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What did you bring on your first camping trip?

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sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Inspired by the yuppies that scared off Burly, my first camping trip I wore a pair of basketball shoes, had a messenger bag on one shoulder and my sleeping bag on the other. We ended up hiking 3 of the 46 High Peaks of New York.

I remember waking, walking down to the river, and seeing a deer 15 feet away. It was the first wild animal I ever saw in person...
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
My first time camping was in Big Sur (a school trip). I had clothes (jeans, shorts, t-shirts, a sweatshirt or two, swim suit, etc.), magazines and cd player for bus ride, sleeping bag, maglight etc. I forget what else I brought.

They had food. I think I made my own eggs with everything one morning. I came home with a bag of Serpentine.
 

blue

boob hater
Jan 24, 2004
10,160
2
california
I don't remember, I was probably 3 months old.

I did get foot and mouth disease once or something from chewing on something whilst camping...
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,016
22,047
Sleazattle
First non family trip I camped with a hammock and a military surplus poncho. Actually camped that way many times.
 

urbaindk

The Real Dr. Science
Jul 12, 2004
4,819
0
Sleepy Hollar
I think my parents just always took me camping. I don't remember ever not camping. Through most of high school, I was either camping out on my parents land, or backpacking somewhere. I think I spent more time in a tent than my own bed. Those were the days...

My first back packing trip I do remember. We hiked up to the fire tower at Frozen Head St. park. I was 11. I remember it being one of the worst experiences of my life. I probably weighed all of 75 lbs and was carrying 50 lbs of gear. Mostly stuff I didn't even need. The backpack didn't fit right and rubbed raw spots on my back. I hung my food up in a bear bag that night. The only bears that got in my stuff were the older kids who stole my mint-chocolate oreo cookies. Bastards. It was horrible but I learned how to pack light and kept at it and grew to love it.
 

antimony

M.N.F. Beer Wench
Nov 21, 2005
1,019
2
North Carolina
My first camping trip was only 2 years ago. I brought: toilet paper, warm clothes, bathing suit, 12-pack of Corona, blankets, a million snacks, cell phone... I think the pack for one night weighed about 120 pounds... haha! Never again; I am not the camping type! :D
 

krissydog

Chimp
Oct 16, 2006
3
0
Not sure what I was wearing, but I remember I was about 7 yrs old and I didn't bring any toys. I pretended that little rocks were spaceships with my cousins. This was in the hey-day of The Empire Strikes Back.
 

dhbuilder

jingoistic xenophobe
Aug 10, 2005
3,040
0
first non-family trip.
(our family camped alot as i was growing up)

a bamboo bong and zippo.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,016
22,047
Sleazattle
A friend of mines wife will only sleep in her car when camping because she refuses to sleep in anything that she can be stabbed through. :confused:
 

reflux

Turbo Monkey
Mar 18, 2002
4,617
2
G14 Classified
My family and I never camped when I was a kid, nor was I a Boy Scout. Thus, my camping experience upon entering college mounted to zero. Over the past decade or so, I've been car camping about a dozen or so times. The first time I camped with friends, I was wicked unprepared. I think I showed up in jeans and a sweatshirt, a sorry-excuse-for-a-sleeping bag, and minimal food. I was miserable, but loved the camping experience. Thankfully I'm getting better each time I go camping, but if my friends weren't experts, I wouldn't be too far off from Burly's "friends."
 

eaterofdog

ass grabber
Sep 8, 2006
9,206
2,728
Central Florida
All I remember is sweating my ass off in a cheap tent with no ventilation. I did bring a machete, ideal for camp defense and for drunk guys to give themselves grievous injuries.
 

avalanche165

Monkey
Aug 15, 2006
111
0
my 1st camping trip was just 2-3years ago freshman year of college. at first i had my gps handheld, cell phone, laptop, mp3 player, and digi cam when i was packing up, but my friends got a look at put it all back. so i ended up with clothes, swimming trunks, flashlight, sleeping bag, water filter, some canned goods, first aid kit, knife, guitar, african steel drum (shaped like an inverted dome), and a hatchet. we stayed out there for a week it was a bitch and a half. everytime since then has been more and more enjoyable.
 

The Toninator

Muffin
Jul 6, 2001
5,436
17
High(ts) Htown
I can’t honestly remember my first camping trip. it was natural for us. I grew up in the country on 2 acres of land BUT our property backed up against a very large private lake (power plant cooling lake) with lots of land. we just cut a hole in the fence and were home free had the whole place to ourselves. On our end of the neighborhood there were only 4 kids my age.
ah the good times we had. I do remember my first camping freakout. My buddy and i were camping on the lot in front of his house across a road on a little pond. we had just watched american werewolf in london AND my dog got out and smelt the food in our tent and tried to get in. Chewing, gnawing barking, FEAKED US OUT. It was a couple of years before we camped out again.
 

The Toninator

Muffin
Jul 6, 2001
5,436
17
High(ts) Htown
Ok so now you get me thinking. ok i'm sorry it's off topic i'll stop after this but I had to look it up. I might try to put into words what it was like growing up there.
The red circle is where my house was between the 2 lakes. (parents still live there.)
The yellow circle is the spillway.
The blue circle is where we spent most of our time.

 

Jeronimo

Monkey
Jul 11, 2006
241
0
behind that boulder
Inspired by the yuppies that scared off Burly, my first camping trip I wore a pair of basketball shoes, had a messenger bag on one shoulder and my sleeping bag on the other. We ended up hiking 3 of the 46 High Peaks of New York.

I remember waking, walking down to the river, and seeing a deer 15 feet away. It was the first wild animal I ever saw in person...
Government Issue stuff.
 

macko

Turbo Monkey
Jul 12, 2002
1,191
0
THE Palouse
I don't remember my first camping trip per se, but when I was in the Boy Scouts I remember backpacking 8+ miles with gear such as a huge external frame pack, a monstrous rectangular Coleman sleeping bag, full length therma-rest, and best of all a 3 D-cell MagLite.

It's funny how I could pack so much ridiculous crap when I was 12, 13, 14...but now that I'm 26 I am cutting my toothbrush in half, trading in the tent for a bivy, and trimming off pack straps and gear tags.
 

renorider40

Monkey
Aug 22, 2005
426
0
Inspired by the yuppies that scared off Burly, my first camping trip I wore a pair of basketball shoes, had a messenger bag on one shoulder and my sleeping bag on the other. We ended up hiking 3 of the 46 High Peaks of New York.

I remember waking, walking down to the river, and seeing a deer 15 feet away. It was the first wild animal I ever saw in person...
That would be kind of weird not seeing wildlife that often. I grew up here so i'm used to it i guess.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
8,423
6,961
Yakistan
a sleeping bag, a bag of pot, a case of beer, and a pipe. Hot dogs, ketchup, and buns is what we ate. And we had a hatchet to throw at stuff