Well, I just got back from a three night excursion into the woods and I gotta say, I didn't enjoy it much. I tried to do the whole gear thing and I was amazingly miserable the whole time. Tents are not for me. Can't stand them. From now on I will be making my own shelter as I have always done. I found almost immediately that tents are not much more than sweat boxes and sand traps. They are also exceedingly noisy. This was my last night in a tent.
I tried to gear up for any possible need. This did not go well. I am not meant for civilized camping. I usually take a pack that mainly consists of food,a knife, some cordage, and that's about it. With that little bit I can handle almost anything. I can make a shelter that beats any tent I've ever seen, make meals, a nice privy, rooms for changing, bridges if need be (ok, I only had to do that once), cook all my meals, and generally just relax and take it easy. This was a nightmare of epic proportions. It was more like a move than a camping trip. Of course I learned some valuable lessons while out this time.
1. Tents are made by Satan
2. Sleeping bags are designed to suck all of the moisture out of the air in order to provide the user with the dampest sleeping experience possible
3. Those water shoes you can get (really cheap) are designed to fall apart upon first time use, and they have the convenience of becoming a cat litter box due to the natural attraction sand has for the insides of them.
4. Rescue is inevitable. There is no reason to fight it. As soon as I get settled in and start enjoying it, someone shows up to spoil it all for me. I now know that if I ever get lost, all I have to do is have some fun and someone will show up in short order to make sure I don't have too much fun. Next time I must remember to bring trip wires
5. During a hard rain, the best place to be is in it. Climbing in a tent ensures a good soaking by letting you roast in your own juices. At least outside there is a chance you can get under a tree and stay somewhat dry.
6. No matter what, one hornet will find out where you are and set up a perimeter. This hornet will man it's post day and night and foil all attempts to relocate it. I've found it's best to let it gaurd the area as killing it only brings reinforcements and they aren't very happy to be called in on their day off.
7. When breaking camp, I started to notice that the gear I brought somehow expanded and multiplied. It seemed to take up much more room on the way out than it occupied on the way in. Also I seemed to have had to make more trips back and forth during the loading up process than I did for the unloading.
during this whole trip, I found myself apprehensively looking over the camp site thinking to myself how much it was going to suck loading it all back up again. I couldn't enjoy the trip as much as I would have liked and I doubt I will be returning to that particular spot. While it is a nice spot, there are no trees handy enough to hang hammoks from, my usual shelter won't work for the same reason, and it seems to have more people wandering aimlessly through it than at a Led Zepplin concert.