Let’s just say that when it comes to camping there can sometimes be a steep learning curve! A lot of people who decide to go camping picture themselves hitching a tent like they were born in the wilderness! They roll out all their tools and magically, in a few minutes their tent is up and looking as cozy as can be. They picture themselves rubbing a few sticks together and viola! there’s a cozy fire to sit by. Or maybe they plan their trip thinking to themselves “Oh, it’s spring, the weather will be warm!” and visualize themselves relaxing under their portable camping umbrella enjoying a few Z’s in the sun.
Camping is a lot more difficult than relaxing under a portable camping umbrella, especially when it rains!
Well, not to burst anyone’s bubble, but allow me to let you in on a not so well kept secret: Camping can be hard! Sometimes in one trip everything that could possibly go wrong does! So, here’s the good news, you’re not alone! Allow me to tell you a personal short story that captures my own camping experience. And yes, there are a few laugh-out-loud moments that every camper can relate to.
During a camping trip last October me and a few friends packed up our bags for a two-day camping adventure. Although we knew that the weather forecast was showing to be a bit rainy we decided to go anyway! Thinking to ourselves that we weren’t wimps, but young and brave, we threw our bags in the trunk of my car and headed out to the local camp site.
When we got there we set up our tent in a record ten minutes and were all smiles and high-fives. Patting ourselves on the back for a job well done we decided it was time for a little hike before the sun set. As we climbed around in the woods it started to drizzle, rain, and finally downpour! We all ran back to camp with soppy shoes and some dampened spirits but decided we were going to try and make a little dinner, in the rain, anyway. Another adventure and another mistake! One of my friends humored us by holding a dinky umbrella over our sad little fire that tried fiercely not to putter out, but it did! Where was our JoeShade camping umbrella when we needed one?
After the cooking disaster we all took to our tents and dined on snack bars! Thank goodness we had plenty of those! After a while, we decided to crawl into our sleeping bags and wait out the storm. To our unpleasant surprise, our blankets were soaked! Yikes! There was a hole in the corner of our tent that was letting in all the rain. We might as well have not even been inside a tent for all the good this one was doing us!
After an hour we packed up our bags, broke down the tent and officially called off our camping trip. We decided laying out some sleeping bags in my living room and watching a movie was adventurous enough for us that night!
What a fiasco, but we managed to find the humor in our disaster and vowed to try again, this time on a sunny day! Lesson learned: rain can be a campers worst nightmare for a poorly equipped group of first time campers! Next time, we’re making sure we’ve got good weather, the right tent and our portable camping umbrella to keep us protected while we’re roughing it!
What’s your funny camping story you’d like to share?
