Pilgrimage Report: TCMS Camp Out 2018 at Clear Creek Abbey

I recently returned from a weekend camp out with a bunch of guys I’ve never met. And it was great!

Note: I’m writing this a month later, so I apologize if the details are a little hazy.

Back in 2017, I was assigned to work in Japan for six months. Because listening to Japanese radio is a struggle due to the lack of English, and Japanese DJ’s tend to have a habit of not letting songs finish before they start commentating, I decided to listen to podcasts. Conveniently, the topic of what podcasts were popular came up in a Facebook group that I am a part of, and that led me to listening to The Catholic Man Show (or TCMS). I started at the beginning, caught up to their latest episode, and have been a listener since.

Each year, The Catholic Man Show hosts a camp out, and this was the second year that it was to be at Clear Creek Monastery. I wasn’t able to make it back in 2017 because I was busy putting my life back together having just returned home from six months in Japan.

I thought it would be cool to attend this year, and my resolve was cemented when I met up with Adam, one of the hosts of the show, back in June to drop off some whiskey prior to spending a weekend at the same Clear Creek Monastery. You can check out that pilgrimage report here.

While the primary function of this trip was to attend the camp out, I decided to turn it into a sort of pilgrimage knowing that I’d have the monastery right there. Since there are multiple prayer times and Masses to attend, the opportunities couldn’t be wasted!

Pilgrimage Details:

Location: Clear Creek Abbey, OK (near Hulbert, OK)
Time Required: Friday-Sunday
Cost: $$
Transportation: Car
Accommodation: Tent in a field
Essentials: Camping supplies, journal, clothes for rain and cold

Itinerary

• October 19, Friday
  • 0500 Leave house
  • 0945 Arrive at Clear Creek Monastery
  • 1000 Terce prayer and Mass
  • Lunch
  • All afternoon: rain and card games, set up tent
  • 1500 Talk with Fr. Nesbit on St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Dinner
  • Irish Folk Songs and Drinks
  • Sleep
• October 20, Saturday
  • Wake
  • 0800 Mass at camp
  • Breakfast
  • Shower
  • Lunch with monks
  • Time alone in prayer
  • Got lost on property
  • 1600 Live recording of The Catholic Man Show podcast
  • Short hike
  • Dinner
  • Whiskey tasting
  • Irish Folk Songs and Drinks
• October 21, Sunday
  • Wake
  • Breakfast
  • 1000 High Mass at monastery
  • Pack and shop
  • 1230 Leave Clear Creek
  • 1730 Arrive home

Points of Interest

Friday

I left my house pretty early knowing that I wanted to arrive sometime mid- to late-morning at the monastery. The nice thing about leaving around 5AM is that traffic is pretty minimal. Sunrise didn’t break until I got into Oklahoma. During the drive, I decided to catch up on podcast episodes because my backlog had grown quite large.

A thought I had in mind on the drive was how was I going to fit in with the guys? The only person I knew was Adam, one of the hosts of TCMS. I mean, I’m not afraid of meeting new people, but I tend to be the quiet one…

Taking at least one or two breaks, I arrived at the monastery sometime between 9:45AM and 10:00AM. I decided not to head to the camp at first, but to chillax a bit at the monastery after a long drive. Fortunately, I arrived right before 10:00AM which meant that one of the monks’ prayer times was about to start, followed by Mass. When I went inside the church, I noticed that it was filled with guys who I assumed to be part of the camp out. After Mass, I introduced myself, and followed them back to the camp.

On the grounds of the monastery, there are many areas. I’m still discovering new ones despite having been to Clear Creek a few times! The camp out was located at Eagle’s Nest, a large open field about a 15-20 minute walk from the monastery itself. It’s named after the bald eagle’s nests that are in the nearby trees. Driving there was a great challenge because the recent rains had muddied the roads, and the front entrance to the field at Eagle’s Nest was a muddy mess. Honestly, looking back, I’m surprised my little Civic made it through.

Once at the camp, I met more guys. Much of the time was spent avoiding the rain, avoiding being cold, and playing card games. Someone had brought in Saint Cards, and The Catholic Card Game, which were both really fun!

Thankfully the rain let up a bit later in the afternoon. I set up my tent during a momentary pause of the rain.

We later gathered at the monastery to hear a talk by one of the monks on St. Thomas Aquinas. I had no idea that St. Thomas Aquinas had a little bit of time as a Benedictine before becoming Dominican! From the monk’s talk, we learned about St. Thomas Aquinas as a man of virtue and intellect, and how his example can inspire our own lives.

Dinner that night was fish tacos cooked on the campfire with a glorious jalapeno mix, topped with some sort of fruit that I can’t quite remember at this point.

After dinner, we were joined by a priest and another gentleman who were helping with the youth chant camp (yes, that’s a thing) at the monastery to sing Irish folk songs while we enjoyed drinks and the warmth of the campfire.

I think I went to bed a little earlier than most because I was tired waking up early, driving 5 hours, and being active all day.

Saturday

Thankfully, I didn’t wake up soaking wet. If anything, it was cold. My tent’s rain protector flap thingie was effective against whatever precipitation may have fallen during the night. I recall waking up around 4:00AM or 5:00AM and attempted trying to go back to sleep, kind of unsuccessfully.

We had daily Mass held at the camp, because of one of the attendees is a Catholic priest, although I didn’t know that until he celebrated the Mass. He didn’t have his collar on while wearing street clothes! Lol.

Bacon, eggs, and coffee were patiently anticipated and consumed for breakfast after Mass. At the same time, our camp cook was also preparing half of a whole pig to be cooked/smoked over the campfire all day. The half pig was 65 lbs!

Gloriously, the day was utterly beautiful and decently warm. I took the opportunity after Mass to go take a shower in one of the lodging buildings the monks have a ways from their monastery. I actually started to walk there, but another guy saw me attempting to cross muddy paths and offered me a ride in his pickup truck.

After showering, I headed back to camp to hang out for a while. They made a call for guys wanting to go eat lunch with the monks, and I was encouraged to go because I was from out of town. Honestly, since I’ve eaten with the monks several times in the past, I didn’t feel the need to go especially if there were other guys who have never experienced it before. But, I got to go. We decided to walk together.

Gosh, I don’t remember what exactly we ate. I think it was hardboiled eggs over veggie ratatouille with soup and bread. And some sort of raisin bread pudding. All very good, despite strange combinations and simplicity.

When lunch finished, I stuck around the monastery for most of the afternoon in order to spend time praying and journaling in the church.

I also hit up the monastery’s gift shop afterwards. I bought myself a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict, and a zippered/covered Bible (RSV-CE) that’s smaller in size knowing that it would be great to bring with me when traveling. Haha, I also listed books I saw in the gift shop that I eventually wanted to read.

Leaving the gift shop, I attempted at returning back to camp using the shortcut we had utilized prior to lunch, but I missed a turn somewhere, and I ended up in some far end of the monastery grounds with a lot of abandoned equipment and objects. Yikes! I was stressin’ out because I was kind of lost somewhere on monastery property, and I didn’t have much time to spare before the live podcast recording was supposed to happen.

After some futile attempts at trying to re-find the shortcut route, I made the decision to head back to the monastery and walk the long way back to camp.

Thankfully…when I arrived at the monastery, the hosts of TCMS had just pulled up into the parking lot to pick up Fr. Nesbit, the guest of the episode. I followed them back to the gift shop to pick them up, and hitched a ride with them. I couldn’t be late for the recording if I were with those who are supposed to be recording, right??? Haha.

I’m not gonna lie, it was kind of a surreal moment for me as a fan of the show because I was in a pickup truck with the hosts and with a monk!

We arrived back at the camp, they got set up, and we had ourselves a live recording of The Catholic Man Show. You can listen to it here or watch the YouTube here.

After the recording, we hung around for a long while waiting for the pig to be done and dinner to be served. Some guys wanted to climb the bluffs adjacent to Eagle’s Nest, and I joined in. It was a short hike across the creek (which really is clear!), and up the hill with no marked trails. The views were beautiful!

We could see our camp, nearby hills/bluffs, and the creek running across. Just before the sun set below the horizon, I left to go back to camp because I didn’t really want to navigate the way down when it got dark.

More waiting around, and dinner was ready! And it was absolutely delicious! The pig was perfection, the veggies were delicious, and the baked potatoes were great as well!

After dinner, we also had a whiskey tasting of a good handful of different whiskeys and scotches from Ireland, Scotland, and local. Good times! I think my mouth still burns with the peat-packed flavor of Laphroaig! Which is fine because we saved that one for last so as not to ruin our palates!

More Irish folk songs and singing. We also built up the camp fire to be more of a bonfire to burn our extra wood and trash. It got very hot at one point, but quite necessary because it had gotten quite cold.

I eventually retired to my tent, but at that point in the night, the cold was quite noticeable, and I knew from checking the weather the day before (when I had cell reception), that it would freeze overnight. Yikes.

Did I bring enough stuff to keep warm? I basically had two layers of clothes, and I brought in most of the blankets from my car to cover myself up or to stuff my sleeping bag with me in it.

Sunday

I woke up a few times early in the morning. Primarily because I really had to pee. I had to carefully discern whether I risked getting super cold and go outside to take care of business or suffer through a full bladder and stay in my sleeping bag. I decided to suck it up and go outside. It was so. freakin’. cold. Frost had settled on everything. My only consolation for going outside was, besides an empty bladder, was a clear sky with many stars visible. Way more than I can see at home in the city.

Sometime after the sun came out, I left my tent to go near the fire. Thankfully, other guys were out and about with some making coffee. I realized that in a camping context, there are a lot of options to make coffee! The camp fire had also mostly died down and so it took some effort to rekindle it with new wood.

Breakfast was chorizo and eggs with tortillas, and that was quite scrumptious!

After breakfast, I started packing a little, and undoing my tent enough to dry it out because things started melting once the sun came out.

We all got ready for High Mass at 10AM, and attended it. I felt a little awkward because I didn’t give myself good enough time to dress a little nicer for it. And I also felt like I smelled a bit too much like camp fire and chorizo. That’s why at Mass, I sat in the back…lol.

Returning back to camp after Mass, I pretty much packed my stuff, said my goodbyes, and headed out. I did stop by the gift shop one more time in order to purchase a sliced block of cheese from the monks because I’d heard good(a) things about it.

First thing in the early afternoon, I was on my way back home. More podcast episodes.

Stats and Achievements

• Total Cost = ~$200 (~$30 for food, ~$45 for gas, ~$100 for misc. costs)
• 1x monk gouda cheese bought
• 17x times Yeti Rambler 10 oz used for various drinks: cold, hot, dry, smooth
• 10x whiskeys sampled (in moderation)
• 0x times vehicle stuck in mud
• 2x yellow cards won in The Catholic Card Game
• 45 minutes wandering around lost
• 5x Irish folk songs joined in
• 1x meal with the monks
• 1x shower over 2.5 days
• 2x Liturgy of the Hours attended at the monastery
• 3x Masses attended (1 at camp, 2 at the monastery)

Response

My biggest takeaway from this camp out had little to do with the camp out. I’ve been dealing with several burdens for multiple months now, and because of grad school, I haven’t had too much of an opportunity to process or deal with those burdens. The road trips to and from the monastery were very awesome for me because I worked on my podcast episode backlog. But! I kid you not–it was the perfect combination of podcast episodes across different Catholic podcasts with just the right topics almost specifically dealing with my burdens! Praise be to God! Like, what are the odds??? Now that I’m writing this post a month after the fact, I definitely feel that I experienced some healing just from listening to those podcasts and encountering the Lord in prayer at the monastery. My goal is to remember the lessons I learned listening to those podcast episodes in case I start feeling burdened again.

The other major takeaway I had from this weekend was the importance of male fellowship. I made a handful of new friends, and it was very awesome to be surrounded by guys who take their faith seriously as we enjoyed each others company, great food, great drinks, fire, being with the monks, enduring rain and frost, Irish folk songs, and many other things too! Now that I’m Facebook friends with some of them, I hope to keep the conversation going or to at least maintain contact until next time we meet! I’m also re-inspired to create enough community to have a consistent young men’s group at my own parish.

So this camp out also happened while I was in grad school. I made sure to get ahead enough in my homework to be able to turn them in early so that I didn’t have to worry about turning them in at the camp out where cell phone reception and Internet connectivity is very spotty at best. But, in going to this camp out with grad school going on, I think I proved to myself that I can squeeze in a pilgrimage even if my life is already super busy with other things. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time.

In case you missed the links earlier, listen or watch the podcast episode that we live recorded this weekend:

Listen here: The Catholic Man Show Episode 132

Watch here:

 

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