Pick one memorable moment

[ForestCreature]

We were camping along the AuSauble river in northern MI at one of our favorite easy to get to SF CGs

We (DH and I) were sitting up late ( around 1 or 2 am) enjoying a warm summers night. Every once in a while I felt like something was crawling on me...no biggie, just brush off and keep on enjoying. After about a half hour of the creepy crawly feeling it was time to turn on a lantern.
In the thousands (or at least hundreds) there were Walking Sticks EVERYWHERE...on the camper,  us , falling out of the trees in numbers we had never imagined!
We returned back to that CG with another couple 2 weeks later and the same thing again! But this time it was even funnier because the guy was terrified of them and would not come out from under the quickshade for 2 nights!

It's never happened again since then.

[rgfalcon]

During our rookie year we were camping near an amusement park. After a wonderful day at the park the clouds rolled in around 6pm and the rain was torrential! We continued having fun at the park, after all it was summer and warm, we'll we were soaked.

On the shuttle bus ride back my wife reminded me we left the windows unzipped on the pop up. During the 15 min ride back we prepared ourselves for the worst. We opened the door and the flaps were all closed. We were thrilled and puzzled. A knock on the door and we opened to our neighbor camper who explained that she wasn't sure how we'd feel about a stranger coming in, but knew she would appreciate if someone had come in to zip their flaps in a similar situation.

We couldn't have been happier! Only our third outing and we got to experience what makes campers so special.

[Azusateach]

What a delightful thread!

I've camped since I was 10 years old -- over 40 years ago (whew!).  But I have to say that this past summer's 8-day trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon was by far the most memorable camping trip ever.

While the brochures do a lovely job of describing the thrill of the rapids and beauty of the Canyon, there's absolutely NO way to prepare for the absolutely staggering raw beauty of one of the most untouched National Parks in the country.  And to be so completely removed from all vestiges of society for that amount of time truly allows a person to unwind.

What I really liked about the trip was the way we had to live within the rhythm of the Canyon -- going to bed when it was dark and getting up with the sun.  No campfires are allowed, so hanging around with flashlights just isn't much fun.  And after a day of floating down the River we were actually pretty tired.  It was HOT, and sleeping inside a tent wasn't a good idea, so we'd throw our bags on the sand & have the most incredible view of the sky one could imagine.  Add to that the constant sound of the Colorado River nearby, we actually slept like babies.

There were so many "firsts" on that trip ... so many experiences that I'd pay to do again in a heartbeat.  I look at my pictures regularly & even have one as my desktop background picture.  It was wonderful ...

I posted a bunch of pictures after I took the trip, but here are 2 that capture the essence of my experience:

The raft we were on was about 30 feet long & there were actually 16 people on it at the time this picture was taken.  Some of them are in a bit of a "trough" in the rapids:


A view of the River and Canyon from one of our campsites.  I never grew tired of those magnificent red walls:

[austinado16]

Great pictures and I feel the same way about the GC.  Looks like you guys went during their monsoon season, since the river is running muddy red instead of blue/green.  That place gets under your skin.  We hiked to the bottom and back 2 years ago and were so captivated by the experience that we returned last year with our 8 year old DD....and we're going back this year and hiking rim-to-rim with her.  It's an unbelievable place.

[MotherNature]

I have a tie between:

Assateague National Seashore.  The scene:  full moon, campfire on the beach with husband and sons (ages 12 & 10), beach was just a walk over the dune from our campsite), and watching the International Space Station fly overhead (I was alerted by spaceweather.com).

Delaware Seashore State Park.  The scene:  11:00 at night after a h*llish 5-hour drive during rush hour in late October (takes 2.5 hours during the daytime when we usually leave).  We arrived to find that the bathrooms closest to our site were locked; we chose to pack it all up and move after cranking up, etc.  We made some Campbell's soup for the boys; they ate it outside under our canopy (as it was raining).  The boys decided they wanted to ride their bikes.  I would never let them ride at night during "the season" there, but there were only about 7 other campers and we could see the entire premises so we said ok.  They rode their bikes (playing 'cops and robbers') for an hour (we made sure they weren't loud and disturbing others).  Just sitting outside under the canopy and relaxing after such a grueling drive (and moving the camper after the initial setup) was wonderful in itself.  Having a couple drinks and watching the boys do something they could never do at home (riding bikes late at night without danger of being hit by a car) and their laughter was an experience we'll never forget.

[tverbryke]

We camped on the canadian side of Niagra Falls when the kids were younger.  Our site was right at a speed bump in the roadway.  My two ornery kids sat around the fire at night striking up conversations with people walking by to see how many they could get to trip on the speed bump!  No one fell...and it was quite entertaining (even though it wasn't very nice).