This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/NotJustSomeNumbers on 2024-10-02 23:09:48+00:00.

Three weeks ago my friend Matt asked if I wanted to go camping. Since I had wasted my entire summer working, I agreed. I needed a break from chores and my boring office job. As the weekend got closer, Matt kept adding people to our camping trip. Soon, it went from us to six people. The SUV I inherited from my mother could fit all of us and our bags if we squeezed in but I felt like dropping out of the trip. I knew if I did so, then they all couldn’t go because Matt had a smaller car.

I’m the type of person that dislikes crowds and prefers to stay indoors. Eddie was coming along and I didn’t think he was a bad guy, he was just very loud. I dismissed my feelings knowing that some strife in my life would be good for me. Just because I would be slightly annoyed by a few things that weekend wouldn’t make the trip unmanageable, I could sacrifice a little comfort for my friends.

We packed everyone into the SUV and started. I will admit, by the end of the two-hour drive I was very glad to get out of the driver’s seat. Eddie refused to listen to the no-smoking rule and his constant abrasive jokes made me silently consider driving into oncoming traffic. If it weren’t for Sofie distracting him as much as she, did we never would have finished the drive.

Me and her were closer in high school. I fell off talking to a lot of people because of my busy schedule and had been worried there would be a distance between us. That wasn’t the case. We easily picked up right where we left off as friends that day.

I parked the SUV in an empty lot near the start of a hiking trail. I was surprised by the lack of other cars around. I had assumed it would be busier. Matt told us he knew of a great camping spot by the lake but it was nearly a two-hour hike. I playfully groaned. We had left after lunch time and now we wouldn’t get to the site until almost dinner time. It was a two-hour hike for a normal person. Our group wasn’t the most focused or motivated to use our time properly. We all made sure to use the washroom before heading into the woods.

Getting all our gear on took at least ten minutes. I never knew how long a group of people took to drag out a simple task. I kept my mouth shut knowing there was nothing we could do about it. I stayed silent when Jessy realized she left something in the SUV and asked to go back five minutes into walking down the trail.

Instead of reaching the campsite at around four as planned, we might get there closer to six. We could be cutting it close to set up while it was still light out. But no one appeared worried. Everyone broke off into groups of two as we walked. I listened to Sofie as she caught me up in all the things she had been doing this summer. Since I only worked, I just nodded letting her talk knowing my life was too boring to say much about.

An hour into the woods we came across another person on the trail. He had been the only other sign of life aside from the sounds of birds in the trees. Our group caught up to him and the stranger stopped to greet us.

He wore a grey baggy sweater even though it was far too hot for one. It was nearly autumn but the summer heat hadn’t let up. He had a massive camping pack that looked to weigh more than his thin legs should be able to carry.

Matt and Eddie were at the front of our group. When the stranger stopped to wave at us, we all stopped for a chat. And to take a smoke break for some.

“Are you all just hiking or camping?” The man asked with a smile.

He sounded slightly southern with a warmness to his voice that instantly made him appear trustworthy. Matt nodded down towards the trail.

“Camping. We’re setting up near the Big Bear tree.” He lied.

I hadn’t been in the area since I was very young so I had forgotten about the tree until Matt mentioned it. It was a massive tree in the middle of a clearing that someone decided to carve a simple bear face into the bark years ago. It was a good landmark and near the end of the trail.

“That’s a good spot even though people do say it’s bad luck. I’m just here gathering. I’ll stop by the ranger’s cabin on the way out. Have you all checked in yet?” He asked.

A mesh bag holding some mushrooms hung from his pack along with a batch of plastic whistles. He looked over prepared for anything let alone a day trip out into the woods.

“Do we need to check in?” I asked unaware.

The group gave me a look. I considered we might need to pay a fee to camp and they all wanted to avoid it.

“The park runs on donations. Even if you can’t afford one, you should let the rangers know you’re all here just in case. Do you have a GPS?” He suggested the kind smile never fading from his face.

“Yes. It’s not our first camping trip.” Matt stated a little annoyed.

This man was the kind of person he had issues getting along with. He looked too clean to be the kind of person to enjoy the outdoors. Like, he was only foraging to film content for his TikTok account. I glanced down to see he was wearing flip-flops. Seriously, who hiked in flip-flops? The man adjusted his pack not appearing to be offended by Matt’s tone.

“Do you all have whistles?” He offered.

We shook our heads at the same time Matt pulled out one. Gracefully the man sent down his pack to take off the whistles to offer them to us. He explained he wanted to buy one but it was cheaper to buy them in packs so he handed them out to others he saw in the woods. When he bent down, the baggy collar of his sweater exposed a toned chest for a second. Sofie and Jessy noticed first and Sofie not so discreetly punched my arm until I followed her gaze to see what got her so excited. To Matt’s displeasure, we were all handed whistles. The man knew he was overstaying his welcome and replaced the bag on his back. He winked at the girls showing he noticed their interest which caused them to pretend as if they were swooning.

I tied the whistle to my belt loop and needed to suffer through the group teasing me that the man hadn’t winked at the girls but in my direction. Jessy pretended to be upset that Matt gave the stranger the wrong campsite joking she wouldn’t mind meeting him in the middle of the woods at night.

We finally found our campsite after a long walk sweating in the heat. All of us got to work setting up tents and playing around. I had only ever set up a tent twice in my life and needed Sofie to help get all the rods in place. Once it was up I offered to help collect firewood but that task had already been covered by Eddie and Ben who had behaved until then. They did the job halfway until they found branches that looked like swords. That distracted them for a while.

Matt disappeared for a while. He came back before dark holding a bag of items that would mean we were going to have a better dinner than canned beans and hot dogs. Since he went camping more often than all of us, he knew what was edible in the woods. He collected something I had never even heard of until then called Chicken of the Woods. It was a fungus that tasted pretty good sautéed with a few other things he brought along.

The sticks Eddie and Ben found weren’t really enough to last the night. I helped Matt chop up some larger dry branches with a small axe brought along. I mostly brought wood to him and then took it near the fire instead of doing any of the actual work. Matt appeared to enjoy chopping too much to hand the task over.

I thought everything had been going well so far. After dinner, Eddie brought out a joint for himself and with some pestering from Ben, he grabbed another one to share with the group. I refused when it was passed in my direction and gave Sofie a surprised glance when she took a hit. I’ve never seen her smoke before. The booze came out next and the group started to get louder retelling stories from school. A bottle was passed my way and I raised a hand to refuse it again.

“Dude you’re not driving, you can have some.” Matt said trying to force the beer into my hands.

I had no choice but to take it but I passed it over to Sofie.

“Are you too good for my cheap beer or something?” Matt said in a tone that made everyone stop talking and nervously look in our direction.

“What? No. Man, you know I’ve never really drank.” I said trying to calm everything down.

“You can have one.” Sofie said holding out the bottle again trying to get me to take it.

I looked over all their faces confused about how this suddenly became such a big deal. I’ve never liked the way any alcohol tasted but normally would have one drink to get people off my case. I also hated what weed did to me and only smoked it once. Smoking and drinking were simply not my thing. I never thought anyone would ever get offended by something like that. It wasn’t as if I was stopping them from enjoying those things.

“I don’t want one. I don’t think it’s a big deal.” I said my hands raised in defense.

My old friend leaned in, the cold bottle pressed against my arm and her blonde hair falling on my shoulder.

“I think you need to grow up.” She whispered the anger in her voice stunned me for a second.

For a moment only the crackling of the fire was heard. I didn’t understand the sudden turn of the mood. I knew it might not be a good idea to continue with the conversation so I stood up.

“I’m heading to bed. It was a long walk for me today.” I announced.

Matt looked away at Eddie as if they were sharing an inside joke.

“What, is being out of the off…

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/1futp4k/i_regret_ever_going_camping_with_my_friends_there/