15+ Outdoor Stories That Prove the Smallest Joys Often Make the Best Summer Memories

• When I was about 10 years old, our whole family went on a long trip into the woods to relax by some lake far, far away.
  Sitting and sunbathing was boring, so the three of us — myself, my dad, and our incredibly smart dog Bim — set off for a walk through the surrounding forests. And there, by a shore overgrown with tall reeds, we saw an interesting sight.
  A wide, shallow stream. In the stream, a raccoon stands with its paws spread. A couple of other raccoons stand by the stream, waiting.
  The one in the stream suddenly dives and immediately straightened up with a fish in its paws. It hands the fish to a waiting raccoon. That raccoon runs off with the catch. My dad and I froze in amazement at this wonder.
  Then we saw that our Bim had joined the line with the raccoons. He stood there calmly, waiting. And the raccoons next to him didn’t seem particularly bothered. His turn finally came. He got his fish and came back to us, satisfied.

That moment when you’re grateful to a woodpecker for waking you up at 4 a.m. Went out to check if it was tapping its breakfast out of a kayak and caught the sunrise over the river.

• My friend and I were traveling like nomads around Turkey. Once, we set up our tent in the fog, and when it cleared, we realized we were in someone’s garden.
  The owner came running over and started saying something about money. We thought he was asking for payment for staying there. We tried to give him money, but he wouldn’t take it.
  He must have thought we looked so pitiful that we needed money instead. When we refused his money, he left.
  Then he returned with a bag of fruit, cookies, and a jar of honey and handed it to us. After that, he even gave us a lift on his tractor.

• Many years ago, my future husband and his brother went fishing early in the morning. It’s worth mentioning that the guys were athletic, very tall, and each weighed close to 220 pounds.
  They sat next to each other on a high riverbank under an old tree, casting their fishing rods into the water. There was silence, a gentle morning fog. Suddenly, something huge and shaggy awoke between their heads, letting out an eerie “U-uh-u!”
  My future husband came around when he found himself at the top of the tree. His brother was nowhere to be seen. In a panic, glancing around, he noticed his brother’s head sticking out of the water in the middle of the river. Meanwhile, a small calf was casually wandering away along the riverbank.

• I remember when our class went on a hike, and in the morning after a night filled with mosquitoes and songs with the guitar, our teacher cooked up a bucket of soup for us. And we, hungry, were slurping it right out of the bucket with teaspoons!

How wonderful it is to go hiking! Once, inspired by fishing, I bought a boat. My wife’s friends mentioned that you could catch big fish in the lake. Almost immediately, we bought a small tent and sleeping bags, and thus our adventures began.
On the water, we met some great people with whom we later celebrated New Year’s in tents, at −4°F. Now, every free weekend, we meet on our favorite islands. Our small tent was replaced by a 22-pound shelter and loads of furniture with boxes and bags.

• I always organized our nature outings. One day, a couple of friends were upset, wondering why I always took charge. They decided to plan the trip themselves.
  Luckily, the nearest settlement was not far, but they had to walk to the store and back for another 3 hours because they forgot some basic things.
  And one of them apparently missed the word “hiking” but heard “not far from the last stop” (everyone’s idea of “not far” on a hike is different, of course), so she wore high-heeled sandals. She couldn’t walk in them, nor take them off, as the road was scorching.
  We still laugh when we remember that hike.

• One day we went to a beautiful place. A river, meadows, birds — it was lovely. We slept in the car.
  In the morning, I woke up, looked outside, and saw a herd of cows. They surrounded the car, inspecting it, one sniffed it and then went to the other side to take a look.
  I woke my husband up and said, “Look who’s here.” He turned over and accidentally hit the horn. The cows scattered away from the car in panic, and the herdsman later scolded us for scaring them. We had to move to the other side of the river.

Just got back from this getaway. Went away for just under 3 days and reset for the working season.

• Went on a hike, with backpacks and tents. We stopped to spend the night in a canyon. The entire group managed to pitch their tents so that the wind wouldn’t buffet them too much and nothing would poke from underneath while sleeping.
  Everyone set up, except Dani. He moved his tent about 4 times because the wind kept blowing it away. It was impossible to drive the stakes in since it was just solid rock everywhere. After that, he got the nickname Nomad.

• It happened out in nature by a picturesque lake. We were there with the kids, picking wild strawberries. Suddenly, it started to rain. We packed up and dashed home.
  And we ran past a young woman with kids who was struggling with a tent. It was clear she was new at it. Despite my kids’ slight reluctance to get wet in the rain, I decided to teach them a lesson in kindness, seeing how clumsily the young woman was trying to do something with the tent.
  Since I have plenty of camping experience, I approached and greeted her, and quite quickly folded up the tent and cheerfully gave it back. I will never forget the look of utter surprise in her eyes and her words, “Um... I was trying to set it up.”

• Recently, my mother-in-law told me this story. A few years ago, her partner went fishing. A couple of hours later, he came home with an empty bucket. My mother-in-law asked, “Where’s the fish? Didn’t you catch any?”
  He replied, “Well, I did catch some. I went to the lake, sat down, cast my fishing rod, and placed the bucket behind me. I caught one fish, then another, and a third one. I was putting them into the bucket.
  Every now and then, I heard a noise behind me. I’d turn around, and no one was there. So, I kept on fishing. Eventually, that noise started to bother me.
  I got up and looked into the bucket, and it was empty. I couldn’t understand what happened. Then I see a muskrat a few steps away from me, running with my fish in its teeth.”

There’s something about camping in the woods that you only really appreciate after the season ends.

Kayaked 35 miles to find this camp spot in Lake Powell.

• I was camping solo for 24 hours in the high country which has a fair few wild deer. One of these deer got close to my tent just as I was about to fall asleep, and honked so loudly I nearly had a heart attack. Couldn’t get to sleep for another hour at least.

• The girls and I decided to take off on a camping trip in the woods. We settled in, lit a campfire, grilled some meat — it was beautiful!
  After a couple of hours, we heard a group of men setting up camp nearby. Our mood immediately soured. A friend went to check them out, then came back laughing.
  It turned out that our husbands were worried about how we’d be alone in the woods, so they also came and set up nearby as a sort of security detail. We appreciated the gesture, but we camped separately. We only walked back home together.