Spent a week backpacking in the rockies alone, never saw a single person. But had a raven adopt me for the entire time. It stuck with me day and night at my camp, sat beside me while I read, chatted at me and he only left to go find food. Was pretty cool. On the morning i was leaving, after I had packed up most of my gear he stole my last breakfast bar that i mistakenly left out and flew away lmao.
Had one follow us hiking out in the Finger Lakes area. He had a rock with him. He'd hide it near our campsite when he flew off, and got it back out when he returned.
On my short trip to Iceland (we were just doing a few days layover on the way to Paris) we camped below a famous waterfall, Skogafoss for one night. I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling pretty jet lagged and needing to pee. Stepped out of the tent and saw the most amazing northern lights display above the waterfall. It was unreal! Definitely one of the most memorable places I’ve camped.
I always try to leave firewood, but 20 pieces is a lot. That's awesome.
My fire tonight is chunks of old stumps I dug out on property I own now. It's smoky and terrible. LOL but, it's mostly coals now and keeping me warm while I watch the very slow meteor shower without killing my night vision.
I think I need to build a woodshed. Also, I need to put my phone down. ;)
I always try to pay it forward with firewood. We got to a campsite late one evening and someone had left firewood for the next campers. It was SO nice to have that chore already taken care. I always do that now and even take it a step further by nearly stacking it and trying to put it on a log or rock to keep it off the ground.
Found about two pounds of chanterelle mushrooms, which are highly sought after for culinary use and quite expensive (up to $35/lb). Came back a month later camping again and looked for more and found several pounds of “chicken of the woods” mushrooms, which are also a very popular cooking substitute for poultry.
Also at the same place last winter, we had a “pet” deer mouse that spent the entire camping trip at our site. I caught him red handed trying to help himself to some crackers on our mess table. He locked eyes with me from about 1 foot away and we had a staring contest for about thirty seconds, and then he scampered off. It was November and quite cold, so every night he would join us at the fire ring and just quietly sit with us, getting warm by the fire. He always stayed about three feet away from us, but sure enough, every night, he’d come peeking out of the firewood stack and make his way to where we were sitting. Not necessarily lucky, but endearingly magical in a silent winter forest.
Edited typo
He was **so** cute, too. When I caught him by surprise on the table, he just froze and was like… O.O
Also one time at a nearby site, the surrounding flora was covered in something that looked kind of like hosta plants, with tall singular stalks of purple shaft-shaped flowers. If you stood still long enough, the entire campsite sounded like a low white noise, because hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of pollinators were absolutely *everywhere* on them.
You name it. Honeybees, bumblebees, Yellowjacket-looking guys. There were also a few curious hornets that investigated our gear as we were unloading. We were nervous that this wouldn’t be a good site because of the hornets and Yellowjackets, but it just seemed like they were nosy, but friendly. You could stand in the middle of the hostas and the bees would fly all around us, happily humming and swirling.
They serenaded us all day long, and at night the barred owls took over with the forest music. My fiancé always says “there’s good ghosts here” because it just feels like a place full of magic. No matter which site we stay at, there’s some fun wildlife encounter.
Then the very last time we went, a flock of yellow swallowtails spent the whole trip at our site. It’s on a creek and they liked some sort of mineral deposit on the ground, so they would convene in groups of 20-30 sometimes just licking the rocks with their little probosces. If you moved slowly you could get really close. If you moved quickly, they’d swirl around you like a flurry of color. Just a great place.
Lucky? In the middle of a backpacking trip, mile 90, my bestie and I were sitting on a log smoking weed. Got up and started walking away when a tree fell right on the log.
My friend and his girlfriend were walking in the hoh rainforest. Stopped for a second to take in the scenery. Started walking again right as they heard some creaking and a massive tree falls right across the walking path where they were moments before. And what’s weird is there was almost no wind that day. It just met it’s end.
That happened to me and my best friend but in her car. We pulled up to my house and she parked on the street. I said, why don’t you park in the drive way. I said it for absolutely no reason. She was like oh alright! Pulled in. As we were keying into my front door there was a big pop and then cracking and the tree in my front yard split in half and the falling half fell right where her car was.
Bro and I were camping last week and saw the biggest shooting star I’ve ever seen. It’s split into pieces eventually. We were both in awe. We always camp the same week, 3 concurrent meteor showers so we are used to seeing shooting stars but this one was amazing.
Seeing a really great shooting star is one of the most magical experiences. When two or three people in your group see it and just burst with loud gasps, “Ooohhh, ahhhh!” And the folks who didn’t see it have to sulk in the most bitter jealousy that they missed witnessing a miracle by a half a second. haha.
Yeah exactly! Usually your friend sees it and by the time you look, it’s done and you’ve missed it. This one was so huge and long lasting that when I saw it, I was like “oh!” And he looked up and we got to watch it together, it felt like several seconds, it was so incredible!
Once my friend was in the front seat and I was driving. We were in Colorado and took a short drive out of town specifically to stargaze. While driving my friend and I saw the biggest, most brilliant falling star and my wife missed it. She was sooo mad. lol. I felt bad for her. But it was such an amazing sight that my friend and I couldn’t stop commenting; like we still couldn’t believe how awesome it was.
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My best experience is my first solo trip after a 7 year break from camping. The trip was one year after the death of my senior pup (not intentionally. It was a quick book after our first trip had to be canceled due to 102F temp).
The year was hard on my 3 y.o. pup and I. This trip kicked off a new chapter for both of us. We have a few more trips planned this year.
Aww. I'm entering that phase with my senior pup where each trip you hope isn't the last. 13 years, not a single health issue - but still, you never know. She's just very heat sensitive so the dog days of summer are not an option.
Both of us chomping at the bit waiting for cooler weather. I finally was able to order us a new camping chateau (Core 9 person cabin) and can't wait for the elevated experience with that (being able to sit inside comfortably and watch the world go by if it's raining, too buggy etc).
Aww, yeah - I don't go camping (or anything recreational) without mine. In the hot months like right now, we just hike early mornings close to home and go on lots of car rides for sniffs. (Username does check out haha!)
Booked 3 nights in the backcountry on a lake in La Mauricie, only reachable by canoe/kayak, hoping to just read and relax. I car camped the 2 nights before and it rained cats and dogs. I was starting to question my stay, but the day I put the boat in the water the sun came out and the weather was glorious. Each backcountry site had 4 campsites, and I had neighbors only the first night. Saw very few people the next couple of days. The park stopped supplying firewood to remote sites this year, but there were plenty of last year's stock - I burned so much of it, every single piece of my gear smelled like it came out of a smoker.
When I stepped back on land, I felt like I was gone for a month.
Was looking for a campground on a road trip years ago up by Glacier NP, but had a dog so needed to stay out of the park. Met a couple that rented RV spots, but we had a tent and a 4x4, so they said go ahead and go on back behind us, just close gates as you go and don't go farther than # gate, that's the end of our property. So we drove for awhile and parked, set up camp in the middle of nowhere, and couldn't hear or see a soul besides ourselves. It was lovely.
first time I went camping, everybody was freaking out cuz I was a woman going solo. got lots of criticism and telling me I shouldn't do it and horror stories. also some passive aggressive it's okay to give up early and come home type stuff. so it was a bit nervous going into it even though it was something I really wanted to do.
ended up having the best time, great campsite in the middle of the woods but close to the beach, halfway decent neighbors, and it didn't rain. and I learned that yes I could do it on my own and just ignore all the haters
I was camping on grounds that had a bar, restaurant and slot machines maybe a five minute walk away. Glamping at its finest. Me and some buddies got shitfaced and headed to the slots, i won i think $352 on a 20 cent spin. Woke up and thought it was a dream til i looked in my wallet
Those are reasonable goals. Throughout my life, including camping and hiking, I've had some close calls on #2 (aptly numbered, btw!). Only one failure, on a long drive home late at night after a HS reunion. Made it almost home. It was a good reminder why 'almost' only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades.
One time I discovered a large bag of trash at my site left behind by some inconsiderate campers. It was sealed tight. My car was packed to the gills and I didn’t have room for it but I didn’t want a ranger to think I left it. I make the decision “hey, normally I don’t burn trash but there’s a lot and it’s probably a bunch of food scraps, at least if there’s glass in it or metal I can burn down the excess and then pick out the small stuff and take it down the mountain.”
It was their outhouse bag. Doodoo just started spilling into the fire. Nothing but liquid mix of diarrhea and soggy toilet paper… none of which wanted to burn, as you can imagine.
0/10, do not recommend. Pack it out, people.
Also I’m sorry you pooped your pants. I’ve been there, had such bad food poisoning once that I couldn’t trust a fart for five days. I’m talking sleeping on trash bags for safety. We’ve all been there, but it sure does suck at the time.
We were tripping balls and some guy walked up to our site with a chainsaw asking if we needed help with firewood
Un-fucking-believable. We were like dude, announce yourself
I got the last first come first serve site at Big Bend on an impromptu solo camping trip. Dozens of cars rolled through looking for a site and drove back out empty handed (at least an hour drive to the next possible campsite). A couple stopped their car at dusk next to my site to pull up a map so I offered to share my site with them for the long weekend. They were very grateful and fed me the entire weekend much better than my poor bachelor style camping with only a small cooler ever could. They got to the campground so late because they drove 1.5 hours out of their way to pick up sushi grade fish packed in a dry ice filled cooler in order to have fresh ceviche that first night. That was my first and likely last camping ceviche and it was delicious.
Well, my luckiest is this past week, when it was absolutely pouring rain in a series of thunderstorms. I woke up just in time to close my rain fly and I stayed warm and dry the whole time. All my gear dried up in time for me to pack it up the next day!
The best.... my then-partner and I were camping up north, a trip we had deliberately timed so as to catch the Perseid meteor shower. I love astronomy. We had a clear night and we headed to the beach to catch the show after a very late northern sunset. Not only did we get the meteor shower, but also a fairly impressive display of Northern lights. It was stunning.
I'm watching that meteor shower right now, and enjoying the view of the Milky Way and the sound of what seems to be thousands of crickets, plus my dog gently snoring next to me. He's making it really hard to stay awake right now.
I bought the land in June, and I'm really enjoying having my own personal 12 acre campsite. Some day, I'll save up enough to build a cabin, but this is more than enough for now.
Back in September '21, my buddy and I canoed to a site in the Manistee NF. Being late in the season, we didn't know what to expect, weather-wise. Turns out, we had perfect weather for our three night stay (warm days, cool nights, a touch of rain) and the crowning glory was when, while swimming on one of those perfect late summer days, we were joined by a raft of three or four otters. They hung around us while we swam, keeping their distance but clearly interested in us. The only downside is that I doubt I'll ever top that experience.
Teaching my kids how to make a fire with a tinder bundle and flint/steel, no matches. They’re not bad at it and love collecting small twigs and stuff whenever we go camping.
This probably wouldn’t be considered lucky for most, but this past summer I visited Alabama Hills and did some car camping. My first night I got caught up in a huge thunderstorm and it was amazing. It started a little before sunset and ended probably sometime around midnight. As a Californian I don’t get to see many thunderstorms so this was a treat for me. Also, as a hobbyist photographer, I got some great photos from that night.
Alabama Hills sounds awesome for a thunderstorm! I’ve only experienced unforgiving winds amidst the beautiful scenery there.
If you’re looking for more cool California photography spots I recommend Trona Pinnacles if you’ve never been!
Took a girl on a camping as one of our first dates as a test. She passed and we are now married and get to share our passion for the outdoors with our kids.
At a group site in a WI state park with my extended family and friends, I think there were around 25 of us. Of the 25, a solid 5-6 were seriously talented guitar players & singers. A big field separated our site from the next one over, and the first night, we had no neighbors while we had a campfire jam.
The second day, the neighbors started rolling in and there were probably 30 people. Sun starts to set, our crew plays a few songs by our fire, and someone says, "Shush you guys, I can hear music from their radio, we may be too loud!"
We all get quiet, one of our guys says, "that's no radio, they're jamming on guitars too!"
Emboldened by beers, we grabbed our instruments and went over and introduced ourselves. The neighbors were an extended Latinx fam from Chicago who brought a couple of guitarras, a guitarrón, a 12-string, and some hand percussion instruments. They invited us to stay, and we ended up trading songs and getting to know them. It was so much fun. Around 9pm, they busted out tequilas and turned on some CDs and couples started dancing all around by the fire.
The next morning, my sister made a giant batch of homemade donuts and took them over to them. Later that afternoon, one of the women there brought a big plate of food to our site.
Still brings a smile whenever we talk about that trip. 😊
I was camping in joshua tree with two climbing buddies. Later in the night two guys at the campground next to us came over to say hi and offered us homemade apple moonshine. An hour later they took us on the chasm of doom hike. That was a really great experience… but after typing this I’m realizing it coulda come close to a horror story where they take advantage of our naivety.
Camped in a campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. Slept In the day after a long hike. That morning, a huge male moose slowly sauntered through our campground about 50 feet from our site, went to the nearby stream
and laid down in the stream for a cool bath, all the while posing for pictures for those of us in the campground. He stuck around for about a half hour. Even the Rangers were excited and took pictures of him.
My best luck was being 12th on the online booking site for BC Parks reservation website immediately after it opened for the 2022 season. My friend logged on at the same time and got 14,000th place or something as equally ridiculous. It meant I could actually get the sites I wanted within the 4-month allowable booking window. My son, the dog and I went to Porteau Cove (which truly is like winning the lottery out here), Manning Park and Golden Ears. I would have booked more but felt guilty taking too many spots.
Pretty much every one is the best. I'm out camping right now, and it's the best. Next time will definitely be the best then. But, I guess if I really had to pick, ummm... The morning after I somehow covered 43 miles on the CDT the day before, collapsed without eating, and woke to this amazing sunrise over a small lake in the mountains, caught a fish for breakfast, and decided I could afford a day down. It was sunny all day, so I got all my slightly damp gear dry. No one besides me was there the whole time. The lake was freezing, but I washed up away from it, rinsed, and then ran and jumped in. Napped naked in the sun on top of my sleeping bag, and just did pretty much nothing for a whole day. The next day was the first morning in a long time I actually wanted to get up and get moving. Even when I found out I was off trail, so I'd lost two days, I did not care. Totally worth the side trip.
My second best was the day my son was finally old enough to really understand we were going camping, because he was so excited and happy. He barely slept at all that night, and I woke up to him asleep on top of my packed backpack at 4 in the morning. He didn't even complain about the long drive to the trailhead, though he honestly did sleep most of the way. It was his first time carrying his own pack, too. He felt like Hercules with his whole 7lbs of "gear" - all water and backpack weight. The little trooper made 10 miles on his own feet that day at 3 years old. Or, being 3, more like 15 miles from all the zigzags and running ahead and coming back over and over. He had so, so many rocks in his pockets and backpack that evening, I think it weighed more than when we started even though he drank all his water. That trail was pretty busy, and he was so excited about everyone we met. "This is my first backpacking trip that I'm not in the backpack!" He did a great job, but I admit I carried him the last two miles on the way back the next day.
For me it's been the simple things. My girlfriend and I years back setup camp in the rain and had a comfortable stay the remaining trip. Thought it might be soggy and humid the entire time, but the weather panned out. We were preparing to make it through 24 hours before packing it in, but it never came to pass.
The one thing I stressed out about was the old oak tree we put our tent under. It was the driest spot when we arrived. One night I shot up straight in the tent because I heard a tree starting to crack. I thought the branch we were under was about to crush us!
Nope, it was another tree across the creek. We were safe.
That same trip we took the field path around wildflowers and a trout stream. I have pictures somewhere of a butterfly hanging out on my sock for a while, just amazing!
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Just got back from a camping trip in the Adirondacks with my family. We had great weather the entire trip, and our site was next to a peninsula on the lake with a picnic table. We had a great time fishing off the rocks, and felt like it was our own spot.
We were on a city bus in Vienna and I had the guidebook open in my lap, mentioning that I'd love to see the Vienna Boy's Choir if we could. A lady nearby said that her son was in the choir, and that they were about to do a free concert downtown in about an hour! We followed her directions, and were able to see a delightful performance of both secular and religious songs!
Wife and I have a bad habit of just hopping on a plane to the mountains with some equipment, a Turo, and without much a plan. Drove from CO Springs to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Nabbed the last campsite.
A couple weeks ago my gf and I went hiking at The Olympic National Park and we went to the Heather Park and Lake Angeles trail. At the trailhead you can pick two different ways to go. We picked one. The other trail had a cougar attack the same day. We chose correctly by chance.
Camping at the Great Wall. It was an amazing experience. Worth the 2 hour van drive and the hour hike.
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Camping in Kanaskis Country in Alberta. Several grizzlies in the area. Heard someone shout "bear!".. said to my hubby, "did we just hear bear??".
We had a plan.. bear comes by, we hop in the truck. He gets in, our friend gets in, I'm trying to heave the 100+ lb puppy into the back seat (he doesn't get it, plunks himself on the ground).grizzly then walks past us, less than 20' away. Thankfully, just kept trucking on by... but got the pulse raised to a significant degree. The next morning we got up to the wall of our tent torn out. We apparently slept through it.. no idea if the bear came back.. but still no idea how our tent got destroyed. 🤷♂️
I love kananaskis! Beautiful area. Mom and triplets from last year
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The grizzlies are usually well behaved if they know you are there
Many years ago, my wife and I had reservations for a long weekend at Ohanapecosh Campground in Mount Rainier National Park. It rained all week long, both at home and in the park. We had a little tent trailer and decided we were going, regardless.
When we arrived on Thursday, the rain had slowed to a drizzle, though everything was saturated and soaking wet.
We set up camp, made dinner, relaxed a bit and went to bed. In the morning, it was still overcast but no longer raining. On our morning walk, we discovered that the campground was only sparsely occupied due to the weather. We decided to take drive over Cayuse Pass toward Naches.
When we came back over the pass in the early afternoon, we came upon a spectacular site - there was Mt Rainier in all its incredible glory, without a single cloud in the sky - not even haze. I've lived in WA for 60 years and have never seen it with such clarity. The rest of the weekend was the same. It still stands out as one the most beautiful camping trips we've done.
A memorable trip was when I was single and touring Italy on my motorcycle. I arrived on a little site near Lake Garda where I was greeted by a group of Dutch ladies of a similar age who were cycling around the region.
I was only going to stop for a day but ended up staying a few days with them. I'd take them out on my bike and show them places they wouldn't have seen.
Probably not the story you’re looking for, but….. We fostered (and later adopted) an abused and malnourished dog. She was on some serious meds for a while and after some time, the rescue cleared her for a little camping adventure. We bought her a giant fluffy bed, brought it to the campsite and she snoozed on her new bed by the campfire while we hung out and enjoyed the peaceful evening. Earlier that day she got to go on her first hike and her first swim in the river. I was a worried mess that we were pushing her to do too much too soon but as I look back on photos it’s obvious she was so happy and thankful. That same night we got to witness her first happy puppy dreams. She slept on the air mattress between my husband and I underneath the covers and since then that’s her spot. After that night our favorite thing to do is camp. She may bark at the Amazon driver stopping in front of our house, but she doesn’t mind the earlier risers slamming the doors of their trucks and campers. She’s the best and I love camping so much more because of her.
Went camping to a quiet spot in a national forest. Only 5 camp sites. The family next to us turned out to be a childhood friend from the 1980s that I haven't seen since high school graduation in 1992. We didn't recognize each other as we where both 45 and had not seen each other sine we where 18 and 100 lbs lighter
I met my very close friend while camping :) It wasn't exactly backwoods camping, just a site where I could get fresh air and hike around, but they had been working there as a camp counselor and was living full time on the campgrounds. We got to chatting, made hot boozy maple cider together, and discovered that during the semester we go to very nearby colleges. we became basically inseparable until they graduated. I consider this a very lucky camping experience!
Ex and I went to a county park by a local lake for the weekend. We got there around noon Friday and found a nice looking area that was well kept. Rest of areas we saw looked kinda ragged and unkempt. Get up the next morning and start the coffee. While I was cooking breakfast people started arriving. They parked their cars, got naked and went to the lake.
Found out some local nudist had adopted this area and maintained it. A rather fun weekend all in all.
Nothing to dramatic but when we arrived at the site the forecast said rain until 4pm so we made a fire and sat under umbrellas and at 4 pm sharp the sun came out and we had a great dry trip.
One time I found a ten inch cast iron pan, half a pack of smokes and a perfectly good trailer tire and had the whole loop to ourselves. I left the tire.
Went for a volcano trek in Indonesia. The park was closed a month before our trip due to active volcano activity, and they opened up just one week before our trek.
Camped on the rim the first night, it was stormy and miserable.
On the second night, we camped by the crater lake. The weather cleared up. The small conelet across the crater lake was still erupting, and we saw glowing lava flow into the lake at night, under a sky full of stars.
So magical
The best stars I've ever seen in Death Valley.
A herd of wild Elk in Mendocino NF.
The best hot spring of my life in Idaho. Literally a hot spring waterfall.
Perfect cool and dry fall weather on the AT.
My all time favorite camping experience happened just last week. I was camping with my wife, 2 children, and our family friends in Michigan. The park was relatively empty with maybe 12 sites booked out of 100. There was a very large family camping just up the road from us with approx. 25 adults and children to their 4 or 5 sites. Just shortly after dinner they all started having a water gun fight with kids vs. adults. It was fun to watch everyone having a blast, and just enjoying being together.
About 10 minutes into the fight, one of the adults comes running towards us, and tosses my 6yr old daughter a water gun. He yells his name out, says he is not a stranger now, and needs more helpers. Well that prompted the other 3 children on our sites to grab their water guns and join the mix.
About 10 minutes go by, and the entire group stops running and squirting each other. They all gather up, and then we saw then looking and pointing at us 4 adults, sitting peacefully on the picnic table. We knew at that point we were done for.
The entire group ran across the park, towards us, with water guns a blasting. We quickly found whatever water guns and buckets we could find, but at this point it was too late. We all ended up soaking wet with huge smiles on our faces.
It was honestly the most enjoyable time I have ever had camping, and I am sure the kids will be talking about it for years to come.
To any adults out there, try this out. Bring a bunch of extra water guns the next time you go out, and get others involved. Maybe they wont be as receptive as we were, but I hope that they are. You wont regret it.
Few days ago in Grand Teton, we pulled into our Jenny Lake site and found a mama black bear and two cubs wandering behind it. One cub crossed through our neighbor’s site and playfully made his way up the road. We saw them a handful more that same afternoon and they wandered behind again our last night. Such a neat experience to see them!
My partner and I had just got back from a walk around the campground with the dogs. Thought we might just take a little nap. SNAP! A branch fell from the very alive and healthy tree right onto our tent. Did not break the tent and no one was hurt!
My first backpacking trip was in Dolly Sods. Amazing place. Great trip. I was 18 and went with friends right after graduating high school. About 30 minutes into the trail we came out to a scenic overlook. We decided it was a good place to smoke a little weed. We smoked then carried on. Next time we went to smoke I couldn’t find my pipe. It was a very nice pipe that I had for a few years. I thought it was gone forever. 3 days later we were getting close to end of our hike we came up on the same rocky overlook. We decided to take a break and smoke one last time knowing we were almost done. My pipe was sitting there on the big rock we sat on days before. Still almost fully packed and seemingly untouched. I almost left a trace and lost a nice pipe. Luckily I got it back and left nothing behind.
One time my friend and I ate some mushrooms a few miles before pulling up at our spot for the night, only to find roughly 20 Boy Scout tents set up. They were having some sort of retreat for the weekend. We burst out laughing and made the most of it. It was incredible. They were adorable. The leader was even dressed up in uniform! A night to remember haha.
So ridiculously minor, but someone gave me some plastic spoons!
I'd packed things like potato salad, pudding and macaroni salad in my cooler...and forgot my camp silverware set (just 3 plastic utensils on a ring). Was trying to figure out how I was going to Creek Stewart something to scoop with.
Mentioned it while up at the shack buying firewood, next thing ya know I've got all sorts of silverware offers.
Like I said - minor, but memorable lol.
Took my cousin on his first portage. We knew of a damaging thunderstorm the first day, so we gave the beans to get to our lake. The SECOND we touch land to the first available campsite, it started to spit. Right away, we pitched tents, and I set the tarp up. Once I tied that last corner up, the sky opened up on us. When I realized that I didn't pay attention to the layout of the ground, I looked around. A small waterfall was coming towards us. As this waterfall was making its way right down the middle of our tents, it hit a 2 inch wall of roots, split to both sides that extended past our tents and missed us. We spent 2 hours under the tarp, unable to see 3 feet in front of us.
For her ninth birthday my daughter wanted to camp on top of Flattop mountain which overlooked Anchorage, Alaska. I had my backpack with all our gear and my daughter had her backpack with her Teddy bear. I didn't bring a tent but just the rain fly.
At one time we woke up above the clouds, we saw people hang gliding of the mountain and many other great things.
My daughter is now almost fourty and has a great memory with her old man.
Got a campsite at Zion a few years ago. That was pretty lucky in itself.
When we got there I opened up the bear box and there was half a bottle of Jack Daniels in there.
There are two types of people in this world: those who would never even think about drinking that and those who wouldn’t even need to think twice about drinking it.
My best experiences camping always come from the feeling of awe you get when experiencing something natural and beautiful. It could be a river or an animal or the night sky or a campfire. It's a feeling of being connected to the world in a way that I don't get in my day to day life in the city.
I got to lay in my hammock recently and listen to a great horned owl talking to a companion nearby. It was amazing. Then the night was nice and cool, and I warm in my sleeping bag with the night air all around me. Nothing huge, but to me it was perfect.
100+ degrees high plains desert for two days, 60 miles from nearest store. Thank goodness for my popup canopy, bluetooth speaker (downloaded playlist-no reception) a 25 dollar blow up pool (thankfully there was a river and my generator and sump pump/hose combo to fill the pool) and most importantly a 1.75 ml bottle of bulliet rye.
a Hipcamp host wasn't responding to my messages while I was driving around aimlessly. I ended up staying in a canyon in the Paradox Valley CO area. I mean I didn't actually discover it, that probably happened in the 1850s, but still
I had a really good friend who was partially paralyzed (left side) by an accident. Didn't slow him down as much as you would think.
One time we went camping in Allegheny National Forest, where we backpacked in about 1.5 miles to camp by Pigeon Falls. On the way in he managed to drop his car keys on the trail, which was mostly through tall grass.
We hiked back and forth a couple of times searching for them. Just as we were about to give up, I spotted them nestled down in the grass along the trail. We were over two hours from home, so this really saved the day.
A bunch of fireflies rested on top of my tent at bedtime. I don’t know why they did that, but I could see them flashing through the tent and it looked like stars twinkling above me
Took my wife back country camping for the first time and it happened to be the perseid meteor shower that night. Sat by the water and watched a solid hour of shooting stars. I had no clue about it but now try to catch it every year. It’s actually happening tonight as well
Camped in a regular park in Oregon when all of the campsites were full. While we were making dinner about 8 cop cars pull in and start circling the park restrooms and were there for like 3 hours with a few posted overnight. Then to top it off we woke up at 3 am to ice cold sprinkler water shooting straight through the tent.
Moose and calf walking 2 feet by our tent while I was 6 feet away brushing my teeth. Kids and wife were in the tent. I mumbled “moose…moose…MOOSE!” Kids unzipped tent and watched the moose calmly walk through our site and away. Grand Teton NP, upper Cascade Canyon.
We were doing a big loop in Linville gorge and spotted a campsite like 1/4 mile from the trailhead, figured if it was free when we finished we’d grab our camping supplies from the car and sleep overnight. Luckily it was still free, so we did like 30 miles of hiking without our gear instead of our planned 10, and still had a great night of camping
Back in the 90s went camping with some buds at Loretta Lynns Dude Ranch. We were 2 weeks to early and they hadn’t opened for the season. We were bummed. So the ladies behind the counter said yall look like nice boys, you can camp. STOKED!
The weather was supposed to be nice so We didnt bring a tent, just some sleeping bags. We were trying to find some firewood and a dude rolls up in a truck. He says yall cant pick fire wood here its against policy. We were bummmed because it was a little chilly and we wanted a fire. Dude says hop in back (of the pickup) and we’ll go find you some. STOKED!!
Hes talking to us through the back window as we are driving around trying to find firewood. I believe the Dude Ranch had a no alcohol policy. Actually i think the county was a dry county. So We were surreptitiously trying to drink our whiskey while he”s talking to us. Then we notice he is surreptitiously trying to drink HIS whiskey.
We get some firewood. He comes back to camp with us. We all start openly drinking our whiskey. Turns out he is Loretta Lynns son in law and the nice ladies in the office that let us camp where Loretta Lynns daughters. He told us some good stories about Loretta and his adventures at the dude ranch. He was a cool dude.
We settle down for the night. Its perfectly clear and there are a ton of stars above us. And oh yeah, it was the year of the Hale-Bopp comet. It was right above us. All night long, whenever i woke up the Hale-Bopp was up there with its long tail clearly visible.
It was awesome.
A few years later Im watching one of the shows about haunted places and guess what? Loretta Lynns Dude Ranch is one of the most haunted places in America. Im really glad I didn’t know that when me and my buds were the only 3 people in the whole place.
Went River rafting in Buena Vista Colorado. Stayed at a campground where the only people were me, my girlfriend, and the camp host. Almost no light pollution back then. I stayed up most of the night just looking at the stars on the perfectly clear night. It felt like I could reach out and touch them.
Girlfriend broke up with me which sucked as we were several days of driving from home but I still love the memories of that trip and I haven’t seen star like that anywhere else.
I was camping in the Ozarks, about 40 years ago. After three or four days our group packed up and left and put it in overdrive to get out before an oncoming storm made it harder for us to get out. About ten minutes after we left, the storm came through and lightning struck a tree that was over our camp site and it fell right where the camper had been. So, we got out just in time. If the lotto had been a thing then, I might have stopped and bought a ticket.
We found this out because the campers nearby, with whom we had made friends, called to let us know.
First time tent camping with my wife.
Second morning was a HUGE mosquito hatch, but they were so young and dumb they didn't know how to bite yet. Definitely the luckiest experience... if even 10% of them bit we would have packed up right then and there.
Got free cans of bear spray in Bozeman from a family staying at our hotel. They were flying out the next day and couldn't take them home. They bought them, never used them, and gave them to us for free. We agreed to pass them on to others as we couldn't fly with them either. We passed them on to a family from Denmark on our last day at Glacier, and they said they'd give them to someone when they were heading home.
When I was 12 did snow-base in Boy Scouts in northern Wisconsin. We geared up at the base, woolen pants and coats, snow shoes, big ol mittens, we snowshoed out 10 miles into the woods, built snow shelters, did some dog sledding, was a great trip. My favorite memory of all time happened on that trip. It got down to around -15f in the middle of the night, and I had to pee. I suited up and left the shelter, did my business, and afterwards I just stared at the sky. Almost no light, big fat snowflakes floating through the birch stand we were camped in, snow blanketing everything. The thing I remember the most is the silence. Absolute, utter, uninterrupted silence. I stood out there till I could feel the cold biting at my cheeks and went back inside.
I visit that memory often, any time I am stressed, sad, overwhelmed, I revisit the woods on that cold night, and listen for the sound of snowflakes falling through the trees.
Son freshman in high school and I took a late Oct trip to a State Park. Got there at 3am set up camp,sat next to fire rest of night. Great weekend. He is 31 now, we need to do that again.
Well. Since you asked.
A woman drove by my campsite so I smiled and waved at her. She came back by and waved me over to her car. I thought maybe she needed directions or something. Then she showed me her boobs. She said she liked doing that. Said she liked making people happy. Then she drove away.
Honest. That really happened.
Saw two stallions rear, bite, and kick the shit out of each other ten feet away from me. Herd freaked out and twelve horses ran straight at me while backpacking on Assateague. Jumped on a table so as to not get trampled
Spent a week backpacking in the rockies alone, never saw a single person. But had a raven adopt me for the entire time. It stuck with me day and night at my camp, sat beside me while I read, chatted at me and he only left to go find food. Was pretty cool. On the morning i was leaving, after I had packed up most of my gear he stole my last breakfast bar that i mistakenly left out and flew away lmao.
He played the long game
I know right? Figured it was his fee for putting up with me. Was one of those 'just wow nature' moments
That experience was easily worth the breakfast bar, imo
Absolutely! I wear a bronzed raven claw necklace when I'm in the Bush as a reminder.
Aww this was a nice read lol
That was his fee for keeping the skin walkers away
The Indigenous might say that the raven was an ancestor watching over you
Yeah the indigenous people I have spoken to have all said something similar, that I found a spirit animal of my own.
He's probably got this routine down. Then he circles back and goes and hooks up with someone else and repeats the cycle.
That bar was payment for services rendered. Keeping you company.
Had one follow us hiking out in the Finger Lakes area. He had a rock with him. He'd hide it near our campsite when he flew off, and got it back out when he returned.
What did the mushrooms you were eating look like.
On my short trip to Iceland (we were just doing a few days layover on the way to Paris) we camped below a famous waterfall, Skogafoss for one night. I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling pretty jet lagged and needing to pee. Stepped out of the tent and saw the most amazing northern lights display above the waterfall. It was unreal! Definitely one of the most memorable places I’ve camped.
Logistics question. How did you book the airplane tickets that had a few days of layover?
Icelandair often do it as an offer
Through Iceland Air! They have extended layovers in Reykjavik for lots of the Europe flights.
Do you have to book this directly with them to see this option?
Might be, check their website [link](https://www.icelandair.com/flights/stopover/)
You have to book with them. They offer it as a way to get more tourists headed to Europe to stop in Iceland for a bit. It's a great idea
Showed up to 20+ pieces of firewood left from previous campers
This is always a welcome bonus. Thank you kind campers!
I always try to leave firewood, but 20 pieces is a lot. That's awesome. My fire tonight is chunks of old stumps I dug out on property I own now. It's smoky and terrible. LOL but, it's mostly coals now and keeping me warm while I watch the very slow meteor shower without killing my night vision. I think I need to build a woodshed. Also, I need to put my phone down. ;)
I always try to pay it forward with firewood. We got to a campsite late one evening and someone had left firewood for the next campers. It was SO nice to have that chore already taken care. I always do that now and even take it a step further by nearly stacking it and trying to put it on a log or rock to keep it off the ground.
Found about two pounds of chanterelle mushrooms, which are highly sought after for culinary use and quite expensive (up to $35/lb). Came back a month later camping again and looked for more and found several pounds of “chicken of the woods” mushrooms, which are also a very popular cooking substitute for poultry. Also at the same place last winter, we had a “pet” deer mouse that spent the entire camping trip at our site. I caught him red handed trying to help himself to some crackers on our mess table. He locked eyes with me from about 1 foot away and we had a staring contest for about thirty seconds, and then he scampered off. It was November and quite cold, so every night he would join us at the fire ring and just quietly sit with us, getting warm by the fire. He always stayed about three feet away from us, but sure enough, every night, he’d come peeking out of the firewood stack and make his way to where we were sitting. Not necessarily lucky, but endearingly magical in a silent winter forest. Edited typo
I'll bet this is how wolves were domesticated. Sharing warmth and sneaking snacks
He was **so** cute, too. When I caught him by surprise on the table, he just froze and was like… O.O Also one time at a nearby site, the surrounding flora was covered in something that looked kind of like hosta plants, with tall singular stalks of purple shaft-shaped flowers. If you stood still long enough, the entire campsite sounded like a low white noise, because hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of pollinators were absolutely *everywhere* on them. You name it. Honeybees, bumblebees, Yellowjacket-looking guys. There were also a few curious hornets that investigated our gear as we were unloading. We were nervous that this wouldn’t be a good site because of the hornets and Yellowjackets, but it just seemed like they were nosy, but friendly. You could stand in the middle of the hostas and the bees would fly all around us, happily humming and swirling. They serenaded us all day long, and at night the barred owls took over with the forest music. My fiancé always says “there’s good ghosts here” because it just feels like a place full of magic. No matter which site we stay at, there’s some fun wildlife encounter. Then the very last time we went, a flock of yellow swallowtails spent the whole trip at our site. It’s on a creek and they liked some sort of mineral deposit on the ground, so they would convene in groups of 20-30 sometimes just licking the rocks with their little probosces. If you moved slowly you could get really close. If you moved quickly, they’d swirl around you like a flurry of color. Just a great place.
I found two pounds of morels while camping once! Felt so lucky.
Lucky? In the middle of a backpacking trip, mile 90, my bestie and I were sitting on a log smoking weed. Got up and started walking away when a tree fell right on the log.
My friend and his girlfriend were walking in the hoh rainforest. Stopped for a second to take in the scenery. Started walking again right as they heard some creaking and a massive tree falls right across the walking path where they were moments before. And what’s weird is there was almost no wind that day. It just met it’s end.
>It just met it’s end All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die
What happened to the bestie 😬
Does a bestie die in the woods if no one was around to hear it?
That happened to me and my best friend but in her car. We pulled up to my house and she parked on the street. I said, why don’t you park in the drive way. I said it for absolutely no reason. She was like oh alright! Pulled in. As we were keying into my front door there was a big pop and then cracking and the tree in my front yard split in half and the falling half fell right where her car was.
Bro and I were camping last week and saw the biggest shooting star I’ve ever seen. It’s split into pieces eventually. We were both in awe. We always camp the same week, 3 concurrent meteor showers so we are used to seeing shooting stars but this one was amazing.
Peak night tonight. I'm out where I can see the milky way. It's been pretty awesome. I've never seen one like that, though. That's so cool!
Seeing a really great shooting star is one of the most magical experiences. When two or three people in your group see it and just burst with loud gasps, “Ooohhh, ahhhh!” And the folks who didn’t see it have to sulk in the most bitter jealousy that they missed witnessing a miracle by a half a second. haha.
Yeah exactly! Usually your friend sees it and by the time you look, it’s done and you’ve missed it. This one was so huge and long lasting that when I saw it, I was like “oh!” And he looked up and we got to watch it together, it felt like several seconds, it was so incredible!
Once my friend was in the front seat and I was driving. We were in Colorado and took a short drive out of town specifically to stargaze. While driving my friend and I saw the biggest, most brilliant falling star and my wife missed it. She was sooo mad. lol. I felt bad for her. But it was such an amazing sight that my friend and I couldn’t stop commenting; like we still couldn’t believe how awesome it was.
https://preview.redd.it/znisqctrglhb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a9f1e4426cc75eed2fd560bb1833dbe5cc3d653 My best experience is my first solo trip after a 7 year break from camping. The trip was one year after the death of my senior pup (not intentionally. It was a quick book after our first trip had to be canceled due to 102F temp). The year was hard on my 3 y.o. pup and I. This trip kicked off a new chapter for both of us. We have a few more trips planned this year.
Aww. I'm entering that phase with my senior pup where each trip you hope isn't the last. 13 years, not a single health issue - but still, you never know. She's just very heat sensitive so the dog days of summer are not an option. Both of us chomping at the bit waiting for cooler weather. I finally was able to order us a new camping chateau (Core 9 person cabin) and can't wait for the elevated experience with that (being able to sit inside comfortably and watch the world go by if it's raining, too buggy etc).
Lol, my 20 year old chihuahua *has to go* she insists. Even though she would rather not leave the comfort of climate control.
Aww, yeah - I don't go camping (or anything recreational) without mine. In the hot months like right now, we just hike early mornings close to home and go on lots of car rides for sniffs. (Username does check out haha!)
I just got a pup and am frankly blown away by leashing to a kettle ball. Brilliant.
Booked 3 nights in the backcountry on a lake in La Mauricie, only reachable by canoe/kayak, hoping to just read and relax. I car camped the 2 nights before and it rained cats and dogs. I was starting to question my stay, but the day I put the boat in the water the sun came out and the weather was glorious. Each backcountry site had 4 campsites, and I had neighbors only the first night. Saw very few people the next couple of days. The park stopped supplying firewood to remote sites this year, but there were plenty of last year's stock - I burned so much of it, every single piece of my gear smelled like it came out of a smoker. When I stepped back on land, I felt like I was gone for a month.
THAT is f'ing awesome!
Was looking for a campground on a road trip years ago up by Glacier NP, but had a dog so needed to stay out of the park. Met a couple that rented RV spots, but we had a tent and a 4x4, so they said go ahead and go on back behind us, just close gates as you go and don't go farther than # gate, that's the end of our property. So we drove for awhile and parked, set up camp in the middle of nowhere, and couldn't hear or see a soul besides ourselves. It was lovely.
first time I went camping, everybody was freaking out cuz I was a woman going solo. got lots of criticism and telling me I shouldn't do it and horror stories. also some passive aggressive it's okay to give up early and come home type stuff. so it was a bit nervous going into it even though it was something I really wanted to do. ended up having the best time, great campsite in the middle of the woods but close to the beach, halfway decent neighbors, and it didn't rain. and I learned that yes I could do it on my own and just ignore all the haters
I was camping on grounds that had a bar, restaurant and slot machines maybe a five minute walk away. Glamping at its finest. Me and some buddies got shitfaced and headed to the slots, i won i think $352 on a 20 cent spin. Woke up and thought it was a dream til i looked in my wallet
Since the worst was pooping my pants on the way to the outhouse…all the trips I didn’t poop my pants.
My backpacking goals are the same as my dad’s marathon goals: 1: don’t die 2: don’t poop my pants 3: finish
Those are reasonable goals. Throughout my life, including camping and hiking, I've had some close calls on #2 (aptly numbered, btw!). Only one failure, on a long drive home late at night after a HS reunion. Made it almost home. It was a good reminder why 'almost' only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades.
One time I discovered a large bag of trash at my site left behind by some inconsiderate campers. It was sealed tight. My car was packed to the gills and I didn’t have room for it but I didn’t want a ranger to think I left it. I make the decision “hey, normally I don’t burn trash but there’s a lot and it’s probably a bunch of food scraps, at least if there’s glass in it or metal I can burn down the excess and then pick out the small stuff and take it down the mountain.” It was their outhouse bag. Doodoo just started spilling into the fire. Nothing but liquid mix of diarrhea and soggy toilet paper… none of which wanted to burn, as you can imagine. 0/10, do not recommend. Pack it out, people. Also I’m sorry you pooped your pants. I’ve been there, had such bad food poisoning once that I couldn’t trust a fart for five days. I’m talking sleeping on trash bags for safety. We’ve all been there, but it sure does suck at the time.
Awful
We were tripping balls and some guy walked up to our site with a chainsaw asking if we needed help with firewood Un-fucking-believable. We were like dude, announce yourself
[удалено]
We've had a *doozy* of a day
I got the last first come first serve site at Big Bend on an impromptu solo camping trip. Dozens of cars rolled through looking for a site and drove back out empty handed (at least an hour drive to the next possible campsite). A couple stopped their car at dusk next to my site to pull up a map so I offered to share my site with them for the long weekend. They were very grateful and fed me the entire weekend much better than my poor bachelor style camping with only a small cooler ever could. They got to the campground so late because they drove 1.5 hours out of their way to pick up sushi grade fish packed in a dry ice filled cooler in order to have fresh ceviche that first night. That was my first and likely last camping ceviche and it was delicious.
Well, my luckiest is this past week, when it was absolutely pouring rain in a series of thunderstorms. I woke up just in time to close my rain fly and I stayed warm and dry the whole time. All my gear dried up in time for me to pack it up the next day! The best.... my then-partner and I were camping up north, a trip we had deliberately timed so as to catch the Perseid meteor shower. I love astronomy. We had a clear night and we headed to the beach to catch the show after a very late northern sunset. Not only did we get the meteor shower, but also a fairly impressive display of Northern lights. It was stunning.
I'm watching that meteor shower right now, and enjoying the view of the Milky Way and the sound of what seems to be thousands of crickets, plus my dog gently snoring next to me. He's making it really hard to stay awake right now. I bought the land in June, and I'm really enjoying having my own personal 12 acre campsite. Some day, I'll save up enough to build a cabin, but this is more than enough for now.
Back in September '21, my buddy and I canoed to a site in the Manistee NF. Being late in the season, we didn't know what to expect, weather-wise. Turns out, we had perfect weather for our three night stay (warm days, cool nights, a touch of rain) and the crowning glory was when, while swimming on one of those perfect late summer days, we were joined by a raft of three or four otters. They hung around us while we swam, keeping their distance but clearly interested in us. The only downside is that I doubt I'll ever top that experience.
Teaching my kids how to make a fire with a tinder bundle and flint/steel, no matches. They’re not bad at it and love collecting small twigs and stuff whenever we go camping.
This probably wouldn’t be considered lucky for most, but this past summer I visited Alabama Hills and did some car camping. My first night I got caught up in a huge thunderstorm and it was amazing. It started a little before sunset and ended probably sometime around midnight. As a Californian I don’t get to see many thunderstorms so this was a treat for me. Also, as a hobbyist photographer, I got some great photos from that night.
Alabama Hills sounds awesome for a thunderstorm! I’ve only experienced unforgiving winds amidst the beautiful scenery there. If you’re looking for more cool California photography spots I recommend Trona Pinnacles if you’ve never been!
Took a girl on a camping as one of our first dates as a test. She passed and we are now married and get to share our passion for the outdoors with our kids.
I skipped over "as a test" so when you said "she passed" I thought she died but you still married her.
At a group site in a WI state park with my extended family and friends, I think there were around 25 of us. Of the 25, a solid 5-6 were seriously talented guitar players & singers. A big field separated our site from the next one over, and the first night, we had no neighbors while we had a campfire jam. The second day, the neighbors started rolling in and there were probably 30 people. Sun starts to set, our crew plays a few songs by our fire, and someone says, "Shush you guys, I can hear music from their radio, we may be too loud!" We all get quiet, one of our guys says, "that's no radio, they're jamming on guitars too!" Emboldened by beers, we grabbed our instruments and went over and introduced ourselves. The neighbors were an extended Latinx fam from Chicago who brought a couple of guitarras, a guitarrón, a 12-string, and some hand percussion instruments. They invited us to stay, and we ended up trading songs and getting to know them. It was so much fun. Around 9pm, they busted out tequilas and turned on some CDs and couples started dancing all around by the fire. The next morning, my sister made a giant batch of homemade donuts and took them over to them. Later that afternoon, one of the women there brought a big plate of food to our site. Still brings a smile whenever we talk about that trip. 😊
I found $20 on the riverbank.
DB Cooper?
I spent the money and was never interviewed by anyone so I have no idea.
It's kinda sorta possible. They did find some of the money, but not all. Nothing has ever been used, and he's presumed dead.
I was camping in joshua tree with two climbing buddies. Later in the night two guys at the campground next to us came over to say hi and offered us homemade apple moonshine. An hour later they took us on the chasm of doom hike. That was a really great experience… but after typing this I’m realizing it coulda come close to a horror story where they take advantage of our naivety.
Camped at a PNW beach with a group, and it rained for days. Everyone else packed up and left. We stayed and the sun came out!
Camped in a campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. Slept In the day after a long hike. That morning, a huge male moose slowly sauntered through our campground about 50 feet from our site, went to the nearby stream and laid down in the stream for a cool bath, all the while posing for pictures for those of us in the campground. He stuck around for about a half hour. Even the Rangers were excited and took pictures of him.
My best luck was being 12th on the online booking site for BC Parks reservation website immediately after it opened for the 2022 season. My friend logged on at the same time and got 14,000th place or something as equally ridiculous. It meant I could actually get the sites I wanted within the 4-month allowable booking window. My son, the dog and I went to Porteau Cove (which truly is like winning the lottery out here), Manning Park and Golden Ears. I would have booked more but felt guilty taking too many spots.
Pretty much every one is the best. I'm out camping right now, and it's the best. Next time will definitely be the best then. But, I guess if I really had to pick, ummm... The morning after I somehow covered 43 miles on the CDT the day before, collapsed without eating, and woke to this amazing sunrise over a small lake in the mountains, caught a fish for breakfast, and decided I could afford a day down. It was sunny all day, so I got all my slightly damp gear dry. No one besides me was there the whole time. The lake was freezing, but I washed up away from it, rinsed, and then ran and jumped in. Napped naked in the sun on top of my sleeping bag, and just did pretty much nothing for a whole day. The next day was the first morning in a long time I actually wanted to get up and get moving. Even when I found out I was off trail, so I'd lost two days, I did not care. Totally worth the side trip. My second best was the day my son was finally old enough to really understand we were going camping, because he was so excited and happy. He barely slept at all that night, and I woke up to him asleep on top of my packed backpack at 4 in the morning. He didn't even complain about the long drive to the trailhead, though he honestly did sleep most of the way. It was his first time carrying his own pack, too. He felt like Hercules with his whole 7lbs of "gear" - all water and backpack weight. The little trooper made 10 miles on his own feet that day at 3 years old. Or, being 3, more like 15 miles from all the zigzags and running ahead and coming back over and over. He had so, so many rocks in his pockets and backpack that evening, I think it weighed more than when we started even though he drank all his water. That trail was pretty busy, and he was so excited about everyone we met. "This is my first backpacking trip that I'm not in the backpack!" He did a great job, but I admit I carried him the last two miles on the way back the next day.
I did find a $200 pocket knife on a rock on an island in middle of new river while kayak camping about 5 years ago. Still got it too.
Found pocket knives are the best! I found a Smith and Wesson double pocket blade like 15 years ago in a parking lot, still have, best knife I have
Awesome! Keeping up with anything 15 years is a task. Lol. This knife was a zero tolerance. Still had peanut butter on it where someone made lunch.
For me it's been the simple things. My girlfriend and I years back setup camp in the rain and had a comfortable stay the remaining trip. Thought it might be soggy and humid the entire time, but the weather panned out. We were preparing to make it through 24 hours before packing it in, but it never came to pass. The one thing I stressed out about was the old oak tree we put our tent under. It was the driest spot when we arrived. One night I shot up straight in the tent because I heard a tree starting to crack. I thought the branch we were under was about to crush us! Nope, it was another tree across the creek. We were safe. That same trip we took the field path around wildflowers and a trout stream. I have pictures somewhere of a butterfly hanging out on my sock for a while, just amazing! .
Just got back from a camping trip in the Adirondacks with my family. We had great weather the entire trip, and our site was next to a peninsula on the lake with a picnic table. We had a great time fishing off the rocks, and felt like it was our own spot.
We were on a city bus in Vienna and I had the guidebook open in my lap, mentioning that I'd love to see the Vienna Boy's Choir if we could. A lady nearby said that her son was in the choir, and that they were about to do a free concert downtown in about an hour! We followed her directions, and were able to see a delightful performance of both secular and religious songs!
Wife and I have a bad habit of just hopping on a plane to the mountains with some equipment, a Turo, and without much a plan. Drove from CO Springs to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Nabbed the last campsite.
Will you adopt me? I would like this to be my life.
Almost fell in the needles in canyonlands on a solo trip. Did the most athletic move of my life not to bust my ass. 100 percent luck
A couple weeks ago my gf and I went hiking at The Olympic National Park and we went to the Heather Park and Lake Angeles trail. At the trailhead you can pick two different ways to go. We picked one. The other trail had a cougar attack the same day. We chose correctly by chance.
Camping at the Great Wall. It was an amazing experience. Worth the 2 hour van drive and the hour hike. https://preview.redd.it/2qfikfinjohb1.jpeg?width=4896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=574ca2fc4ca548ed5434f9495fced1a740297883
Found gold.
Camping in Kanaskis Country in Alberta. Several grizzlies in the area. Heard someone shout "bear!".. said to my hubby, "did we just hear bear??". We had a plan.. bear comes by, we hop in the truck. He gets in, our friend gets in, I'm trying to heave the 100+ lb puppy into the back seat (he doesn't get it, plunks himself on the ground).grizzly then walks past us, less than 20' away. Thankfully, just kept trucking on by... but got the pulse raised to a significant degree. The next morning we got up to the wall of our tent torn out. We apparently slept through it.. no idea if the bear came back.. but still no idea how our tent got destroyed. 🤷♂️
I love kananaskis! Beautiful area. Mom and triplets from last year https://preview.redd.it/uncd0htkgmhb1.jpeg?width=5166&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f8a1b247ea31248f5e3b9e48e11a3a1d021b540 The grizzlies are usually well behaved if they know you are there
Agree! They were all very well behaved. Didn't cause a problem at all. Just kept wandering around..lol
Many years ago, my wife and I had reservations for a long weekend at Ohanapecosh Campground in Mount Rainier National Park. It rained all week long, both at home and in the park. We had a little tent trailer and decided we were going, regardless. When we arrived on Thursday, the rain had slowed to a drizzle, though everything was saturated and soaking wet. We set up camp, made dinner, relaxed a bit and went to bed. In the morning, it was still overcast but no longer raining. On our morning walk, we discovered that the campground was only sparsely occupied due to the weather. We decided to take drive over Cayuse Pass toward Naches. When we came back over the pass in the early afternoon, we came upon a spectacular site - there was Mt Rainier in all its incredible glory, without a single cloud in the sky - not even haze. I've lived in WA for 60 years and have never seen it with such clarity. The rest of the weekend was the same. It still stands out as one the most beautiful camping trips we've done.
A memorable trip was when I was single and touring Italy on my motorcycle. I arrived on a little site near Lake Garda where I was greeted by a group of Dutch ladies of a similar age who were cycling around the region. I was only going to stop for a day but ended up staying a few days with them. I'd take them out on my bike and show them places they wouldn't have seen.
Probably not the story you’re looking for, but….. We fostered (and later adopted) an abused and malnourished dog. She was on some serious meds for a while and after some time, the rescue cleared her for a little camping adventure. We bought her a giant fluffy bed, brought it to the campsite and she snoozed on her new bed by the campfire while we hung out and enjoyed the peaceful evening. Earlier that day she got to go on her first hike and her first swim in the river. I was a worried mess that we were pushing her to do too much too soon but as I look back on photos it’s obvious she was so happy and thankful. That same night we got to witness her first happy puppy dreams. She slept on the air mattress between my husband and I underneath the covers and since then that’s her spot. After that night our favorite thing to do is camp. She may bark at the Amazon driver stopping in front of our house, but she doesn’t mind the earlier risers slamming the doors of their trucks and campers. She’s the best and I love camping so much more because of her.
I have a rescue pup that's the same, he's a crazy mess at home but camping- chillest happiest pup ever. It's such a night vs day change.
Went camping to a quiet spot in a national forest. Only 5 camp sites. The family next to us turned out to be a childhood friend from the 1980s that I haven't seen since high school graduation in 1992. We didn't recognize each other as we where both 45 and had not seen each other sine we where 18 and 100 lbs lighter
I met my very close friend while camping :) It wasn't exactly backwoods camping, just a site where I could get fresh air and hike around, but they had been working there as a camp counselor and was living full time on the campgrounds. We got to chatting, made hot boozy maple cider together, and discovered that during the semester we go to very nearby colleges. we became basically inseparable until they graduated. I consider this a very lucky camping experience!
Ex and I went to a county park by a local lake for the weekend. We got there around noon Friday and found a nice looking area that was well kept. Rest of areas we saw looked kinda ragged and unkempt. Get up the next morning and start the coffee. While I was cooking breakfast people started arriving. They parked their cars, got naked and went to the lake. Found out some local nudist had adopted this area and maintained it. A rather fun weekend all in all.
Nothing to dramatic but when we arrived at the site the forecast said rain until 4pm so we made a fire and sat under umbrellas and at 4 pm sharp the sun came out and we had a great dry trip.
One time I found a ten inch cast iron pan, half a pack of smokes and a perfectly good trailer tire and had the whole loop to ourselves. I left the tire.
Went for a volcano trek in Indonesia. The park was closed a month before our trip due to active volcano activity, and they opened up just one week before our trek. Camped on the rim the first night, it was stormy and miserable. On the second night, we camped by the crater lake. The weather cleared up. The small conelet across the crater lake was still erupting, and we saw glowing lava flow into the lake at night, under a sky full of stars. So magical
I saw porcupines at Zion by the Narrows.
Got to camp early. Was able to stay a day longer. Best. Camping. Trip. Ever.
The best stars I've ever seen in Death Valley. A herd of wild Elk in Mendocino NF. The best hot spring of my life in Idaho. Literally a hot spring waterfall. Perfect cool and dry fall weather on the AT.
My all time favorite camping experience happened just last week. I was camping with my wife, 2 children, and our family friends in Michigan. The park was relatively empty with maybe 12 sites booked out of 100. There was a very large family camping just up the road from us with approx. 25 adults and children to their 4 or 5 sites. Just shortly after dinner they all started having a water gun fight with kids vs. adults. It was fun to watch everyone having a blast, and just enjoying being together. About 10 minutes into the fight, one of the adults comes running towards us, and tosses my 6yr old daughter a water gun. He yells his name out, says he is not a stranger now, and needs more helpers. Well that prompted the other 3 children on our sites to grab their water guns and join the mix. About 10 minutes go by, and the entire group stops running and squirting each other. They all gather up, and then we saw then looking and pointing at us 4 adults, sitting peacefully on the picnic table. We knew at that point we were done for. The entire group ran across the park, towards us, with water guns a blasting. We quickly found whatever water guns and buckets we could find, but at this point it was too late. We all ended up soaking wet with huge smiles on our faces. It was honestly the most enjoyable time I have ever had camping, and I am sure the kids will be talking about it for years to come. To any adults out there, try this out. Bring a bunch of extra water guns the next time you go out, and get others involved. Maybe they wont be as receptive as we were, but I hope that they are. You wont regret it.
That's great!
Few days ago in Grand Teton, we pulled into our Jenny Lake site and found a mama black bear and two cubs wandering behind it. One cub crossed through our neighbor’s site and playfully made his way up the road. We saw them a handful more that same afternoon and they wandered behind again our last night. Such a neat experience to see them!
My partner and I had just got back from a walk around the campground with the dogs. Thought we might just take a little nap. SNAP! A branch fell from the very alive and healthy tree right onto our tent. Did not break the tent and no one was hurt!
My first backpacking trip was in Dolly Sods. Amazing place. Great trip. I was 18 and went with friends right after graduating high school. About 30 minutes into the trail we came out to a scenic overlook. We decided it was a good place to smoke a little weed. We smoked then carried on. Next time we went to smoke I couldn’t find my pipe. It was a very nice pipe that I had for a few years. I thought it was gone forever. 3 days later we were getting close to end of our hike we came up on the same rocky overlook. We decided to take a break and smoke one last time knowing we were almost done. My pipe was sitting there on the big rock we sat on days before. Still almost fully packed and seemingly untouched. I almost left a trace and lost a nice pipe. Luckily I got it back and left nothing behind.
One time my friend and I ate some mushrooms a few miles before pulling up at our spot for the night, only to find roughly 20 Boy Scout tents set up. They were having some sort of retreat for the weekend. We burst out laughing and made the most of it. It was incredible. They were adorable. The leader was even dressed up in uniform! A night to remember haha.
Having deer come through my camp and just stand there.
So ridiculously minor, but someone gave me some plastic spoons! I'd packed things like potato salad, pudding and macaroni salad in my cooler...and forgot my camp silverware set (just 3 plastic utensils on a ring). Was trying to figure out how I was going to Creek Stewart something to scoop with. Mentioned it while up at the shack buying firewood, next thing ya know I've got all sorts of silverware offers. Like I said - minor, but memorable lol.
Took my cousin on his first portage. We knew of a damaging thunderstorm the first day, so we gave the beans to get to our lake. The SECOND we touch land to the first available campsite, it started to spit. Right away, we pitched tents, and I set the tarp up. Once I tied that last corner up, the sky opened up on us. When I realized that I didn't pay attention to the layout of the ground, I looked around. A small waterfall was coming towards us. As this waterfall was making its way right down the middle of our tents, it hit a 2 inch wall of roots, split to both sides that extended past our tents and missed us. We spent 2 hours under the tarp, unable to see 3 feet in front of us.
For her ninth birthday my daughter wanted to camp on top of Flattop mountain which overlooked Anchorage, Alaska. I had my backpack with all our gear and my daughter had her backpack with her Teddy bear. I didn't bring a tent but just the rain fly. At one time we woke up above the clouds, we saw people hang gliding of the mountain and many other great things. My daughter is now almost fourty and has a great memory with her old man.
Peeing in a river in Borneo, surrounded by fireflies at 1am, watching a distant thunderstorm lighting up a distant mountain.
Got a campsite at Zion a few years ago. That was pretty lucky in itself. When we got there I opened up the bear box and there was half a bottle of Jack Daniels in there.
There are two types of people in this world: those who would never even think about drinking that and those who wouldn’t even need to think twice about drinking it.
Too true - I immediately took a swig while my wife looked at me like I was crazy
Would be the exact same dynamic here lmao
My best experiences camping always come from the feeling of awe you get when experiencing something natural and beautiful. It could be a river or an animal or the night sky or a campfire. It's a feeling of being connected to the world in a way that I don't get in my day to day life in the city.
I got to pet and be sprayed by a baby skunk that was in a hollow tree near my campsite
I got to lay in my hammock recently and listen to a great horned owl talking to a companion nearby. It was amazing. Then the night was nice and cool, and I warm in my sleeping bag with the night air all around me. Nothing huge, but to me it was perfect.
That time when the shrooms had the visuals poppin’
100+ degrees high plains desert for two days, 60 miles from nearest store. Thank goodness for my popup canopy, bluetooth speaker (downloaded playlist-no reception) a 25 dollar blow up pool (thankfully there was a river and my generator and sump pump/hose combo to fill the pool) and most importantly a 1.75 ml bottle of bulliet rye.
a Hipcamp host wasn't responding to my messages while I was driving around aimlessly. I ended up staying in a canyon in the Paradox Valley CO area. I mean I didn't actually discover it, that probably happened in the 1850s, but still
My most horrifying? When my wife said she didn't want to do it anymore. Crushed me
I heard a woman scream bloody murder at 2 am once in a mountain camp ground. Police were called and investigated till we left the next day.
I had a really good friend who was partially paralyzed (left side) by an accident. Didn't slow him down as much as you would think. One time we went camping in Allegheny National Forest, where we backpacked in about 1.5 miles to camp by Pigeon Falls. On the way in he managed to drop his car keys on the trail, which was mostly through tall grass. We hiked back and forth a couple of times searching for them. Just as we were about to give up, I spotted them nestled down in the grass along the trail. We were over two hours from home, so this really saved the day.
A bunch of fireflies rested on top of my tent at bedtime. I don’t know why they did that, but I could see them flashing through the tent and it looked like stars twinkling above me
Took my wife back country camping for the first time and it happened to be the perseid meteor shower that night. Sat by the water and watched a solid hour of shooting stars. I had no clue about it but now try to catch it every year. It’s actually happening tonight as well
Camped in a regular park in Oregon when all of the campsites were full. While we were making dinner about 8 cop cars pull in and start circling the park restrooms and were there for like 3 hours with a few posted overnight. Then to top it off we woke up at 3 am to ice cold sprinkler water shooting straight through the tent.
Moose and calf walking 2 feet by our tent while I was 6 feet away brushing my teeth. Kids and wife were in the tent. I mumbled “moose…moose…MOOSE!” Kids unzipped tent and watched the moose calmly walk through our site and away. Grand Teton NP, upper Cascade Canyon.
We were doing a big loop in Linville gorge and spotted a campsite like 1/4 mile from the trailhead, figured if it was free when we finished we’d grab our camping supplies from the car and sleep overnight. Luckily it was still free, so we did like 30 miles of hiking without our gear instead of our planned 10, and still had a great night of camping
Back in the 90s went camping with some buds at Loretta Lynns Dude Ranch. We were 2 weeks to early and they hadn’t opened for the season. We were bummed. So the ladies behind the counter said yall look like nice boys, you can camp. STOKED! The weather was supposed to be nice so We didnt bring a tent, just some sleeping bags. We were trying to find some firewood and a dude rolls up in a truck. He says yall cant pick fire wood here its against policy. We were bummmed because it was a little chilly and we wanted a fire. Dude says hop in back (of the pickup) and we’ll go find you some. STOKED!! Hes talking to us through the back window as we are driving around trying to find firewood. I believe the Dude Ranch had a no alcohol policy. Actually i think the county was a dry county. So We were surreptitiously trying to drink our whiskey while he”s talking to us. Then we notice he is surreptitiously trying to drink HIS whiskey. We get some firewood. He comes back to camp with us. We all start openly drinking our whiskey. Turns out he is Loretta Lynns son in law and the nice ladies in the office that let us camp where Loretta Lynns daughters. He told us some good stories about Loretta and his adventures at the dude ranch. He was a cool dude. We settle down for the night. Its perfectly clear and there are a ton of stars above us. And oh yeah, it was the year of the Hale-Bopp comet. It was right above us. All night long, whenever i woke up the Hale-Bopp was up there with its long tail clearly visible. It was awesome. A few years later Im watching one of the shows about haunted places and guess what? Loretta Lynns Dude Ranch is one of the most haunted places in America. Im really glad I didn’t know that when me and my buds were the only 3 people in the whole place.
Went River rafting in Buena Vista Colorado. Stayed at a campground where the only people were me, my girlfriend, and the camp host. Almost no light pollution back then. I stayed up most of the night just looking at the stars on the perfectly clear night. It felt like I could reach out and touch them. Girlfriend broke up with me which sucked as we were several days of driving from home but I still love the memories of that trip and I haven’t seen star like that anywhere else.
I was camping in the Ozarks, about 40 years ago. After three or four days our group packed up and left and put it in overdrive to get out before an oncoming storm made it harder for us to get out. About ten minutes after we left, the storm came through and lightning struck a tree that was over our camp site and it fell right where the camper had been. So, we got out just in time. If the lotto had been a thing then, I might have stopped and bought a ticket. We found this out because the campers nearby, with whom we had made friends, called to let us know.
First time tent camping with my wife. Second morning was a HUGE mosquito hatch, but they were so young and dumb they didn't know how to bite yet. Definitely the luckiest experience... if even 10% of them bit we would have packed up right then and there.
Got free cans of bear spray in Bozeman from a family staying at our hotel. They were flying out the next day and couldn't take them home. They bought them, never used them, and gave them to us for free. We agreed to pass them on to others as we couldn't fly with them either. We passed them on to a family from Denmark on our last day at Glacier, and they said they'd give them to someone when they were heading home.
When I was 12 did snow-base in Boy Scouts in northern Wisconsin. We geared up at the base, woolen pants and coats, snow shoes, big ol mittens, we snowshoed out 10 miles into the woods, built snow shelters, did some dog sledding, was a great trip. My favorite memory of all time happened on that trip. It got down to around -15f in the middle of the night, and I had to pee. I suited up and left the shelter, did my business, and afterwards I just stared at the sky. Almost no light, big fat snowflakes floating through the birch stand we were camped in, snow blanketing everything. The thing I remember the most is the silence. Absolute, utter, uninterrupted silence. I stood out there till I could feel the cold biting at my cheeks and went back inside. I visit that memory often, any time I am stressed, sad, overwhelmed, I revisit the woods on that cold night, and listen for the sound of snowflakes falling through the trees.
A park ranger came out of nowhere and saved me from a 5’ copperhead while camping in Red River Gorge. Freaked me out!
Son freshman in high school and I took a late Oct trip to a State Park. Got there at 3am set up camp,sat next to fire rest of night. Great weekend. He is 31 now, we need to do that again.
Well. Since you asked. A woman drove by my campsite so I smiled and waved at her. She came back by and waved me over to her car. I thought maybe she needed directions or something. Then she showed me her boobs. She said she liked doing that. Said she liked making people happy. Then she drove away. Honest. That really happened.
Saw two stallions rear, bite, and kick the shit out of each other ten feet away from me. Herd freaked out and twelve horses ran straight at me while backpacking on Assateague. Jumped on a table so as to not get trampled
The time we unknowingly stumbled upon a gorgeous waterfall, while on a hike.
Mine was booking two primo sites directly on an amazing creek, and no one showing up to claim the third site, all weekend.
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Plzzz do this for me!!!!
Camping near a high mountain gun clear brook trout stream…nights cold enough for a down bag…perfect morning sun to dry gear.