Most Epic Camping Trip, Part 1.

Probably my favorite adventure/party of the summer was my friend Glen's birthday camping trip. Every year since he was pretty young he's been going to a strange little independently operated campground near Guerneville on the Russian River called Camp Outback. This place is magical for so many reasons. We got a huge campsite with a ton of people, I got to rent some amazing camping equipment for free, we stayed up all night playing games around the campfire, and we spent the entire second day kayaking on the river. Could it get any better? Turns out, yes.

I don't know if too many people know this about me (Hello, internet!), but I've always wanted to be an urban explorer, and I love photographing abandoned buildings. But I've never been brave enough to go traipsing around private property, and finding abandoned spaces that are open to the public is pretty rare. But not at Camp Outback. After we got back from the river we got to go explore the abandoned amusement park next door to the campgrounds that also happened to house the camp showers. Yup, you read that right, abandoned amusement park. I did a happy dance. I figured this would be a good post for pre-Halloween inspiration, because really it was pretty creepy.

 There was an old go-kart track that was completely overgrown with blackberries.

The tilt-a-whirl cars were strewn about, but the actual ride was gone, and the structure in the background was once a bumper car pavilion, but all the cars were missing. 

This guy was huge, and stood watch over what used to be the haunted house. I was told they actually still do a haunted house here every year to raise money to buy Christmas trees for needy families in the area. 

This guy wasn't with us, he was just waiting for the shower, but the look on his face said, "I'm not tall enough to ride." 

And this is poor Glen, who had no idea this birthday would be his last...

Haha no worries, no hipsters were harmed in the making of these photos. There's a ton more to see on my flickr set here if you want more creepies! And stay tuned for part two! We found another creepy adventure to go on before the light faded on the same day!