What was your best camping experience? And where was it?

derangedboar

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I think mine was the first camping "trip". It was only in a the woods near my friends house. Not even that far away. But it was fun to be on our own, although I bet we were watched over at night.
 

Grandpa

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So many wonderful trips. But I would have to say those first trips when we were kids. We'd get one of the mom's to haul us up one of the canyons and another mom would come and get us 3 or 4 days later.
 

Cappy

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we had a fishing cabin in the Atchafalaya basin. My father would bring me and my 2 friends there Saturday morning and spend the weekend with us. He would leave us there for the week and come back the next Saturday morning and camp with us and help us get ready to go home Sunday night we did this a few times a year all through my early teen years and they were wonderful camping trips filled with epic fishing and frogging and crawfishing and other Cajun activities
 

Northern Dancer

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I don't know about "best" - but this is from my summer journal twenty-five years ago.

It was just about dusk at our campsite on Big Porcupine Lake. The evening's dinner dishes had been meticulously washed and put away. The food scraps were well burned as not to attract unwelcome animal visitors and the campfire was built for the evening festivities. There wasn't any discussion; it was that peaceful lull in the day before nightfall when people felt quite comfortable in saying nothing.

I took the opportunity to groom my Gold Retriever, Blazer, who had long sandy hair that attracted every bur and plant that could possibly stick to fur. He enjoyed the grooming routine and stretched out willingly on the rock that had been heated by the warmth of a hot day Sun.

It was like someone suddenly turned the CD system on full blast when you were least expecting it. Everyone, including Blazer, was instantly on their feet at the first piercing sound. It was clear, precise, penetrating and simply wonderful to hear.

It was the distinctive call of the wild; it was the howl of wolves. It instantly reminded me of the stories from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and Jack London's Call of the Wild. The howls in concert drifted throughout our camp.

The wolves did not stop howling from the setting of the sun until the rising of the same the next day. Never in all my years of camping and canoeing in Algonquin have I ever heard such a complex performance staged by these majestic creatures.

Though there is a population of approximately one hundred and seventy-five wolves that inhabit Algonquin Park this was my first experience being thrilled by the primitive sound of the wolf.

And then there was...okay, okay - I'll keep it for another time.
 

Roybrew

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Wow. I really couldn't say. Some trips were more challenging then others. I've enjoyed most of them except an exceptional few. I guess if I had to choose it would hard. One trip was a river floating, fishing trip where we would make camp for the night on any island we were near. One time was when my brother purchased a new boat from a dealer on the other end of the state. We picked it up early one morning, and spent the rest of the week trying it out, and camping at different lakes, while we worked our way back home.

To me it doesn't have to be an extravagant or exceptional area. I do like fishing to be involved, and cooking over an open fire. Of course I will admit, I want to do a couple day hike and camp on the Appalachian trail with grand views, gorgeous sun rises and sun sets. Always more to explore.
 

Northern Dancer

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...it might be interesting to learn about "my bad experience" camping/canoeing. It seems to me that most of my trips have been good; some exceptional. Though I haven't had a lot of bad ones they seem to be the ones that stick out most in my mind. Just sayin...
 

ppine

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Yellowstone during the elk rut.
The North Cascades in August.
Wyoming with a string of horses 50 miles from the trailhead.
Colorado at 10,000 feet hunting mule deer.
Nevada chasing elk in the Jarbidge Mountains.
Oregon running the Grand Rhonde River in a raft.
Mule packing school in the CA Sierra.
Rafting the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
 

jason

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I don't know if I would call it camping, but I think the first time I slept in a tent with my kids. My parents house while they were fixing it up, so no one was there. Empty lot next door, house that you can see behind them was vacant, and there was enough trees and overgrowth on the other side you really didn't see the other house. Got to cook outside over the fire with them too.
 

ppine

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My best trips as a kid were camping in Yellowstone and seeing the bears in 1955. And then

My Dad took us to Maine in 1958 and we camped at Lake Cupsuptic near L Mooselookmeguntic. We rented an aluminum boat with an outboard and it was on the beach next to the tent. Mom and Dad were in a canvas umbrella tent. My brother and I were in a canvas pup tent with open ends. The insects were fierce and we had no experience with black flies. We fished all the time, went berry picking, told sea stories around the campfire. We met lots of local kids from towns like Mexico and Peru, Maine. We saw Canada. We saw a bear, We climbed mountains. Holy cow I never had so much fun. We still talk about this trip at family gatherings. 60 years later. We bought blocks of ice for 25 cents stored in the bank of the lake in sawdust cut by hand in winter and hauled with horses. My Dad tried to buy and wood and canvas Old Town canoe for $40 but he had not rack to get it home with. There were log churches around. I will never forget it.
 

ppine

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Best recent camping experience was on an unnamed river in Oregon. We floated around 85 miles to celebrate my 65th birthday. The campsites were large , around an acre above the river under ponderosa pines. Very sandy and all were totally clean because it is a wild and scenic river. Fires only in a fire pan, all human waste has to be packed out.

All the wildlife was there, bald eagles, large herds of elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, otters, beaver, mink; blue herons you name it.
A fawn walked up to me while I was taking a nap. The food was great. I baked a cake in a Dutch Oven. I was surrounded by good friends including my brother. The way all trips are supposed to be.
 
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