The First Time Camper & The Skunk

 Many years ago while living in California, we had gone to Lake Don Pedro for a camping trip with our friends Pete & Norma. The first day went well. We had enjoyed the day , cooked and ate dinner, cleaned up the pans and put everything away. We sat around the campsite in our Coleman camp chairs and talked about the day’s events. We soon retired to our tents and drifted off to sleep in our sleeping bags.

  It seemed as if we had just fallen asleep when Ken and I awoke to a commotion in our campsite.There was no need to use the Coleman camping lantern as it was a beautiful evening with a full moon. As we were rubbing what little sleep we had gotten from our eyes, we were surprised to see Pete running after a skunk with a frying pan in his hands and Norma yelling for him to turn around and come back. We hoped and prayed that the skunk would not stop and spray Pete. When Pete realized it was a skunk, he made tracks back to the camp site and that skunk kept on going his way (away from camp Thank Heavens!). I’m not sure who was worried the most, Pete with his frying pan or the skunk

. We asked Pete what happened and he proceeded to tell us that he had heard scratching along the side of their tent. The closest thing that he could grab was the frying pan. He thought it might have been a raccoon or mice trying to get food (that was stored in their tent) and was going to try to scare whatever it was, away. He realized it was a skunk when the moonlight shone on the back of the animal just right. That must have been the brightest white stripe he had ever seen!

 The rest of the weekend went along without a hitch. No more skunks, lots of sunshine and good times.  Unfortunately all good things seem to come to an end. We packed up our gear and made sure our camp area was cleaned and ready for the next campers. We headed for home with another camping story to remember. To this day, it one of our favorite camping experiences.

  There is a moral to this story. Always pack your food in sealed storage containers and NEVER go chasing skunks with frying pans!

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