Which one is your favorite?
With the new camping season upon us today is just taking some time to reflect on some of the stupidest camping mistakes we have made and which we have heard about. If you would like to share some of your stories for our next book please email us from the web link below.
Remember, these are all actual things we have either done or seen done, they are not urban myths, which just goes to show how even the simple things in life like camping can be eye opening...
1. It is raining or windy outside so let's start the fire inside the tent.
2. Pitching the tent or swag in a "dry" creek/river/gully bed with a storm coming.
3. Setting up camp below the high water mark on an ocean tidal riverbank. (That actually was pretty funny to wake up with waves washing through the swag).
4. Testing the pan toffee (liquid molten hot boiling sugar in a pan over an open fire, usually eaten AFTER it cools down and hardens) with a finger (I still can't believe he did that) and the very next day putting an unopened can of baked beans in the fire to warm them up... Mental Note never go camping with this guy ever again.
5. Driving away from the campsite to get some supplies with the tent still set up and roped to the car.
6. Watching with no concern the kids go swimming at dusk, with dogs, in an ocean inlet next to where fishermen are cleaning fish and where signs are posted saying "beware shark infested waters" (When we told the local Police they just shook their head at the stupidity).
7. Leaving dinner meat out to defrost inside a tent in bear/crocodile country and expecting the animal to not tear the tent to pieces trying to get at the meat. At least it was in a plastic bag so the flies wouldn't get at it.
8. Camping near the edge of a cliff, getting up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, tripping over the tent rope and over the edge of the cliff.
9. Doing the dinner washing up in crocodile infested waters. Have these people no idea how fast those things are? They can drag grown horses into the water. Oh yeah and then that night going swimming in the same river. They must have had some serious angels watching over them.
10. Using petrol or gasoline to get that stubborn fire moving along nicely in wet weather. I knew it was stupid but thought I would be able to step back quick enough, gee that fireball moves fast!
I know we said 10 but can't go past these last two...
11. trying to hand feed (take your pick we have heard them all) that cute looking possum, baby bear, fox, fruit bat. The claws people, what do you think the claws are for?
12. Too tired at the end of the camping birthday party to clean up the leftover food and woke up in the middle of the night to find every possum within about 30 miles having a fight over the leftover chocolate birthday cake. But wait here is the good bit, when I went outside (in my undies) with a broom to chase them away they ran at me, actually ran at me and tried to bite/attack/slash me!
I had gone from a warm cosy bed to being attacked by possums in my undies in the middle of the night, all to save some chocolate birthday cake.
On that note hope you had a good laugh and hope none of these things ever happen to you.
Source: EzineArticles
In our salad days, when we were learning the ins and outs of backpacking/camping, we were lounging around the fire one evening, having one of those desultory yet spirited conversations that young men with raging hormones have, when my buddy reached into the fire to move a log. With his bare hand. To my knowledge, he's never done that again.
When DH & I started out tent camping 20+ years ago, we had no idea how quickly animals would investigate a sealed plastic garbage bag; we laugh about this stupidity often. We were at Hickory Run SP in PA; we were in a site far away from the dumpster and decided we would make one 'trash run' at the end of the night. We were finishing up late night snacks/drinks when we saw something scoot past us and tear into the bags that were waiting by the car trunk; it was a skunk. After rummaging through the bags, it strolled over to us and gave us a once-over from about 6 feet away (which was more than close enough), then ran off.
We learned our lesson to not let anything edible sit out for any period of time whatsoever, and count our blessings that we (or the tent and our belongings inside) weren't sprayed.
When my wife and I first started tent camping we checked in at a state park. We had it set in our minds we had to have an electric site - I had even packed a long extension. We waited about 4 hours for an electric site to become available. As we were finally setting up camp it occurred to me we didn't take anything that was electric.
No where near top 10 but 30 years later we still get a chuckle out of it.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
[quote author=indybp57 link=topic=2486.msg23933#msg23933 date=1370043596]
When my wife and I first started tent camping we checked in at a state park. We had it set in our minds we had to have an electric site - I had even packed a long extension. We waited about 4 hours for an electric site to become available. As we were finally setting up camp it occurred to me we didn't take anything that was electric.
Like driving down a dead end road that had a sign at the head end of it "No Outlet".
[quote author=indybp57 link=topic=2486.msg23933#msg23933 date=1370043596]
When my wife and I first started tent camping we checked in at a state park. We had it set in our minds we had to have an electric site - I had even packed a long extension. We waited about 4 hours for an electric site to become available. As we were finally setting up camp it occurred to me we didn't take anything that was electric.
No where near top 10 but 30 years later we still get a chuckle out of it.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
CLASSIC! I LOVE it!
Funny thing is, we look at the mistakes newbies make and we shake our heads and chuckle, and wonder how they could be so dumb. We tend to forget how...innocent and naive we were when we started, and how we had to learn all of what we now know. So many...mistakes. So many testings.
Common Sense: the result of making so many mistakes and learning from them.
"8. Camping near the edge of a cliff, getting up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, tripping over the tent rope and over the edge of the cliff."
I actually knew someone that did this (don't think he was going to go to the toilet though)....TWICE....at the same place! Broke his neck both times! You would have thought that he learned from the first time falling off the cliff. had to be in one of those halo things that keep everything straight. I know alcohol was involved..but TWICE at the same place!
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