Move & Explore
Just being a kid
2-6
The Incident at Fort Richardson State Park … and other tales of first-time family camping
Photo and reporting by
Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine
Elliott was 6 when his family's first camping trip turned into a 17-inch bass, a treble hook buried in his dad's thumb, and paramedics rolling up to the ranger station at Fort Richardson State Park. By nightfall he was scaling his own catch with a pocketknife and picking out shooting stars from the dark.
The yes behind it
She let her husband pack a blowtorch the night before, let him wrestle a live bass with two treble hooks, and let a stranger with wirecutters talk him through pushing a hook out of his own thumb while she kept the kid at arm's length. Later that same weekend she handed Elliott a Swiss Army knife and told him to start scaling.
Why we picked this one
Nobody planned any of this. The hook, the paramedics, the blowtorch that never quite worked, none of it was on the packing list. What was on the list: a pup tent, a compass, a cricket lantern, a kid who wanted in. The disaster happened around him, not to him, and by the campfire that night he was the one who spotted the deer.
Pitch the tent in the yard you already own. Sleeping bags, flashlights, breakfast cooked outside on the grill. Once the zipper's closed for the night, nobody comes back inside for any reason, not the bathroom, not the noise in the hedge, not a bad dream. That's the whole rule.
Read the full story at
Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine
Where it happened:
Jacksboro, TX
There's a tent in your garage with the tags still on it and a kid who keeps asking when you're using it. Nobody's promising you a treble hook in the thumb. Just zip the door and see what happens.