Tuesday, April 17, 2007

frost fire badge

for those of you boyscouts, you know what that means. any camping where the temperature drops below freezing is cause for a frost fire merit badge. camping this weekend was very interesting... i have mild frostbite and moderate sunburn. what a combination!
i didn't actually get to fight, seeing as i live in constant fear of messing up my back piece, and i don't want to rip any scabs off, but there were still fun times and things that i'm sure i'll look back on and laugh later.
we left thursday for hidden springs park, and set up our tent in the dark and cold, amidst many other tents. there was a main fire in the center of a circular road, lined with seperate camp sites for each area that attended. enter a great night of tent sex, and the next day we went to the fighting field. i got to sit on the sidelines and watch, because as already mentioned, i'm a puss.
that night, we drank. there were many funny stories told by the camp fire and at least one person melted their boots. but that was where the good times ended. a friend of mine drank to the point of concern for his health, and proceeded to collapse drunk on my legs and pass out, while i was standing. another friend of ours kept a vigil from 10pm until 5am, not sleeping and having to accept any challenges presented (this is a trial that some can choose to go through to achieve a high status in the sport. he has kept his vow of not drinking, also required, for over a year). one visitor challenged him to a battle of wits. this person was drunk, so it didn't last long.
elsewhere in the campground, a kid from our area locked himself in a port-o-john. he broke the base that the seat was on doing whatever the hell it was he did, and then, being unable to figure out how to slide the handle back to open the door, convinced himself someone had locked him in and kicked the door open, breaking both the occupancy sign and the lock. fucker... he later passed out in a ditch and when good sumaritan passersby couldn't get him up to go to his tent, they brought his tent to him and manhandled him into it.
back at our friend's vigil, at about 1 or 2, i went back to my tent to try and sleep. it began to rain. poor thing had to sit out for hours in the pourning rain with only a passed-out drunk for company. and he couldn't drink. the next day, when fighting of everyone from our area in a row and then the ceremony to present him with his title were supposed to occur, everyone went home instead. so he still can't drink.
we spent saturday freezing, giving up and going into the nearest town to walmart to gather cold-weather gear and to thaw, and then all 6 of us huddled in the same tent that night. sunday we packed up and went home. a total of two nights had below-freezing temperatures, and one day was cold and muddy as hell.
looking back, it isn't funny to me yet.

10 comments:

Chicky Pea said...

Wow! I'm jealous. I'm not sure if I would have rathered gone through your weekend or walk on broken glass. It's really a toss-up. I think I'm leaning toward the glass though. I can almost guarantee though that in the future you will look back on the weekend with fond and funny memories.

You'd just have to know me, my idea of camping entails a "Holiday Inn" sign out front.

Have you thawed out yet?

hannah said...

yeah, i'm mostly thawed, and i'm starting to laugh instead of grimace.
it was one hell of a bonding experience for me and my friends, though.

i do love a good weekend of roughing it at a motel 6, no room service but a pool and flush toilets.

Toby said...

I love to camp as much as the next person, but when it gets below freezing I head for home, or something very similar to home.

One year in Black River Falls we woke up to a guy sleeping damn close to ur fire and at first glance it looked like he was smoking. When we ran to save the poor bastard it turned out he wasn't smoking, he was steaming.

Another time in Black River Friday and Saturday were beautiful but we woke up to clouds and cold on Sunday. Not long after it began to snow, my GF and I packed up and went home.

zydeco fish said...

Fantastic story. Some day, this will be funny, like the time I went camping in winter in Algonquin park. the good news was that I went with a doctor.

Steph said...

That is the strangest thing I've ever heard of! Still, sounds interesting.

hannah said...

toby - i share the sentiment, at least until we get a two-man sleeping bag rated for 20 degrees.
we had a similar experience of a friend sitting nowhere near the fire steaming like a bad anime character.

fish - oh my. care to share details? you've peaked my interest.

steph - it is strange, i know. but it's fun as hell. and i got pretty damn tanked for the first time in months

tshsmom said...

Experiences like yours are exactly why we don't camp in May anymore...we wait for June.

~d said...

Dear Hannah,
I am glad you keep coming back. I (try) to write these little scenes...grasps at an hour or two of life. I have hit a major dry spell. Not 100% true. I have something I love, and am proud, proud of...but I am re-writing it.
xxoo
d

~d said...

(P.S. th and things 1 and 2, they like to camp. Me?! If it weren't for the damned mosquitos and peeing in the woods...I would like it better!

hannah said...

mom - not much choice, the event would happen without us, but camping on my own i definitely agree, there are much better times to camp.

d - i am thinking about getting a port-a-penis. it allows us girls to stand up and piss. (i wanna attach a dildo with drilled hole to mine so i can write my name in snow)