There is truly no better way to get to know ourselves and other people than to be in an unfamiliar place, without our normal creature comforts,  given limited control over our circumstances and be surrounded by different personalities and opinions.  Top it all off with a touch of stress and you just may have a Dr. Jykell and Mr. Hyde situation on your hands.  Normally it would take years to encounter all those trying scenarios with someone on a casual day to day basis.  Camping can tell you all you really need to know about your friends in a single weekend. You could end up with a friend for life or someone you never want to see again.  So, take a friend camping. The experience could be anything from a perfectly sweetened peach cobbler to a sickening salmonella chicken sandwich. You’ll never know until you try it.

“…the Alligator survived and grows three feet every time the story is told…”

1 Sense of Humor

Everyone doesn’t have one. From my view, shared laughs are one of the best parts of camping.  Wet blankets are no fun. When you have a person who can fall out of a kayak into a swampy river with an Alligator staring them down, and later laugh about it…You have a friend with a great Sense of Humor.  By the way, the Alligator survived and grows three feet every time the story is told.

2 Drink of Choice

Speaks for itself.  Every camper has a cooler and what’s inside can be very diverse. From imported to domestic.  From water only, to breakfast mimosas, to home brew.  Just watch out for the ones who go straight for the margaritas at noon after seriously sweating it out on a July five mile hike. Which was only supposed to be two miles.

3 Cooking Skills

Bologna and Saltines means you didn’t even try.  Hiking fresh whole avocados into the backcountry.…Now that’s really putting in some work. Most people can put together a nice meal at home with the luxury of spices, cutting boards, microwaves and an abundance of utensils with pots and pans.  My go to meal for camping is a thin ribeye steak with peppers and onions with a side of brown rice.  Drizzled with a demi-glace Brazillian truffle reduction sauce… ah, well maybe not the sauce.  But steak and rice with sauteed vegetables is a winner. 

4 Adaptabilty

Nothing ever goes exactly how you expect it to go.  Schedules can change just as quickly as a persons mind and it often does.  We may as well expect the unexpected because that’s what’s going to happen. They may not have all the details…But can they figure it out as they go?

5 Preferred Music

I'm not a big fan of ‘jamming in the jungle’. They make headphone for that.  Loud music takes away from the experience of nature.  You can't hear the fox trying to get into your cooler if the music is too loud. You can find out who your gospel, blues, jazz, pop, soul and rock n roll friends are. Which can make for a lively campfire singalong and trip down memory lane.

6 Generosity

We all will forget something at some point. It always happens and it’s either you are someone else but likely its both.  Campers who are willing to generously share and chip in make all the difference in having a great experience.  That person who answers the call when someone cries out on the way to the backcountry restroom, “Can I ‘borrow’ some toilet paper”, is truly a generous friend.

“Hint: Don't ask to borrow toilet paper… you can keep it,  I insist.”

7 Dependence on Technology

Let's face it, technology plays a part in almost everything we do today.  Chances are you reserved your campsites online after carefully checking their proximity to the lake.  Camping should be a time when you can cut the cord, or not be as tied to technology as you are back home.  If your friend must use ‘all’ the charge ports on someone else’s battery pack, to the exclusion of everyone else, for their own phone, watch and iPad, they are probably a little too dependent. They should stay home.

8 Ability To Follow Instructions

Did he just show up in all cotton when the packing list clearly said 'No Cotton'? Yes, and it's going rain then turn really cold.  You just discovered your friend can’t follow instructions. Hopefully he is adaptable with a good sense of humor and can quickly get comfortable being uncomfortable.

“They felt the glares, spent an uncomfortable night and made an early exit.”

9 Work Ethic

One bad apple can really spoil the bunch. Successful 'group camping' is a joint venture.  Generally, everyone eats the major meals at the same time and in the same place.  Some folks work to setup. Some prepare food.  Some cleanup afterwards. Some do all three or contribute in various other ways.  Our ‘special’ friends do nothing, except eat mountains of food and drink rivers of beverages. Fortunately, I’ve only camped with one hanger-on. They felt the glares, spent an uncomfortable night and made an early exit.

10 Comfortable being un-comfortable?

Whiners are the worst and weather dictates everything.  Summer time camping is brutal! Winter camping is challenging but you can layer up or throw more logs on the camp fire.  You can't take off enough clothes in the summer to make yourself comfortable.  Expecially when it's time to crawl into the tent and lay perfectly still, hoping for a cool breeze that may never come.  Can they be comfortable with being un-comfortable…that is the question.

11 Social Responsibility

Have you ever shown up to a campsite and had to clean up after the people who were there before you? You didn't meet them or sit and chat about the challenges of life. Yet somehow, you already know how they view the world.  They're probably only concerned about self but strangely may have little self-respect.  Lack a general regard for nature or the environment and reflect an entitled disposition with pride. Hopefully we see these traits before inviting them camping. Luckily, this type of individual has only preceded me but has never camped with me.