I thought it was something extra that got mixed in with the tent accidently - so I didn't bring it."

enuf said . . . .


Then there was the 'perfect camping spot' on Homer Spit in Alaska - no one else camping anywhere near it. And it was perfect until the tide came in . . . it was a nerve-wracking night with water surrounding my little VW - barely enough dry sand to walk around the van. I was very glad when low tide finally arrived and the sand was firm enough to drive back to the road - to the amusement of all the locals who knew better than to try what I had done!!

[Connie M.]

Then there was the 'perfect camping spot' on Homer Spit in Alaska - no one else camping anywhere near it. And it was perfect until the tide came in . . . it was a nerve-wracking night with water surrounding my little VW - barely enough dry sand to walk around the van. I was very glad when low tide finally arrived and the sand was firm enough to drive back to the road - to the amusement of all the locals who knew better than to try what I had done!!

Good story! Those crowds can get pretty thick on the Homer Spit...

[Karalyn]

I have camped in a tornado, huge trees falling down, have pictures of my 5 yr old standing next to trees wider than he was tall. tents blown down but every one was fine huddled in the rest room areas.

Have camped in many a blowing rain and luckily I had the camper. We do a family camping thing yearly, with my 4 brothers, their families, and anyone else that wants to join us. A couple of yrs ago tents blew down and my nieces all packed up and left the next morning. They all have tents.

Once we all went late fall for an extra camping trip, it snowed, and every one froze in their tents. Huddling around the campfire just did not keep us warm I was so glad to have my new pop up camper that I had just boughten that day. Gee, I didn't think I needed electricity to make the furnace work. I froze just like the rest of them. We packed up and left that next morning also.

For me it has been the weather that has dampened my camping experiances.