Camping With Creatures I am not an outdoor enthusiast. I enjoy the outdoors once it has been civilized: carefully cultivated lawns, man-made lakes, and walking trails are essential components of the majority of my nature experiences. Even my hearty outdoor experiences, such as a vacation trip to a working cattle ranch, were cultivated in a way to keep me separate from nature in a very specific manner. I had no problems with this separation and could have lived that way my entire life without any complaints. However, I have a cousin who is an ardent outdoor enthusiast. His hobbies are camping, hiking, hunting, and rock climbing; he does some small-scale survivalist challenges. One summer, when I went to visit his family, he convinced me to go camping. He described the wonders of nature in glorious detail: the beauty of sunrise, the darkness that was not possible in the city or the suburbs, and the fresh air. What he failed to describe where the creatures, but creatures became the defining point of our camping experience.

My cousin's family lives in a bedroom community near Houston, Texas. For our camping experience, he decided to begin with a small state park in the area, Brazos Bend State Park, because it had full facilities for use for campers. He packed up his camping gear, and, along with a few of his friends, we drove out there late one Tuesday afternoon. One thing about Houston, Texas in the summer is that it is hot in a way that defies imagination. Even in the evenings, the temperatures are often in the uppers 80s or lower 90s, and the humidity...

Stepping into a tent does nothing but increase the heat and the feeling of humidity, so we spent much of our time sitting outside of our tents near a fire. The fire, as one might imagine, did not decrease the feeling of warmth, so I was soaked with sweat and already feeling agitated and irritable when I had my first encounter with a creature.
Brazos Bend State Park is known for its wildlife. It is a famous natural habitat for alligators and it also a popular site for birdwatchers. After we set up camp, we hiked near our campsite and I saw turtles, birds, butterflies, alligators, ducks, and a large water mammal that none of us were able to identify. These were the creatures that I wanted to see, and, at that time, walking around the park in the fading sun before twilight, I had the feeling that camping would be a tolerable experience. However, when the sun finally set, I became aware that the large creatures I had seen in the daylight were nothing compared to the small creatures that besieged us that night.

The first wave of creatures that came to us was the mosquitos. I am not sure whether they were drawn by the campfire, by the smell of s'mores as the marshmallow melted into the chocolate, or by the smell of a bunch of teenagers who had not showered after a long hike, but they came for us like little kids at the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral. My cousin was against the use of DEET to repel mosquitos. According to him, "incorrect application can lead to health issues such as…