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May 2, 2009

Adversity meets adventure in camping

Alex Voigt

It’s amazing how the most memorable camping trips are often the ones where everything goes wrong.

The elements of the wilderness can wreak havoc on an unsuspecting camper, turning what was planned to be a relaxing weekend away from home into a test of will between man and nature. Whether it’s an unforcasted rain storm, a swarm of hungry mosquitoes or a broken tent pole, everyone who loves the outdoors has a story to tell about nature throwing a monkey wrench into their plans.

My favorite — and certainly most memorable — camping experience involved a week-long trip to Voyageurs National Park with the Boy Scouts the summer after seventh grade. Over the course of the week, my canoe flipped in the river and soaked all of my camping gear, my troop assisted in putting out a forest fire and my brother swallowed lake water while out swimming and became violently ill.

Seeing as how I was sharing a tent with him that week, I didn’t appreciate his constant moaning throughout the night, or his failed attempt to exit the tent prior to throwing up when the stomach pains became too much for him. Needless to say, I was sleeping outside for the rest of the trip.

But none of that experience could top how the trip ended. Due to a late arrival at the campsite we stayed at the night before going home, we neglected to look over the site to make sure it was free of anything dangerous to our troop — like poison ivy. The next morning, we all wore badges of our negligence in the form of poison ivy rashes and would later find out that the site we stayed at had been closed to campers that summer.

As my dad would say: “It builds character.” But that wasn’t even the most memorable part of the trip’s ending.

When stopping for lunch on the way home, it was discovered that one of our troop members was considerably more allergic to the ivy than everyone else: His face had swollen to the point of his eyes being forced shut and he began to complain about having difficulty breathing.

At that point, we concluded we needed to get him to a hospital, and fast. However, in the haste to rush him to the emergency room, we neglected to stop for gas and wound up running out of gas about 5 miles shy of the hospital. Thankfully, we were traveling with two vehicles and one of them had enough gas to finish getting him to the hospital and pick up a gas can for the other vehicle.

Now you might be asking yourself why this would be my favorite camping experience. Why wouldn’t it be a trip with perfect weather and plans going off without a hitch?

I can answer that question in one word: Unpredictability. Unlike the safety and comfort of a living room or the dullness of an average work week, the great outdoors presents the challenge of the great unknown to unsuspecting campers.

You never know what’s going to happen when you load up a canoe or go for a hike, but you know that, regardless of what happens, it’s not going to be boring. You might have to adjust your plans if something goes awry, but part of being able to handle life in general is the ability to roll with the punches and adjust when things don’t go according to plan.

Aside from that, as this column would indicate, the worst camping trips often make the best stories.



Alex Voigt is a Free Press copy editor. Call him 344-6389 or e-mail him at avoigt@mankatofreepress.com

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