June 21st, 2009
I camped. I got dirty. It rained. It was SO AWESOME. I haven’t stopped babbling about all the sleeping bags and Coleman stoves we’re going to buy since we left and I think it makes Husband nervous – he camped but only under duress. The fact that he had a blast has done nothing to encourage him to revise his (negative) stance on camping – I blame all the years he spent in the military where they made him dig snow caves and igloos and hunt forest rodents for his dinner and sleep with a rifle in his sleeping bag so he could be ready to roll into a firing position when his commander would raise the alarm, which was done at least eighteen times over the course of the night, every night. But that’s just a guess.
Some observations I made:
1. I think I made an ass of myself when I discovered some disgusting clot on the floor of the women’s outhouse and tried to explain to the menfolk that I was concerned there was a partial corpse in there. (I am not always very good at translating from brain to mouth.) So when I went back a little later and discovered the clot was entirely gone – as though eaten! – and became convinced that my first trip had interrupted some sort of disembowel-ingest process, no one took me seriously. As evidence by the fact that, later, when I requested an escort for yet another potty trip because clearly there was a man-eater in the vicinity, no one would walk with me, so I had to brave the toilet alone. It was harrowing. I am not too proud to admit being afraid of the woods at night BUT nonetheless I am still smitten with camping.
2. You know how when you have to poo and you’re out in public, you worry that someone will enter the stall right as you are leaving (after doing your business) and they will know by the smell what you have done? Which is embarrassing. So I hear. I personally do not poo but I know people who do. Anyway, when you are using an outhouse, it always smells like shit so you never have to worry about this! Unexpected benefit to crapping into a hole over a mountain of turds!
3. Food tastes better when prepared over a fire. And when supplied by someone else, which was a characteristic of all the food we ate this weekend. We nearly backed out of the trip due to threat of rain and then decided to go after all at the last minute, so we didn’t have anything prepared. If you know me you know I have a dread horror of not supplying everyone I encounter with mountains of food so arriving at the campsite with nothing but a bag of chips and some Oreos was a blow to my self image that may never recover. Our generous friends shared a variety of vegetarian foodstuffs with us and it was so much better for being shared, and eaten outdoors. Thanks to everyone who helped us out, not just with food but with the very basic camping supplies that we lack. It would have been a very hungry, cold, and wet trip without you.
4. SASQUATCH IS TOTALLY REAL. And not just based on the ontological argument for sasquatches, which states in summary that existence is a characteristic of a sasquatch greater than which no sasquatch can be conceived. Also, behold:
A three foot foot-print! In our very campsite! Explain THAT, skeptics!
Also, skeptics tell really lame ghost stories.
Nice Article. Have bookmarked your site! Keep it up!
Good post, I will be sure to bookmark this post in my Furl account. Have a awesome day.