RobArt Penguin

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever been camping?

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I did a lot of camping when I was younger. My favorite part was waking up to the over powering sound of bird song. It reminded me there was a entirely different natural world before the human world woke up. Once when I didn’t have a tent, I slept in my jeep. I was in the mountains. When I woke up the sun lit up the rock formations on the west side of the valley. They were golden. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have known. My first camping experience was with three childhood friends after our first year of college. The said they were experienced campers (boy scouts). I had never been. We went to Quetico Park in Canada, traveled by canoe. We arrived at our first camp site after dark. My friends said we had to stow the food in the air so the bears wouldn’t get it. We heaved and heaved and lifted a huge tarp containing our supplies. We got the bundle about ten feet of the ground and thought we were safe. The next morning we discovered that we had camped by a small wall, and the food was withing arm’s length if we walked around to the top of the formation. Any bear who came by would have had a feast.