The Horrors of the Outdoors

[Slartibartfast]

Originally posted by BryanD
Oh, and another one:

Go camping with 3000+ people (Pennsic Wars ) where there are plenty of fixed and temporary toilets.. but only 3 shower stalls for each gender.

This was back in.. oh.. '84 or '85 so they've probably upgraded the facilites since then.

I was there three or four years ago, and no, facilities haven't changed much from what you describe. There might be one more shower facility, but to get warm water you have to shower at five am. Far better to take a dip in the clothing optional stream and bring a bar of soap.

The rest of the campsite has running water, but it is not potable. In fact, it has some odd mineral content that causes it to turn orange if exposed to the sun.

Pennsic is not typical camping, not by a long shot. I've seen one couple with a king sized bed in their giant 15' diameter ger - a ger being the kind of portable home the Mongols used to live in.

It still counts as roughing it in some ways, as the weather is so variable that you freeze at night and scorch in the day, and the toilet amenities are port-a-johns.

While camping at Pennsic, I saw one campfire with blue, green, and orange flames. Someone from that group had tossed in a copper pipe with some other metal to get that cool effect.

Yes, Pennsic is a camping experience all to itself.