The DOs and DON'Ts of May Long Weekend Camping: Part Two

I don't know if it was the cold, or the smoke inhalation, or the lack of good nutrition (Corn Pops and Pop Tarts, yum), but I appear to have caught the plague. It's a terrible way to spend a day off, but I am thankful that it happened after I got home from camping instead of while I was out in the bush. Can't you imagine how much fun I would have been?

DO pack clothing for every imaginable weather pattern.

I was only camping for two days, but during that time it rained, was beautifully sunny, snowed, and hailed dramatically. As a person who deeply enjoys weather, I loved it all. (Especially the fact that the rain only lasted for a few minutes before being blown away.) However, my infatuation with the fluctuating weather may not have survived had I not been wearing twenty layers of clothing plus a rain coat.

DON'T forget to consider how the materials of your sleeping bag and mattress will interact.

This sounds silly, but my slippery sleeping bag and slippery mattress combined with a slight incline of a tent is not an effective combination when it is - 15 degrees outside. I kept waking up being freezing cold and scrunched into the bottom of the tent because my stupid sleeping bag slipped down throughout the night. I was insanely jealous of my tent partner, who had a foam mattress and a sleeping bag made of some sort of cloth material, causing her to remain in place while I sunk down like a fool.

DON'T get so emotionally invested in a card game that you forget who your friends are.

We played the Bean Game, which is one of my most favourite games, but unfortunately I let some underhanded maneuvers negatively affect my attitude towards games for the weekend. At one point during the game, I was so angry I actually felt my ears growing hot. Naturally, this led me to say no the next time I was asked to play; I didn't fly into a rage again, but I did sit at the campfire by myself like a loser while the rest of my friends had a blast playing games. Sometimes I don't make any sense.

DO something physically active at least once a day.

Before we left I was assured that there would be no hikes (I am notoriously bad at hikes). However, I learned that walks can very easily turn into hikes without anyone noticing but me - a good strategy for this is to create or point out some sort of photo op in the middle of a giant hill, and then you have time to recuperate without everyone knowing how out of shape you are! (I need to get back in to that skipping thing I tried once.)

DON'T be surprised by the conversations that emerge around the campfire.

It all comes back to the campfire. Conversations ranging from how many people could fit into a pair of super stretchy pants to aliens to theological issues, people passing around candy and spitz and homemade cookies, Ladies Book Club (even though I didn't really participate in this last one - I tried, but always ended up staring into the fire instead)... I miss the campfire. Even though I think it gave me a sinus infection.


The verdict: I am glad I went, and I think I would go again - except next time I will bring a gas mask and a non-slippery sleeping bag. Thumbs up for May Long Weekend.