First time camper at age 59 alone in W.Va state park.
This was not something I wanted to do but something I felt I had to learn about.
On arrival to the campground I found myself in a very isolated spot with no other campers in sight. I later found out the park managment though it was too weird for a lone guy to request a camp site for a month. Surely I was a fugitive and for other people's safety I was placed in this spot to protect the innocent. Again I was unaware of their thinking for some time. I'd say it took a full month to get use to this idea of camping. I never cooked a meal, I started only one fire, the fire wood was used as a walking path to my car. Think God I had internet to watch TV. Month two comes, its October I am finally starting to relax. This is when the wild life started to show up. I was visited by all the members of wild W.Va. They always showed up about 5am like clock work. Except one night about 3 am a cat took something big somewhere behind the tent. I heard the cats paws strike the ground as it seemed to gain traction and the body on body impact with a growl. It did hang out there a few days, one night late I stepped out to take a leak a long deep growl came from the bush, I had no choice but to speak softly and gently to explain my current situation, it gave me one more growl and we both were cool with it. The bear, the bobcat and wild pigs got along fine and I decided I liked this natural world very much and now today I only like houses in winter. Yes I bought a gun, have never pulled the trigger to this day but it gave me peace of mind back then. Well that's my story of my camping trip that lasted two months. They ran me out on Nov.1st didn't understand that but they closed for the season. A park ranger did admit to seeing that mountain lion about a year later. I hated camping at first, then with time I loved the excitement of the wild life that made itself known to me. There were other things very strange but later on that.
This was not something I wanted to do but something I felt I had to learn about.
On arrival to the campground I found myself in a very isolated spot with no other campers in sight. I later found out the park managment though it was too weird for a lone guy to request a camp site for a month. Surely I was a fugitive and for other people's safety I was placed in this spot to protect the innocent. Again I was unaware of their thinking for some time. I'd say it took a full month to get use to this idea of camping. I never cooked a meal, I started only one fire, the fire wood was used as a walking path to my car. Think God I had internet to watch TV. Month two comes, its October I am finally starting to relax. This is when the wild life started to show up. I was visited by all the members of wild W.Va. They always showed up about 5am like clock work. Except one night about 3 am a cat took something big somewhere behind the tent. I heard the cats paws strike the ground as it seemed to gain traction and the body on body impact with a growl. It did hang out there a few days, one night late I stepped out to take a leak a long deep growl came from the bush, I had no choice but to speak softly and gently to explain my current situation, it gave me one more growl and we both were cool with it. The bear, the bobcat and wild pigs got along fine and I decided I liked this natural world very much and now today I only like houses in winter. Yes I bought a gun, have never pulled the trigger to this day but it gave me peace of mind back then. Well that's my story of my camping trip that lasted two months. They ran me out on Nov.1st didn't understand that but they closed for the season. A park ranger did admit to seeing that mountain lion about a year later. I hated camping at first, then with time I loved the excitement of the wild life that made itself known to me. There were other things very strange but later on that.
