10-Jacob P.- Infernal Rain

Infernal Rain Narrative: Share a “core memory.” Be sure to have a point, a message about what you learned, realized. When I just joined the Boy Scouts of America, my first campout with them had to be the worst camping experiences that I have had to endure. The week prior, me and a group of other scouts were warned by our adult leaders that the camporee had a very high chance of being rainy for the entire three days there. Me, being new to camping in unsatisfactory conditions, thought that it most likely would be a light sprinkling that would periodically occur throughout the day. That would lead to be the greatest understatement I could have made about this campout. Because I already had a preconceived notion that the weather wasn’t going to be that bad, coupled with the fact that I never camped before, I packed extremely lightly without thinking about packing any towels to dry the tent’s interior. I also never thought of packing a waterproof sack that would protect my sleeping bag, a decision which I would really regret later. When we arrived at the campground, it was already heavily raining, so we had to unload all of our gear and set them under a large tarp to protect them from the rain. The problem that this created is that the paths we were using to haul our gear quickly turned into a deep mud, causing some of our equipment and alot of our clothing to be caked in mud. When I finally managed to set up a tent that seemed to be purposefully made to be irritating to assemble, I thought that the tent would at least be dry inside and I would be able to sleep with a little more comfort. This also happened to be another moment in which I set myself up for disappointment. Already there were pools of water residing in the tent, so I had to use any spare clothing I could find to at least mitigate the amount of water left in the tent. Then, I was able to unfurl my damp sleeping mat and bag so I could finally sleep. However, the hard pattering of the rain coupled with the occasional booming of thunder rendered me partially awake for a large percentage of the night. The second day of this campout was mainly filled with every huddling under collapsible gazebos since the rain prevented us from doing anything productive. Then, when it was time to finally go to sleep, I was met with the same problem as last time. Although, I was more used to my current situation by then. On the third day, it seemed like a greater being granted us mercy and the rain ceased. At this point, rays of sunlight began peeking through the dense clouds and spreading its warmth amongst our campground. The presence of warmth caused me and a bunch of other scouts to walk onto the open field in which the sun was most present and then spread out our arms as if we were trying to get the sun's embrace. What this campout has taught me is that you should never underestimate how much nature could affect you and that you should always be prepared for the worst case scenario. (548)