I haven't been camping outdoors, since I was a kid. And I probably never will again.
I was traumatized on the one overnight bivouac I did. Although I do heartily admit now that it was my fault. As a kid, I attended a summer day camp. One of the personnel there was a "specialist" of sorts... not a counselor outright but functioned like one (sort of like the Water Safety/pool instructor). Officially this guy was the bus driver. But that skill proved handy as he was able to take us kids places, such as to a local rifle range at a private high school associated with the academy that ran the summer camp. He was an NRA instructor. I believe he was ex-Military because he also organized and supported a 2 day bivouac at a local forest. He had these two tents (both had the center pole and the tie down cables radiated out from the edge. I think they slept like 10 people (well, 8 kids and a counselor), with two other counselors always awake and on "fire watch." Our "instructor" had his own lean-to. The girls would go the 1st night and the boys the 2nd night. Usually the girls would have to help put up the tents, dig the latrine and garbage pits, etc., and the boys would be responsible for striking the tents, filling up the garbage pits and the latrines, etc. before departing the site for the year. I guess these days, you'd probably be required to take all your trash with you and perhaps your fecal mater as well. I know you do in some of the Natl. parks like Joshua Tree, etc.
The Setup: I was, in essence, not very prominent at all on the totem pole of the campers... not at all. Some of the town local kids hated me for "ethnic" reasons (or their perception of my ethnicity... I'm actually a "mutt" as most people are). And they would do things to express their displeasure, even without a reaction from me. I was the very last to be picked for dinner,, etc. etc. Thankfully, there was enough to eat so I didn't miss anything there. The counselors were good about that. And for breakfast, they switched the group order so I wasn't last.
My Mistake: We were not allowed to wear our shoes/sneakers inside the tent, just to keep the floor surface clean. One could either leave their footwear outside at the tent door, or carry them inside and put them on something that kept the dirt/grime off the floor. I did both, at times but, critically, I left them "outside" overnight. I shouldn't have, and I knew I shouldn't have, but was too lazy to go get them. My mistake... Big Time!
The Trauma: When I awoke, I discovered that my sneakers had been "baptized" overnight by one of the bigoted campers.I knew he was going to do it. He even said he would. And I actually watched him get up in the middle of the night and saw/heard him whizzing away. Silly me, I thought, "Nah, he won't aim for them." I was wrong. And he taunted me all the way home on the bus, telling the other campers, "Somebody pi$$ed in his sneakers, overnight" knowing full well he had done it himself. I don't know what became of that kid, but I hope he's rotting away in prison somewhere - Life without Parole... with a whole pod full of "Bubbas" to take care of him. I don't wish him dead. That would be too easy!
To this day, I've never stepped into a tent again... ever. Although, TBH, I think it has more to do with just not liking the "roughing it" part of camping outdoors than anything else. I'd have to have a pretty decent air mattress (can't do a hard floor/surface), etc. This, and some kind of "climate control" inside the tent. Yeah, I know... Go ahead and laugh!
I'm just not generally big on outdoor camping. Perhaps, I might have been if that childhood incident hadn't happened, but we'll never know now, will we...
