My first time camping was with the CCF (=ROTC, but compulsory) in my Lord of the Flies all boys' high school. All the other kids had nice light packs. I had to use an army issue exterior frame pack with a couple of canvas rucksacks attached. Weighed about 20 pounds empty. And my uniform boots, because I didn't have hiking boots. And it rained. And it was boggy. My feet got soaked.
It was a solid 25 years before I went camping again.
Last time was with 1000 of my closest friends in a parking lot for Oregon Ragnar Trail 2022 at Mt Batchelor on a recovering broken ankle.
Totally with you on how one disastrous experience can make one extremely hesitant to get out there again. Cheers to you for trying it again (on a broken ankle no less), and I hope you have another fantastic trip soon.
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. 😭 I loved summer camp growing up but we were in cabins and got to ride horses. (Camp Marydale. Yay Girl Scouts!) I was a camp counselor/riding instructor too all through college and can confirm if the teenagers in charge werent lesbians they were def flirting with the only male (usually a lifeguard or guy that mowed the lawn) and he was never hot. Yay hormones. Also drinking happened off camp. Every weekend. That seems to be across the board. I do remember going on all overnight horse ride. And they shoved 4 of us in 2 person tents. While wearing jeans. In Louisiana summer. That was prob the worst of it. I could be blocking out a lot though 😂
That’s great -- *that’s* how camp is supposed to be! Underage drunk (but not psychotic!) camp counselors included! So glad you had an overall good experience though yikes to the jeans in summer in Louisiana in a cramped tent. Honey, the way I would’ve stripped ... 😂
I only went to summer camp 3 times as a kid, twice in Girl Scouts and once to a Lutheran Church camp, each of them one week. The Lutheran Church one was miserable in so many ways I still don't eve like thinking about it. Haaaated it.
Glad you got to get out on the Missouri this summer! I don't do river travel much, but do love camping -- as long as it's not church camp.
Yeah. Scouts seems like it was pretty good (maybe Boy Scouts was better than Girl Scouts?) but man, when camps were bad, they were really really awful. So sorry you had a bad experience too.
Glad to hear it didn't ruin camping for you as an adult though, and glad to be (slowly) joining you out there. :)
Honestly, it might have been comparable but I'm not sure. Yours sounds pretty brutal. That counselor should be so ashamed.
My family camped constantly when I was growing up. Those experiences sucked, too, for entirely different reasons, including but not limited to the fact that one of the cats peed on my sleeping bag in the house at some point and I still had to sleep in it for years. That smell never goes away, blech. I love it when those factors aren't involved. 😉
Chris still marvels at how quickly kids at camp can be turned into bitter rival factions based on nothing but being randomly assigned to a team/side/color. I'm sure there have been whole psychology articles written about it. And camping on a flood plain with a storm coming? Dang, that some poor camp counseling. When my family went camping in Oklahoma & New Mexico, my parents instilled in me a great fear of being caught in a wash during a flash flood. I used to be afraid to even linger in a wash--much less camp in one!
I'm going to try to take a little time this week to look up those PhDs on color wars because you're right, they have to exist. It's such an odd phenomenon, like watching a bunch of kids voluntarily re-creating the prisoner experiment at summer camp. And for fun!
I was actually thinking of the camp that Chris has been to all his life (and that you've been bringing your nephew to) while I wrote this, and thinking that I bet they would've never camped on a flood plain. I didn't realize that your family had an equally long camping history too. It's been good, hearing these kinds of camping stories -- they're probably part of what propelled me into this summer's adventures.
My goodness. We went camping with the Y once, and slept in a cabin in cots. I often felt jealous of scouts but never the kids who went to summer camps. The stories are always terrible and this may be the worst I've read in a while. I'm so sorry. The color days... They just sound like a recipe for horror. What are they trying to teach kids?
You were already wise, not to envy the camp kids. I didn't know anything about scouts at the time, but now that I see my friends raising their kids as scouts, I 100% envy learning all those outdoors skills as you grow up. They're the real deal.
After I posted I thought I could've written another whole post about how some people go to nature for tranquility, some people go to return to some kind of eternal wildness (that isn't tranquil at all but that does wake up the body & spirit), and some people seem to have this third reaction, of wanting to go out in nature and fight. And it's the last one that I just ... whew boy is that not my thing. I was so entirely confused during the color wars. And yet, it does appear to be a lot of other people's thing. Like, they are super-duper into it.
Maybe I will write another post about it sometime.
A sad camping story (regrets from your mom about not realizing how bad it was). Maybe you'll compare it with the "Burning Man" experience long afterwards. As always, provocative prose.
My first time camping was with the CCF (=ROTC, but compulsory) in my Lord of the Flies all boys' high school. All the other kids had nice light packs. I had to use an army issue exterior frame pack with a couple of canvas rucksacks attached. Weighed about 20 pounds empty. And my uniform boots, because I didn't have hiking boots. And it rained. And it was boggy. My feet got soaked.
It was a solid 25 years before I went camping again.
Last time was with 1000 of my closest friends in a parking lot for Oregon Ragnar Trail 2022 at Mt Batchelor on a recovering broken ankle.
I'm overdue a fun hiking trip!
Totally with you on how one disastrous experience can make one extremely hesitant to get out there again. Cheers to you for trying it again (on a broken ankle no less), and I hope you have another fantastic trip soon.
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. 😭 I loved summer camp growing up but we were in cabins and got to ride horses. (Camp Marydale. Yay Girl Scouts!) I was a camp counselor/riding instructor too all through college and can confirm if the teenagers in charge werent lesbians they were def flirting with the only male (usually a lifeguard or guy that mowed the lawn) and he was never hot. Yay hormones. Also drinking happened off camp. Every weekend. That seems to be across the board. I do remember going on all overnight horse ride. And they shoved 4 of us in 2 person tents. While wearing jeans. In Louisiana summer. That was prob the worst of it. I could be blocking out a lot though 😂
That’s great -- *that’s* how camp is supposed to be! Underage drunk (but not psychotic!) camp counselors included! So glad you had an overall good experience though yikes to the jeans in summer in Louisiana in a cramped tent. Honey, the way I would’ve stripped ... 😂
I only went to summer camp 3 times as a kid, twice in Girl Scouts and once to a Lutheran Church camp, each of them one week. The Lutheran Church one was miserable in so many ways I still don't eve like thinking about it. Haaaated it.
Glad you got to get out on the Missouri this summer! I don't do river travel much, but do love camping -- as long as it's not church camp.
Yeah. Scouts seems like it was pretty good (maybe Boy Scouts was better than Girl Scouts?) but man, when camps were bad, they were really really awful. So sorry you had a bad experience too.
Glad to hear it didn't ruin camping for you as an adult though, and glad to be (slowly) joining you out there. :)
Honestly, it might have been comparable but I'm not sure. Yours sounds pretty brutal. That counselor should be so ashamed.
My family camped constantly when I was growing up. Those experiences sucked, too, for entirely different reasons, including but not limited to the fact that one of the cats peed on my sleeping bag in the house at some point and I still had to sleep in it for years. That smell never goes away, blech. I love it when those factors aren't involved. 😉
Yeah, I can see how not having a cat-pee-soaked sleeping bag would improve the experience. Good heavens. Talk about a low bar. :)
🐱🐱🐱
Chris still marvels at how quickly kids at camp can be turned into bitter rival factions based on nothing but being randomly assigned to a team/side/color. I'm sure there have been whole psychology articles written about it. And camping on a flood plain with a storm coming? Dang, that some poor camp counseling. When my family went camping in Oklahoma & New Mexico, my parents instilled in me a great fear of being caught in a wash during a flash flood. I used to be afraid to even linger in a wash--much less camp in one!
I'm going to try to take a little time this week to look up those PhDs on color wars because you're right, they have to exist. It's such an odd phenomenon, like watching a bunch of kids voluntarily re-creating the prisoner experiment at summer camp. And for fun!
I was actually thinking of the camp that Chris has been to all his life (and that you've been bringing your nephew to) while I wrote this, and thinking that I bet they would've never camped on a flood plain. I didn't realize that your family had an equally long camping history too. It's been good, hearing these kinds of camping stories -- they're probably part of what propelled me into this summer's adventures.
My goodness. We went camping with the Y once, and slept in a cabin in cots. I often felt jealous of scouts but never the kids who went to summer camps. The stories are always terrible and this may be the worst I've read in a while. I'm so sorry. The color days... They just sound like a recipe for horror. What are they trying to teach kids?
You were already wise, not to envy the camp kids. I didn't know anything about scouts at the time, but now that I see my friends raising their kids as scouts, I 100% envy learning all those outdoors skills as you grow up. They're the real deal.
After I posted I thought I could've written another whole post about how some people go to nature for tranquility, some people go to return to some kind of eternal wildness (that isn't tranquil at all but that does wake up the body & spirit), and some people seem to have this third reaction, of wanting to go out in nature and fight. And it's the last one that I just ... whew boy is that not my thing. I was so entirely confused during the color wars. And yet, it does appear to be a lot of other people's thing. Like, they are super-duper into it.
Maybe I will write another post about it sometime.
If you write it, I'll read it.
A sad camping story (regrets from your mom about not realizing how bad it was). Maybe you'll compare it with the "Burning Man" experience long afterwards. As always, provocative prose.
Love,Mom
Thanks, Mom. And no worries, I don't think I had a good way of telling you at the time either.
Love,
Hannah
I love this ❤️❤️❤️
Aww, thanks.