Fiasco Files: The Archive

Fire Good. Beer Good. We dumb.

When I was in college in my freshman year in 1982, on a whim three friends and I decided to spend a three-day weekend fishing and camping in the wilderness near us - roughly two hours from school. No planning, no awareness, no nothing. I was playing basketball for several hours a day and lifting weights, so I was in very good shape, which ended up being necessary for survival. Oh, did I mention that my school in southern Oregon was at 4500 feet elevation and the lake we wanted to camp at was around 5500 feet elevation and in the mountains? Plus, it was late fall/early winter...dumb.

We gathered our gear, gathered our food (and beer), packed our backpacks, drove out, parked at the trailhead, and hiked towards the lake. While we were roughly halfway to the lake, a very soft gentle snow had begun to fall, but we were not worried since some of us had experience with rough camping. Again, dumb. We made it to the lake and set up camp with no issues. We built a fire pit and got a roaring fire going, then made food, drank a bit, talked, and then crashed. 

The next day was beautiful and clear, and we fished a bit, hiked around, shot guns, and had trout for lunch - it was a gorgeous and white, but not too cold. When it was getting close to dusk, it started to snow a bit. We weren't worried too much since visibility was still fine and we kept the party going.  Fire good, beer good. We dumb. 

Just before dark, the temperature began to drop, and the snow turned into a total white out! We began to discuss our options and argued a bit, with two wanting to stay and two wanting to hike out. I finally overrode everyone and said we needed to get out of there since we were getting to the point that we would not be able to see the trail if it kept snowing. We had compasses and such, but conditions were bad and getting worse by the minute.

We broke camp and began to hike out. As we just got moving, it was getting dark and the snow intensified. It got hard to see, and the temperature fell fast, and everyone was cold. Roughly an hour in, we stopped to rest for a few minutes. I was worried because the snow was nearly up to our knees in places and my three friends were not doing great and were stumbling a bit and I had to keep checking on them. 

My crazy friend Bob then casually mentioned that he was missing a boot!  It came off in the snow somewhere and he didn't notice until we stopped! We were really dumb.  Then, without any warning and against my protestations, Bob took off alone in the dark and walked back until he found his boot and came back! He was so out of it that he just carried his boot back and didn't put it on until he reached us.  

By the time Bob came back and got his boot back on, the temperature had dropped well below zero, and it was totally a white out with almost zero visibility.  Bob and the other two friends were getting sleepy and argumentative, so I had to yell and curse to keep them focused, keep following me, keep it together, and follow me out.  Everyone was stumbling, tired, and very, very cold. After more than an hour, and with the grace of God, we managed to keep to the trail and find the truck, but everyone was spent and freezing.

The truck belonged to one to the other guys, but as I threw our gear into the back, he and Bob and the other guy besides me just got in the truck and fell asleep instantly. It apparently was up to me to drive, so I got in the driver's seat and started the engine and cranked the heater. Two of the guys literally had chattering teeth! It was roughly two hours to get back to school and the dorm, and by the time we got there, we had thawed a bit, but everyone except me (thankfully) was fast asleep and out of it. 

I parked and roused everyone, and we grabbed our gear and stumbled back to our rooms.  We passed some friends on the way in, and they told us that we looked awful and smelled terrible! The other guys just went to their rooms and crashed - I managed to take a hot shower and then hit my bed.  We were very lucky to be alive!  I ended up with three middle toes on one foot having frostnip, and it took months to get all the feeling back. The others had red skin and frostnip here and there and they all took a long time to get back to normal. The owner of the truck had a bright red nose for weeks!

We were stupid and foolish, but we lived! Camping is fun???? We wuz dumb, dumb, dumb but we lived. What is that saying? To be old and wise one must first be young and foolish?

Winning Entry 4/30/2026 Submitted by Brad G.

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