History of SPam Camping--Part 1

(SPam is Sam and Pam spliced together, not the pink mystery meat.)

Sunrise at campground in Island Park, Idaho

I LOVE camping! I love cooking over wood coals or charcoal while camping. Cooking is my universal love language, and outdoor cooking is a fun way to express that love.

Chili simmering on wood coals
Schroon River campout in Warrensburg, NY

Have you noticed? Campout food tastes better. It’s a fact. Maybe it’s the fresh, clear air or the swimming, boating, and hiking making you hungry. Or maybe it’s just that you’re happy to be out in the woods away from all the stresses and demands of life. I don’t know. It just tastes better.

Gluten free corn dogs
Campout on Schroon River in Warrensburg, NY

Where did my love for camping and cooking outdoors come from?

Sam’s brother Dan and his wife and children went camping last weekend, and it was pointed out that Dan didn’t have much experience with camping. The family he grew up in, which is the same family my husband grew up in, didn’t go camping. 

I thought a little more and remembered that the family I grew up in didn’t go camping either. I didn’t get my love for camping from childhood camping trips. So where had it come from?

Then, I remembered. I can picture myself standing near a campfire in the woods with adults and girls my age standing or sitting nearby. I was at Young Women Camp, and I was 14 years old. The church we belong to (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) organizes a weeklong camping experience for girls age twelve to seventeen. Each age level is required to work on certification requirements in camping and survival skills and in testimony building as well. I LOVED Young Women Camp! 

 Hot dog & cheese pies
Schroon River campout
Warrensburg, NY

It was, and is, common for the 15-year-old girls to camp for a night or two away from the main body of campers. This particular year, I was waiting with the rest of the campers and our leaders for these girls to return from their off-site campout.

Fried potato slices
Schroon River campout
Warrensburg, NY

My memory is a little foggy on this point. As I recall, we had had a dutch oven cake cooking contest the evening before. The 15-year-olds had missed out on it, and I thought it would be cool to bake them a cake in celebration of their return and having survived the ‘wilderness’. With encouragement from the adult leaders, I worked at making a cake that could be frosted and wasn’t burnt. When it was cooked, cooled, and frosted, I decorated it with M&Ms. I still remember the feeling of awe and excitement that I had cooked an edible cake over a fire. The surge of “I can do this!” is still palpable today.

Thus began my love for camping and for cooking outdoors.