Camping Horror Stories

The last time we went camping, hubby and I had a bit too much to drink. I ended up (somehow) getting tangled up in my camping chair, falling over, landing in the fire pit, striking my arm on the metal edging. I thought I broke my arm, but that was because I was drunk, lol. No more whiskey on our campouts!!
The time before that, we had our 4 year old. The bees were so bad that they came home with us!! And we drove over an hour!
We've also had giant spiders falling from trees above us, a deadly snake right under a foot while fishing, etc. But, that's what comes with the outdoors. We still love camping and can't wait to take our youngest this next spring. :)

I love camping but we have had some bad ones also.

One trip started out beautiful until the clouds rolled in. Thunderstorms you would not believe and at the time my daughters were around 3 and 4. Around midnight tornado sirens go off and we wake up the girls. Seating with my youngest daughter on my lap now I notice she feels warm. Now my kids never run a low temperature so right away I take her temperature and it is over 104 degrees. In the mean time the ranger drives by and gives the all clear but warns us that there are more storms coming so we decide to head home. By the time everything is packed up it is around 2 in the morning and the girls are back to sleep in the van. We start the drive home and end up with a flat on the camper and had topull into a factory parking lot in the middle of the night.Not very comforting when you have two small children in the car and one is sick. We did eventually make it home and my daughter fever was starting to come down (thanks to tylenol and motrin) but I would have to say it was one of the worse camping trips ever!!! By the way it took us a couple camping trips with my daughter running a high fever within 24 hours of getting there before we realize she was having an allergic reaction to something in the water that was pumped in from the lake. Camping can be fun just give it another chance.

and thats why you should always call and find out if the campground is open!! we once drove two hours to a lake that the campground was "always" open...it was closed cause there was no water and the squirrels in the area had plague! nice! we used to do a lot of boat-in camping. we found a really nice campspot, as we're unloading my son notices all these gun shells on the ground. we figure target practice. later that night we find out it's cause theres BEARS!! we could smell them before we saw them. dont give up, camping can be really fun. we've found natural water slides, diversion tunnels and caves to explore. make a master list of what you need to bring so you dont forget anything.

I', sorry to hear your trip didn't go well. It's hard having a sick child when travelling, let alone camping.

Our last camping trip my family had minor problems(We forgot to pack the lunchmeat for our picnic, so we went out to eat), but the family next to us had a crisis in the middle of the night. Their 3-year-old daughter was having trouble breathing, probably an asthma attack from the campfire. Everyone came out to help, found an inhaler and benadryl. Then the mom had to drive her daughter to the entrance to the park because it was taking so long for the ambulance to get there. I was suprised they came back from the hospital and spent the rest of the night in the tent. I guess they only had one car and had to wait til the morning to pack up the tent and other kids.

My husband, I, and our 2 kids spent 5 days exploring and camping in Ireland. It rained every night, and by the last night it was so late when we hit town, and dark, and raining so hard, we ended up spending 150 Euro for a hotel!
Before that, when I was 7 months pregnant with number 2, and number one was 1 1/2, when we were camping in Scotland, a storm blew in in the middle of the night and blew the tent down on us while we were sleeping. My husband had to go out in the driving rain to try to get the tent back up well enough for us to weather out the rest of the night. But with it all, we still love camping, and now that we live here in Alaska, we go almost every weekend during the spring, summer, and fall. Husband does some winter camping, but I refuse, to darn cold!

Oh, I almost forgot one our our very first camping trips, shortly after we were married. We were stationed in Okinawa, and went camping on the beach, Hubby was cutting wood and sank the hatchet into his ankle, down to the bone. We had to drive back 3 hours to get him to the hospital for stitches!

Well, bless you, it's all an adventure ;) Each camping trip is different; one excursion to Morro Bay and we had turkey vultures crapping on our tent all night. Sounded like coconuts were hitting the tent all night long ...

Wow- I'm sorry you had such a bad time! But, like other people say, camping is an adventure!

Some things you might try next time-

1) a little more planning ahead can help a LOT. All National campsites have websites that you can check in advance to make sure the campsite you want is open and to reserve them ahead of time. You can get a lot of information on exactly what is available- toilets, showers, etc- and just have a much better idea of what you're getting into by doing research online beforehand.

2) Maybe the whole 'tent camping' thing was a little too much for you your first time out- nothing to worry about! My mom would never set FOOT in a tent, lol. But we often rented a little cabin- indoor plumbing and a stove and not too cold when the temperature dropped. There's nothing wrong with a little LESS 'roughing it'- most places will still have a fire circle outside, fishing and swimming docks, hiking trails nearby- just you have the comfort of being INSIDE if the weather turns on you! Some of my best childhood memories are of sitting inside our old fishing cabin, playing board games with my brother while my mom made a cake in the over while it rained outside.

3)Going alone is probably a good idea unless you are positive you and the other family are looking for the exact same experience. Also, although it can be nice to have more experienced campers to show you the ropes, personally, I prefer to make MY dumb mistakes in private without an audience, lol!

You just have to find your comfort level. Some people like to hike, some to fish, some to canoe, some cooks love the challenge of cooking over a fire and some people don't mind the tent and some don't need a tent at all! Just find YOUR family's comfort level and plan ahead! Don't be discouraged :)

Sorry to hear about your experience. :(

When I was about 12 years old, I went on my first YMCA camping trip with one of my friends. It was only about an hour away and we would be gone a few days. Well, the thing was planned horribly and when nighttime came, they realized the tent they brought wasn't big enough for everyone. The camp counselors had to be in the tent (or so they said), so me and my friend got stuck sleeping outdoors! It was terrifying. We kept hearing noises and seeing eyes looking back at us in the dark, not knowing what sort of creatures were out there (this was in the woods, so the possibilities could have been bad). Freezing cold, too. Slept terribly. I also recall the ice cold showers with no doors on them. Blech. At least they brought enough food.

Of course, this was long before cell phones or any way of notifying our parents how bad things were. We suffered through those days and almost 30 years later still remember it all.

Have not camped since and NEVER will.

I'm sooo sorry you had such a bad time - that really sounds awful. Is there somewhere closer to your house where you can have a trial camping trip? And the next time make sure you get there really early in the day...that will help definitely. If things go wrong then you don't have to drive so far! Again, I'm so sorry :(

I LOVE camping and have done a lot of it in life. Our son who is 6 just love love loves it. We spent 2 weeks two summers ago camping in Alaska (ok, we lived there so being in AK was easy, but this was areally cool trip) and our son was in heaven. Gathering firewood, making smores and playing outside everyday with mom and dad made him really happy. A year ago we had a baby and moved.

Anyway, last summer we decided to all go camping about an hour away from our home. We were excited bc we had not been in a while and it was the baby's first time (She was 7mo old). It all went well...we set up camp that afternoon, hiked, made a fire, ate smores. Then when it got to be bedtime and she would not go to sleep. She got more and more agitated until finally she threw up. I ended up driving us home around 10pm and going out again the next day to pick up my husband and son. It's not as bad a story as yours, but I can relate.

My family goes camping at least 2x each summer. We've had good trips and not so good trips...more good than bad. (We came home early from our last one because our toddler was more than a handful on that trip and ended up having a great day at home.) Don't give up after just one trip. It's such a great thing to do as a family. We like to go the KOA campground in Williams, AZ. It's a great woodsy campground and they have Kamping Kabins. There are different size Kabins. We usually get a one room Kabin with a double bed and bunk beds. You bring the bedding and gear. They're a great alternative to tents. Here's a link to this campground http://koa.com/campgrounds/williams/. Happy Camping!

God bless you for trying.

I thought "camping" was when they left the room service cart *outside* the hotel room door!

On my last camping trip we got to the camp site once it got dark so as I am trying to unpack and set the tent up with all the kids I discovered the pole that keeps the sides up was snapped. I had to cut a hole in the sides of the tent and find some rope to tie the sides up. Not fun in the dark. And on that same trip my middle son flipped over his bike onto his face and we had to take a quick trip to the hospital to get him cleaned up and to make sure nothing was broken.