Deer Creek Meadows

 Another camping story from my childhood days.   My dad, younger brother and I, along with a friend of my dad's named Charlie, and his son drove up to Deer Creek Meadows to go fishing for a weekend.    The first stop was a grocery store in Red Bluff where my dad bought some bacon, eggs, a canned ham, beer and not sure what else or don't remember.    We arrived after dark on a Friday night at some buildings enclosed by a fence near the meadows.   It may have been a cattle camp for a summer grazing lease on the Lassen National Forest that was operated by a ranching friend of my dads'.    My dad and Charlie built a campfire, had a few beers and placed the can of ham on the fire.   Soon thereafter the can of ham exploded, since they had not partially opened it.    There were chunks of ham scattered on the ground and we all proceeded to pick up pieces and eat.   We spent the night sleeping in one of the buildings and the next morning everybody was up early to go fishing.   My brother, who may have been 5 or 6 years of age remembers waking up and everybody was gone.    He wandered around the meadow looking for us and ended up back in the camp after getting lost.    The rest of us returned to camp for a breakfast of bacon and eggs served in a more civilized manner.