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It was their second day out in the park and they had gotten quite far into one of the canyons. Tim was feeling the call of nature and told his dad he was going up into some boulders so that anyone that came up wouldn't surprise him in the middle of his
potty
break.

A few minute had gone by when Jason heard Tim let out a scream. Jason looked up and scrambling down the hill came Tim." Tim's face looked pale white and Tim seamed to be almost in shock," said his father. After calming down Tim said "he thinks he got stung on the balls by a bee when he dropped his pants".

The pain was only getting worse for Tim and after a bit of coaxing from Jason he agreed to show him the bee sting. When Jason looked he saw that Tim's balls were bleeding. This really started to frighten them both so they went to look at the sight of the attack. Tim pointed to the dead tree stump where he sat down like he was on a seat. After not seeing any bees in the air around the stump Jason leaned over and peered down into the stump hole. Even before he could get a good look he could already hear the sound of a rattlesnake.

After setting up camp in the New River Gorge we had settled down around the fire. After about 5 beers a piece we had gotten a little more rowdy. Mike, being the biggest BSer in the camp started in on Jake about his new gear. Jake not knowing Mike was goofing on him started talking about how much more flame proof his new North Face tent was than his old Kelty. After talking about his tent for a few more minutes Jake caught on to us making fun of him.

Jake wasn’t to happy about us joking on him and kept his pissy mood for the next 20 minutes until I asked him to throw another log on the fire. Without saying a word Jake just tossed a piece of wood from about 10 feet away onto the fire. When the wood landed it flung red burning hot coals up into the air. As we were scattering away from the fire shower one to the chunks of fire landed through the open door of Jakes tent and came to rest in the center of his new sleeping bag. I could see the desperation in Jakes face as he sprinted over to his tent. Jake jerked his sleeping bag out of the tent and shook it out trying to stop the damage.

It was to late. The hot coal had melted through his sleeping bag and all the way to the ground under his new tent. Without missing a beat Mike yelled across the camp site, “I thought your tent was flame proof”. As Jake jumped the fire to tackle Mike I didn’t even bother to yell out stop.

The clothing free backpackers were spotted by numerous day hikers on the top of Horsetooth Rock in the Horsetooth Mountain Park. The park is very close to Fort Collins and can be extremely busy on the weekends. One hiker that reportedly spoke to them said they were very nice and covered themselves in the presences of children.

There has been sightings of the couple in Mesa Verde National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yampa River State Park and many others with no bad confrontations.

The similarly dressed pair of Backpackers were seen in numerous places around Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons 2 years ago and it is thought that they are the same couple.

While camping near a stream in the North Carolina mountains we thought we had seen a few pieces of trash float by but they had been to fast to recover. Getting interested in where it was coming from my friend John and I decided to hike up stream a bit and figure it out. After about half a mile of walking and scrambling up the mountain we started to hear some noise.

Not wanting to spook anyone we kept pretty quite on our approach. As we got a little closer we rounded a rhododendron tree just in time to see the unthinkable. It was the backside view of a women standing in the creek. Before we could turn back, to our horror she popped out her little once white friend and tossed it into the stream.

My friend John is usually quite passive but when he saw her do that he let out a yell. Trying to explain to her the consequences of her actions fell on def ears. The embarrassment of us walking up on her had her so stunned she just nodded her head and scurried off back to her camp site.

For the rest of our stay we never saw another piece of trash float by. I’m just glad we brought plenty of fresh water from home.

The five of us were spending the weekend up there to hike some of the many trails that covers the area. Most of our fun though came from our chats around the huge fire we kept. Gathering wood and playing in the surrounding hills can be quit an adventure for 5 drunk and tired hikers.

Food never seems to taste better than when it is cooked over an open campfire. We all sat gathered around the fire roasting hot dog franks and cooking hamburgers. Its pretty common for someone to throw used rappers and paper bags into the fire as they are used up. We just weren’t expecting what James had just tossed into the fire.

James had casually walked by the fire and tossed in a bag with a can of shaving cream inside. The next thing we knew it was totally black. The explosion had blown out a roaring fire and left us not knowing what had happened. I quickly got a lantern fired up to see what was left. There still sitting at the ex-fires edge was Tim with his roasting stick in hand. With his frank missing and covered head to toe with shaving cream he didn’t say a word. Three of us had been at the picnic table at the time of the can going off. James knowing what was going to happen had retreated to his tent that was now also covered in shaving cream.

Just happy that no one was injured we all burst into laughter. The sight of Tim sitting there still holding on to that empty stick was to much to handle. Even after that defining explosion we probably could be heard for mile.

Our tents were all covered in shaving cream. Even the canopy of trees above the fire was covered in the cream. To this day if I pull out my old tent its still stained from that night. That tent still reminds me of how stupid friends can act and how lucky the people around them can be.

One cold evening in September in the Colorado Rockies I made the mistake of eating a bag of beef jerky while laying in my sleeping bag.

What I did that night was a fairly normal occurrence. I was tired and still a little hungry from a long day’s hike. All I needed was a snack to help me get off the sleep. Eating the jerky wasn’t so bad but letting a few pieces drop down in my sleeping bag would later come back to haunt me.

We were on a short weekend backpacking trip to just get out of town and have a little fun. Frank, my neighbor and I were out on our first trip together though I have known him for years. Frank had bought a new tent and was itching to get out and give it a try so I was happy when he invited me along for the trip. I had recently purchased a new Marmot Helium sleeping bag and was ready to test it out.

We were dropped off at the trail head by my wife and off we went to find our weekend getaway. After a good 7 plus mile hike we found our spot near a small stream. We set up camp there and went out exploring the area. After a few hours we got back to camp and built a good sized fire for a little cooking.

We grilled up some hamburgers we had packed along with us and just sat and ate by the fire. Occasionally we could hear noises coming from the other side of the creek. Late in the evening that deep in the woods you will hear all sorts of creatures moving about. Having been an avid backpacker for years I was used to these noises. Frank was a little more unsettled by the noises being out on his first non car camping trip.

Aside from the late night beef jerky craving we both got a good night’s rest. We set out early for a nearby peak which was about 8 miles away. We kept up a good pace and made the round trip much sooner that I expected. As we neared camp we started noticing the occasional white feather floating along in the air and just couldn’t tell what it was from until we got into camp.

As we both made the turn around the hillside we caught a look at what used to be our camp site. Whats left of Frank’s brand new tent was a good 20 yards away from its parking spot from the day before. Hardly any of what we left in camp was still there. We had secured our food in a bear bag in a tree and it was untouched. What could have caused something to do this.

All of a sudden last night’s snack came back to me. Could it have been that and where was my sleeping bag. Frank’s bag was still tangled in what was once his tent. I followed the feather trail across the stream and up the hill. There it was. My new sleeping bag. There was nothing but the skin of it left. We could see the scratch and tear marks all over what was left of it.

We packed up what was left of camp and hiked back down to the trail head. We were lucky enough to get a ride back into town with some day hikers. The whole ride back Frank and I didn’t speak to each other. I know he blames me for the whole thing and I told him I was sorry but I just don’t think it helped.

6 months later Frank and I have gotten back up the nerve to give it another try. This time Frank asked me to bring the tent. We will see how it goes.

4/7/07- Saturday at a upscale campground in Kissimmee, Florida eight teenagers were arrested for disturbing the peace,underage drinking and one of them also for pushing one of the arresting officers.

The eight teens were having a video game tournament called a LAN party. They were playing a popular game by Microsoft called Gears of War. It involves people acting as soldiers on a fictional planet. While gaming, the group were quite loud and neighboring campers complained.

The campground supervisor arrived shortly after the complaints to find most of the underage players to be heavily intoxicated. There were no adults present and beer cans were scattered around the RV said the supervisor.

The owners of the RV were unable to be contacted at the time of the arrests to determine if the teenagers had permission for the party. Two fourteen year old nieces of the RV owners were found hiding in a bedroom closet but were not arrested.

Rustic,Colo.March 28th – When you mix four campers playing sword fighting with cooking skewers and three cases of beer bad thing are bound to happen.

While camping in the Colorado Rockies near Rocky Mountain National Park four drunken friends’ horse play escalated into a trip to the Fort Collins hospital to have Thomas Mackey’s testicle removed.

We had been drinking most of the day”, said Pat White of Livermore Colorado.” The four of us had just gotten a little to bored and I slapped the hot dog wiener off of Tom’s cooking skewer with mine. We jumped up and started sword fighting like we were kids.”

Obviously things got a little carried away from there. Thomas lunged towards Pat as he was stabbing at him. This great mistiming lead to a skewer being driven through Mr. Mackey’s testicle.

As soon as the cursing and threats had subsided the four men made the thirty mile trip into Fort Collins where the testicle was removed.