The camping trip we set off on around noon on July 20 — what we did, what we brought along, what happened (or didn’t happen) on the road. This might be a slightly image-heavy and a bit long post, so thanks in advance for sticking with it 🙂
We had started planning before July 20, but it was Eno — that is, Enes — who really took on the research. The first signs the camp was actually happening were the in-tent lights and the tents themselves that we picked up from Decathlon, plus grabbing pocket knives on the day we left. We headed out as a group of three: Enes, Yasin and me. Yasin basically served as our driver since the car was his.
Before getting to the destination, let me list what I packed: two 2-person tents, a pocket knife, fork, spoon, headlamp, blanket, camera, headphones, long-leg trousers, a hoodie, plastic bags, rubber sandals, a lighter, a spare battery and power bank, pen, paper, sunglasses and a towel — plus we brought a tripod for photos. After all, we were driving in a personal car 😀
I mostly used the pocket knife for splitting wood. I also used it to whittle a sausage skewer and a tent stake for myself. I never used the fork and spoon — must be the freedom that camping brings :D. The headlamp came in handy for night bathroom runs, for extra light when the fire wasn’t enough during our games, and inside the tent when I wasn’t asleep. You can’t do without light. Don’t forget spare batteries, just in case.
I never had to use the headphones because if we were playing music we’d just blast it together. The hoodie was great in the cold of night since I hadn’t brought a proper blanket. We used the actual blanket as a mat instead. I’d packed the long-leg trousers in case the forest had thorny grass, but I ended up wearing cropped pants all three days.
The spare t-shirts I packed paid off — I changed through them one by one as I sweated. It got really hot, and I’d sweat a lot while gathering wood or sitting by the fire.
The camera came in handy whenever boredom hit and we felt like taking photos. With three of us on a tripod, we’d set the self-timer for group shots. Sandals were useful around the sea. Plastic bags worked great for trash — or for wet shorts. I thought I’d take notes with the pen and paper, but I came back without writing a single thing :D. So that’s roughly how the gear got used.
We found our way thanks to Yasin’s phone — Apple Maps, you’re a lifesaver 😀 On the way we grabbed food and drinks from local markets and a greengrocer. And while scouting for a camp spot, we found ourselves a perfect place in the furthest, most remote corner of Gökçetepe Nature Park.
I say perfect because the nearest people were 50-60 meters away and the view was really nice, even if climbing back up the slope was a bit tough.
When we arrived on day one, the sun was about to set. We took a quick dip in the sea, settled into our spot, and started pitching the tents. Then — God bless whoever left wood there before us, it really saved the first night. Between the fire, the food, sitting around playing a bit, we eventually crawled into the tents and slept.
I was up on my feet by 7 in the morning. I just can’t sleep in for long in places like this 😀 By the way, I heard some weird animal sounds at night — even though the area is protected, it was odd 😀
On day two I stayed out of the sea because it felt too salty and I really didn’t want to get sunburned. Enes didn’t get in either; only Yasin went in on day two. Also, on the morning of day two we went out to gather wood — it turned into an epic outing. We headed into a forested area packed with trees just outside the camp.
The ground was covered in hundreds of dry pinecones, fallen branches and so on. As our pile of wood grew, we lined some up along the trail thinking we’d grab them on the way back. But guess what — we couldn’t find the path back, so the wood was a loss. Still, even what we collected nearby covered both our morning and evening firewood needs comfortably.
Day two also wrapped up with food and so on, and we went to sleep again. We planned to head back around noon on day three; we left around 13:00 or maybe 12:00, I don’t quite remember. After our daily routine we hit the road, and this time I sat in the back seat instead of the front. I sank in so well I fell asleep. It felt really good.
The legendary moments stuck in my head: the sea being full of pebbles and tiring my feet out, getting lost in the forest while gathering brushwood and trying to find our way back, sitting around a beautiful campfire for the first time with friends, listening to music while eating olives, peppers, sausages and sucuk.
The funny photoshoots, the calm and quiet view of the sunrise when I got up in the morning, the joy of the games we played with music at night, the ropes being set up wrong while pitching the tents and our long struggle to fix them.
A bee stinging my finger, the knife slicing my skin twice while carving wood, trying to cook eggs in the embers for potatoes, attempting to crack an egg into a hollowed-out stone like a pan, trying to soft-boil an egg inside a watermelon rind — and many more memories I can or can’t recall.
It was a lot of fun with the bros. Big shout-out to them from here.
