Hiding Canyon Camp North Los Padres National Forest

Submitted Camp Reports

Hiding Canyon Camp Survey - 12-22-1971 - by Rob

Link:	Hiding Canyon Camp
Date:	12-22-1971
Surveyor Name:	Rob
Camp Description:	(I am not sure when the visit to Hiding Camp actually occurred.  I was just a kid.  It must have been Christmas Break or Easter Break from school.)   My dad took me fishing for the weekend and we stayed at Hiding Camp.  Something we hadn't ever seen before was waiting for us. There were millions of ladybugs piled up in clumps in the shade of trees.  There were a lot of clumps. The piles were a foot or two in diameter and quite a few inches thick. I could reach in and scoop out handfuls of them.  Ladybugs busy burrowing in and out of the piles. That was fun to see, however, something that no one else seems to know, that we discovered well the few days we camped there, is that ladybugs bite!   As the day warmed up, thousands of them would take flight and there would be ladybugs everywhere.  The air was full of them.  Since the days were warm, we were in shorts and no shirt when we were hanging out in camp and not out fishing.  Many times an hour a ladybug would end up landing on our skin, usually on our back, and not long after landing, they would give a painful pinch with their mandibles.  It felt like a pin prick.  That made me jump, no damage done, but I would immediately brush it off my skin.  If we happened to be near each other, and couldn't reach the ladybug on our back, we would ask someone to brush it off for us.   There was no blood or welt from these bites or anything that showed that it had happened.  But, OUCH, it did make us take notice.  I have talked to many people over the years and if the topic of ladybugs came up, they would have no idea about the ladybug bite, but I assure you, they do.  It wasn't like bees that search you out to sting if you invade their hive area.  The only thing we saw were the piles of ladybugs, the air full of them flying around seemingly at random, and then that sharp pinch.   I thought I would leave this here just for fun.  I was in 4th grade at the time of that camping trip, and when I returned to school after the break, the teacher had us draw a picture of what we had done during our vacation.  I drew a picture of "Hiding Camp" in great detail and in the center of the drawing, I drew the sign that was there at the camp, "Hiding Camp." I proudly turned it into the teacher and when I got it back, the teacher had put a large red X over the sign saying "Hiding Camp" and in large red letters written next to it she had put the words , "Hidden Camp."
Water Source:	Flowing
Water Source Details:	A fifty-year-old anecdote from my childhood.
Weather Conditions:	warm

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