These could be small things, like borrowing a head lamp for when you need to pee by a tree in the dark.
(Or, uh, borrowing toilet paper.)
It could be borrowing a big spoon from someone because how
else are you going to stir your Zatarain’s gumbo on a burner??
Or...let’s see...it could be borrowing...a tent.
Yes, this is how my best friend Meredith and I traveled to a
canoe/camping adventure over Memorial Day: very...light.
It’s not like we forgot
to bring a tent.
It’s that someone said they had a 10-person tent and extra
room and crashing in it sounded a lot easier than bringing our own tent and figuring
out how to put all the poles through the top to set it up.
Anyway.
Have you ever been canoe camping? It's where you canoe to your camping spot. I had not been before this trip
and took MUCH too lightly (no pun intended) the, “you will get water in your
canoe so pack a dry bag” memo.
So, naturally, I had to borrow someone’s dry bag.
I’m normally not a dumbass who doesn’t know how to pack a
camping bag.
Just ask my ex-boyfriend, who was an avid camper and, in turn, made me somewhat of an avid camper.
Really! Ask him! I NEVER forgot the wine.
The thing is, when you just start out camping, or haven’t
been camping in a while, you forget the little things
that make life easier in the great outdoors.
Like a hammock.
Or batteries for your flashlight.
Or...more than one towel.
OR WATERPROOF SHOES FOR WHEN YOU HAVE TO PUSH YOUR CANOE OFF ROCKS. (The pads of my feet
hate me).
All these things (in addition to the tent) were things I personally forgot to bring, seeing as
I hadn’t been camping in a year, but it turns out, it was totally fine.
Because the other thing you don’t realize about camping –
the thing nobody tells you – is that your friends somehow transform into super
effing capable outdoorsmen.
It’s true!!!
Even me!!! Yet, that only applied to my superb canoe skills.
I still had to tent hop.
But I always love figuring out who the badass camping chefs
are, or the ones who pick out awesome camping spots and set up tents and build
fires and find sticks and climb cliffs.
And you always get to know someone a bit better than before,
thanks to your shared experience of flipping a canoe.
Even the friends you would normally consider wimpy!!!
They’re the ones thigh-deep in waiters, fly fishing!!! WITH NO FISHING PERMIT (insert voice of
third grade class: "ohhhhhhhhhhh")
On this particular canoe/camping trip, a group of guys actually
hacked up a poisonous snake with an axe. They spotted it lurking on the bank of
the river and eliminated it.
For real. I saw the whole thing.
It was mortifying.
You realize which of your friends know what food is the best
to eat on a camping stove and which one of your friends packs nothing but
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for three days (Meredith).
You realize how generous and kind people are when they
notice you don’t have a dry bag, or a tent, or any more beer.
Now that I think about it, unless you’re some sort of serial killer hiding out in the woods, going camping means
you’re lucky.
It means that you have people who want to hang out with you
while fighting nature’s elements for days at a time with no break.
People who trust that you don't accidentally kill yourself.
And people who you want to make memories with.
Like so.
Because camping is not something you do alone after all (OMG
never camp alone. Bears.)
But who would want to camp alone anyway??
I mean, SOMEONE needs to bring the tent.
And wine.
-Jenny
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