EARLY CAMPING MEMORIES GO BACK TO CAMPING BLOG
I have been camping since I was a small child when our annual summer campouts with my parents, and their best friend's family made for an ingrained sense of fun and adventure. We went to the Rocky Mountains, and a favorite campground was Olive Ridge Campgound. As you can see from the link below, you must reserve a spot there these days as with most popular campgrounds :
http://www.reserveamerica.com/campgroundDetails.do?subTabIndex=0&&contractCode=nrso&parkCode=oliv
When I gather more memories from the family camping archives, I will add them here.
Once I was grown and away from home I continued this passion. I owned an white 1970 International Scout , and it was my first 4-wheel drive vehicle. It was a hard ride with manual lock out tires for 4-wheeling. It was a short body pick-up that I constructed a conestoga type canvas cover for. I sewed the orange canvas myself and constructed the framework from aluminum pipes that I bent with a pipebender. I loved sleeping in the back of it except for one time while I was visiting my best bud Bruce up at Goddard College in Vermont. I would drive the short distance out of the small town of Burlington and be alone in the hills of Vermont, free to camp where I chose. Back in the day when camping stores were scare and expensive, this poor ole musicain cut corners and was using candles in a tin can for reading by. You can probably guess what happened next. Yes, I fell asleep reading and awoke to my bed ablaze in a firey inferno. Fortunately one quick jump out the back of my conestoga wagon canvas door and I was out of harms way. I must have been a sight in the pitch blackness of the night screaming at top volume as I drug my flaming bedding out of the back doing the stomp dance on it. I have always used a lantern or flashlight since !
I lived in Boston then and was in a band. My mates and I did one trip in the Scout where the conestoga canvas almost saved the day. Except it didnt. We were following old stone walls that exsist in the backhills of Massachusetts and ended up, in our stupor, down in a swampy gully. The wheels were buried up to the door handles in muck. Thinking the 4-wheel drive would save the day was a hard lesson in it's capacity. In a panic that the truck might slowly sink completely, we ripped off the canvas trying desperately to use it as traction beneath the wheels. After hours of failure, and the sun almost set, we knew it was time to strike out on foot and look for help. Luck was with us ! Not more than 1000 yards away over the top of the hill we found a house with the most generous people. They not only didnt bat an eye at our long haired, cover in muck appearance, but they called a tow truck, let us take showers, and fed us an excellent spagetti dinner prepared by their lovely daughters. To top it off they even paid for the tow truck! You would have seen the luckiest, most grateful bunch of fools you would ever see that night. I am glad we actually followed through with paying them back with a very, very thankful letter attached. A crazy night, but a great adventure !
My friend Bruce was an art student, and had recieved a grant to work in San Francisco. He generously offered to let me help with the expenses, so off we went. Once in San Francisco, I bought a 1957 Triumph TR3 in which we took many coast trips in. One being a terrific campout on Mount Tamalpais. Although small, the TR3 was a nifty camping vehicle with it's low profile and speedy uptakes on mountain passes. I worked as a painter in an apartment complex. I met a goofy bunch of guys who were fun to party with. I remember a great spontanoeous campout we had on the Russian River in California. On that trip we arrive late into an unmarked territory of the river and partied with wine and such until we passed out, only to wake up the next day on a bedrock of egg-sized rocks about one foot from the edge of the river...Bad planning, bad scouting, bad preperation, but one heck of a fun trip. I never went on a trip without a map again.
Future campouts weren't of such a foolish nature. When I camped with Bruce it was more esthetic, more spiritual, more fun ! The object of these trips wasnt to get loaded, but to explore and appreciate. More like the feeling I carried from my youth. Bruce was a perseverator. This quality could drive me crazy, but provided for well thought out trips. Sometimes over-thought, but nevertheless made for a much more organized time. He would map out destinations, plan meals, and make gear lists. Now this was more like what I enjoyed !
We took at least one great camping trip every year, and made four major west coast trips together before he died in 2005.
Preparation was one of the most fun parts of every trip. We would get together and look at maps. He always purchased the
which still work great for any hiking adventure you may take. He would go one step further for more detailed information by getting the
Bruce had a built-in compass and always directed us to our destinations as if he had used an actual one. I am not as gifted in the directional sense and have to use a compass, as well as a GPS, to find my way in the world. I thought he must have studied the maps for hours on his own to know his way so well, and maybe he did, but I know he could find our way out of any place we were at. Boy, I miss his assuredness in the wild.
We would make gear and clothing lists, gabbing well into the night about what we should or shouldnt bring along. Back in the day we weren't as savvy about moisture wicking clothes, and wore more cotton than wool. We wore silk shirts ( which still work as well now ) instead of the polyester/fleece blends that exsist today. Nevertheless, the goal was still the same: to take as little as possible and get by. Of course, I can remember lugging heavy canvas knapsacks with bulky clothes that never got worn, but each trip seemed to get a bit lighter in weight. One of our essentials we always brought was our leathers. Even today, despite their bulkyness and weight, a leather jacket gives you a sense of well being and protection. A good leather can withstand just about any weather condition and are practically bomb-proof ! I still like to throw it in my truck on any adventure even though I usually opt for the lightweight jackets available today, especially when backpacking. But at a basecamp I always want my leather there.