My Proudest Camping Moment!

From learning how to start a campfire to pitching a tent for the first time. Here are some stories of the moments that made campers proud of their friends, family members and themselves!

Pitching a Tent for the First Time
I guess I would say my proudest camping moment was this past July when I successfully put up a tent for our unexpected guests to sleep in.  My wife and I have always camped in a travel trailer of some type. When our son and his family phoned us while we were camping and said they thought they'd come stay a night with us I panicked because I knew we wouldn't all fit into the travel trailer we have now. I made a quick trip to the store and purchased a tent. I have never put together a tent and did it quite fast. Needless to say we all had a great night. It was a very nice camping experience.
Randy Bryant
Newnan, GA

Learning Responsibility
May 2007 my husband and I decided to take our Godchild, Anthony, camping this year. Now Anthony has always had a hard time getting up for school and that was one discussion we had with him. He would have to get up early everyday since we go fishing early every morning by 6am. During this trip Anthony woke up everyday with no complaints and I was proud of him. But on the second last day we needed to wake up by 4am. Anthony did not want to wake up that morning so I said, "Anthony it's 8am! Hurry and wake up! We are late!" He jumped out of bed so fast, got dressed and was ready to go. Right before we left the camper, my husband said to him (laughing), "You know its 4:15 in the morning, right?" Anthony's face was priceless! But he didn't complain just got in the truck and was ready to go fishing. This was his first camping trip and he wants to go again. Also, he now wakes up for school with no problems for the most part. This trip demonstrated to him that when you wake up early you can live the whole day experiencing life and enjoying God's Country.
Maria Baldivid
San Bernardino, CA

Making it Through the Rain
It was Feb.12 2007 and we were camping on Long Key in Florida right on the ocean. All of a sudden it started to rain hard. Eleven inches in a 6 hour period turned the campground into a disaster zone. The campground road turned into a raging foot deep river and campsites with campers in them were washing into the ocean. Thankfully everyone made it out with little damage to their rigs other than lots of water damage. The water was leaking in right thru their camper and RV windows. Us on the other hand, were high and dry. We camp in a truck tent in the back of our pickup truck. We set up a canopy behind it and cover the whole thing up with tarps. We had no water damage and made it through better than almost all of the campers and RV's. In this photo the water you see is the campground road and the ocean is in the background.
William Tamiso
East Hartford, CT

He Found a Treasure Map!
My proudest camping moment (and I have been camping since I was 4 years old) was a recent camping trip with our family and friends. The thing that made is so special was that it was our 4 year old sons first camping trip. We made/he found a treasure map. We all had a blast and were already planning our next trip.
Jenna Scholl
San Jose, CA

Grandpa Taught the Children
We took 5 of our 18 grandchildren camping on a 3 day weekend this summer. I had to leave camp for a few hours, leaving my husband with the kids, and worried that he would lose his mind from their questions, playing, fighting, whatever. When I returned I found that he had made them all bow and arrow sets from fallen branches and cord that we had in the camper. He was teaching them all camping safety tips and how to shoot and had taught them all how to set up their tents. Everything went smoothly and they had a blast about learning about the woods.
Linda Wentworth
Baker City, OR

Overcoming my Fear
My proudest (and scariest) camping moment thus far has to be shooting a class 5 rapid called "Tunnel Shoot" with my husband and three sons while camping on the Middle Fork American River in California. I was so scared the night before I couldn't sleep a wink and yet, after we completed the "Tunnel Run" I was thankful that I was still in one piece I was  very proud of myself that I overcame my fears and did it! That has to be my proudest Camping Moment thus far.
Marcy Downing
Lakeside, CA

Proud Grandparents
As the proud grandparents to Chessie and Dalton, we took them to the KOA campground in Cherokee, NC for one of their annual Halloween weekends. At the time, they were 5 and 4 years old. Of course, we had to enter the pumpkin carving contest, costume contest and best decorated campsite contest. But the proudest moment was during the parade of costumes around the campground. Chessie and Dalton were so excited to be in the parade and all decked out in their finest Halloween costumes (Chessie was Lilo and Dalton was Buzz Lightyear). To see them interacting with the other campers' children in such a fun activity at such a young age, made us so proud to realize that we were witnessing a rite of passage for yet another generation of ghosts and goblins!
Candy McElroy
Rydal, GA

Learning to Camp on my Own
My husband passed away Nov 2006. He did all the maintenance and towing the trailer.  I was the camp cook. I had to learn to tow and set up the campsite on my own. I had to put a new sewer hose together and dump it for the first time alone. It took me a while to figure out how to hook up the hose and how to empty the tank. After I did it I sat down on the ground and looked up to the sky and smiled and said "Michael, aren't you proud of me?" I know he was proud of me and was looking down with a smile.
Judie Malinen
Warrenton, OR

I Started my First Fire
It was when it was really cold out in the morning and I was freezing. I got up and figured out how to turn on the stove to make the coffee. I was shivering and no one else wanted to get up. I gathered the large pieces of wood and small pieces of wood put it in the fire ring. I gathered some leaves, got a lighter and started up the small stuff first then blew on it and  then put the bigger pieces of wood on it and in about ten minutes I had fire!  The fire kept me warm and so did drinking my coffee. 15 minutes after that, everybody woke up, sat by the fire and sipped on coffee. They thanked me and complimented me on my fire!
Deborah Schutz
Heidelberg, PA