<h3>Earlier this year in September, a whole bunch of friends came together to go camping. The place we had reserved wasn’t necessarily the best, including the bathroom. The strong stench of cigarettes wasn’t pleasant at the least. However, just one bad bathroom doesn’t make the camping experience awful.</h3><h3>On the day we arrived, the first thing we did was set up our tents. Everyone arrived on the same day, though some families came in a little later during the night. During the first night, we ate baked potatoes and hot pot after playing many, many games of Mafi</h3> <h3>The second day was more eventful. We had to wake up a bit earlier so we could arrive at the canoeing location on time. The food we ate that morning was typical, nothing special. But when things got a bit more fun was when all of us got into our canoes as separate groups. Before we left, I remember someone telling us to "try not to flip over like last year." Little did they know it only took around 30 seconds for our boat to flip over. We recovered from that, but that wasn’t our only troublesome part.</h3><h3>Later on in the river, we came into a path that was split into two other paths. We could only go to the one on the left because it was too late to turn. As we approached it, a branch from the right of us was hanging out. Max and I safely ducked under it, but the same can’t be said for the third person that was in the back, Matthew. Since we were in the front and a lot smaller, we effortlessly ducked out of danger. But as we were savoring our time of relief, Max and I heard a scream from behind us. We turned around to see Matthew stuck, grabbing onto the branches desperately trying not to get cut or flip our boat over. The branches were planted deeply into the ground beside us, so there was no way of pulling it out to be safe. Our boat slowly started tilting as Matthew held onto the branches and the current pushed us. If he left go, he would’ve got many painful scratches and cuts. We started to think about just "flipping the boat and ending all of this" but we soon realized that there was no flat or decent land we could pull our boat to. Luckily, though, after a few more minutes of women-like screams and panic, we made it out.</h3> <h3>The first time I decided to go into the front and sit up top instead of being in the middle of the boat was probably the worst decision I have ever made during this trip. Only after a few paddles after I took the front seat and switched with Max, we hit a colossal rock that was almost fully covered by the water. My body flew to the right and my side side jabbed into the edge of the canoe, bending my body in a weird angle. Thankfully the only thing I felt was sharp pain that lasted for only around 2 days.</h3><h3>Despite those horrible moments, there were also good times. First, we stopped by a cave and got onto a ledge sticking out the side. It was maybe three yards or taller. We jumped off of it a couple of times before we realized that a few jumps into the freezing water was enough. Maybe an hour or so later, we stopped by a rope that was hanging off of a tree. We decided to go on it, swing, and freefall for around 30 minutes. That, for sure, was worth it.</h3> <h3>At the end after 5+ hours of sitting in a canoe, I would say I would do it again, as long as I have fun and calm people around me. Though a few more events happened, like witnessing a boat getting stuck under a log, taking bathroom breaks a little too often, getting stuck in shallow water every 10 minutes, and meeting a huge, very likely drunk, man on the bus with a loud voice, I think that going on this trip was definitely worth the treacherous long drives.</h3>