A really wonderful story Elspode. It must have been fantastic! You should get up and do it again the hard way ;)
Since I've been 6 I went hiking with the boyscouts. When I was 18 I went to Inari in Finland for a survival in the everlasting ice. One week with all you need in some sort of sledge you had to pull yourself, walking on snowshoes, sleeping in tents or in snowholes temp : -30C to -15C.
Then when I was 20 I joined the army and that's when the fun begun. Survivals in the desert or in the woods, days of "good" belgian weather (rain, rain, rain). Of with everything (up to 35kg) or with nothing, for one day or ten days. With or without sleeping for 2-3 days (my best is 3 hours of sleep in a 72hours-exercice)...
Few tips:
- Always leave the nature so that nobody could tell you were there. Not because you're paranoid but because of respect of the nature and the other campers...
- Against bugs : stray ashes around the sleeping place, helps a lot.
- Against mosquitoes and flies : Make a big fire and throw lots of grass and green leaves in it. Problem is you to can't stand the smoke. Use some repellant and if it doesn't help, go somewhere else! Or just try to ignore (had a bad experience of lying for an hour on a ants-heap during an infiltration patroul).
- If you go by car take everything you might need. If you have to carry yourself, throw everything you don't really need (cut your toothbrush in two, take only one piece of soap,...). But do have always enough pairs of socks if you're hiking and walking a lot.
- Wear gloves while working with your knive/axe and while gathering wood. Wear long sleeved shirts and no shorts. Wear a hat or something else to protect your head against sun and cold and rain.
- Fire is very important, to cook, heat, dry but also to cheer up after a hard day. Be careful and never let a fire unguarded.

Need some more advise? Just ask :)

That reminds me of another camping around wildlife story. When I was about 12 my dad took the whole family camping just outside of Jackson Hole,WY. There was a family of moose that would come into the camp sites to look for food and according to the Ranger lick the grills after people had cooked on them as they liked the salt left on the grill. We had been there about an hour when a cute baby moose wandered into our camp site. It walked right up to me and started to sniff me. Because I was young and didn't know any better, I started to pet the cute baby moose. Enter Mom moose who took one look at me petting her baby and decided she wasn't going to have any of that. Mom moose let out a huge bellow and the proceeded to charge me at full speed. I ran for my life, and let me tell you I have never run so fast in my entire life. I flew over fallen tress, over rocks, and covered some serious ground. Eventually I got to the river. At that point I jumped down the bank, into the water, and bounded to the middle of the river where there was some rock sticking out of the water. I stood frozen, listening, waiting to see if I was still being followed. About 30 seconds later Mom moose came crashing trough the trees and skids to a stop on the river bank. We stared at each other for a good minute, each deciding what our next move would be. At that point Baby moose caught up with us and came over to his Mom's side. She looked at me, looked at him, looked back at me and then let out a snort and proceeded to walk away. I stayed in the river for a few min. waiting for my heart beat to return to normal. Then I made the long trek back to camp, wet and out of breath from my run.

A few hours later the moose returned to our camp site, and that is when the photo below was taken. I was so afraid Mom moose would remember me, and try to kill me again. She had however lost her interest in me. I learned a valuable lesion about not petting baby animals, as you never know when their mom might be near by and take offense to it.

Is this little Brigliadore ??????

yah, thats me.

You look sorta nervous in that pic, Brig. Pissed off meese are nothing to toy with.

I was nervous, I thought for sure that mom moose would take one look at me, think "oh ya, that's the human that messed with my baby" and try and charge me again. It was a scary few min. for me till I realized she didn't care any more. I have since learned that moose average 1,400 pounds and stand around 6 ft. at the shoulder. Thats a whole lot of angry mom.
At that point in my life I knew not to pet baby wolves or mountain lions, but it never occurred to me till then not to pet baby deer, or moose. Trust me I wont be making that mistake again.

Our family had a cabin at Lake of the Ozarks when I was growing up. One year we had a family of skunks nearby. No problem. We ignored them and they ignored us - mostly.

My dad's favorite thing to grill was hamburgers with lots of barbecue sauce cooked on. After he was done he'd hang the grill off the side of the pit.

The skunks would show up to lick the grill as soon as we went inside. We didn't mind except the grill would still be hot. They would lick and then cry. Rinse, repeat.

For most of dinner time we'd have to listen to the skunks crying. But nobody felt like trying to make them leave.

"You still wake up some times don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the crying of the skunks?"

you forgot the hanibal lechter tags

yeah, there's nothing like roughing it.

So, you're saying that a comfy campin' woman is more interested in nookie than a cold, uncomfortable woman, huh?

I had my first asthmatic reaction whilst running around in the woods one time. I had gotten myself turned around (not lost, mind you), and ended up about 5 miles away from camp - also, about 800 feet or so lower in elevation. Luckily, I knew of a logging road that ran almost all the way to camp. I had been nursing a cold/throat infection for about 2 weeks prior to this trip, so I wasn't feeling so good. Nonetheless, I figured that I should be able to jog most of the way, since I spent most of the summer getting in shape for bow season.

I made it about 1/2 mile when my chest suddenly closed up on me. No matter how hard I tried to inhale, I could only get a thimbleful of air at a time. Not good when you've been running. I had never had asthma before, so I didn't recognize the signs; I just thought I was dying. I panicked, which only increased my heart rate further, as well as my frantic attempts at respiration. I passed out on the side of the road and was utterly suprised to wake up again.

I was still a long way from camp, and I knew my dad and friends would be looking for me in the wrong place (I had gotten waayyy off track, but they didn't know that). I was too scared to get up and walk, though, because I didn't want another attack. About 30 minutes later, a truck came by, occupied by two of the drunkest, evillest looking people I had ever met while hunting. The guys that give the rest of us a bad rep. They offered me a ride though, and I sat on the tailgate while they drove me up to camp. I wouldn't get in the cab with them, because they stood a decent chance of veering off the road and down the side of the hill.

Made it back with no further drama, but the notion that I was about to die on the side of a mountain with no one to find me for weeks was the low point of camping for me.

So, you're saying that a comfy campin' woman is more interested in nookie than a cold, uncomfortable woman, huh?

Well Splode , from my experence i can say yes !!!

We camp in a big ol' tent with a double sleeping bag on top of a king size air matress . Nothing finer than wakeing up early getting some coffie going and retireing back to the the tent for a little sumtin' sumtin' in the cool morning air ,
if'n you catch my drift ;) ;)