"Dipper! Mabel!" Stanford Pines' voice boomed across the thin walls of the Mystery Shack. "Get down here already! You're keepin' us waiting!"

"Coming!" his great-niece replied cheerfully, bounding down the stairs with a backpack swinging from her shoulders, her dark green sweater bearing a picture a of a large brown acorn. "I'm all packed. Got my bug spray, flashlight, extra socks, my camera-"

"Good, so you're packed," Stan cut her off before she could list off her entire inventory.

Mabel nodded. "And Grenda's coming by to make sure Waddles gets fed. You sure he can't come with us?"

"Mabel, I'm not gonna waste any of my energy this weekend keeping a pig from running off into the woods. The pig stays."

"Oh, fine," Mabel pouted. She climbed up onto the counter, where Wendy was leaning, her duffel bag at her feet. "You ready for a super-fun weekend of adventure?"

Wendy snorted. "Sure, but I don't think we're going to get one with Stan here. If this wasn't 'mandatory employee bonding', I'd be at home, asleep, with the air conditioning on."

"Oh, come on!" Mabel said. "You'll get to share a tent with me, you know. It'll be like a slumber party!"

"Oh boy!" Soos cried, hurrying to join the discussion. "Dude, are we gonna tell spooky ghost stories and have pillow fights and stuff?"

"Would it be a slumber party if we didn't?"

Stan grunted. "Well, we're not gonna be doin' anything 'til your brother gets down here. Dipper! Are you done yet?!"

"Just a sec!" came Dipper's voice from upstairs. The others heard some shuffling overhead, and then several loud thunks blasted for the stairwell. They hurried into the foyer, to see Dipper climbing down the steps, lugging an enormous suitcase packed so full the sides seemed ready to burst.

"Dipper, what is all that?" Stan asked.

"My luggage," Dipper said. "I'm all packed."

"Geez, kid, we're only going camping for two days." Stan reached down and unzipped one of the bag's pockets. "What is all this stuff? A flare gun? Anti-venom? And is that your sister's grappling hook?"

"Oh, yay, I've been looking for that!" Mabel gasped.

Dipper's brow furrowed into a frown. "Grunkle Stan, I've told you before, there is something really off about those woods. I've already seen enough horror stories in there to write a book."

"Sure you have, kid."

"Dipper," Wendy said, "it's not like you've never been in the woods before. You don't need to bring along the world's biggest survival kit."

"Yes, I do!" Dipper protested. "Look, those woods are filled to the brim with all sorts of strange creatures. I've seen gnomes, minotaurs, gremloblins-"

"Here we go," Stan grumbled, shaking his head.

"And that's just during the day," Dipper continued unabashed. "I don't even want to know what all goes on in that forest at night. But of course-" he shot a glare at Grunkle Stan- "I'm going to find out tonight, aren't I?"

"Ah, you'll be fine," Stan said. "This'll be good for you. A chance to connect with the great outdoors, you know? 'Sides, you need some time to get your nose out of a book."

Dipper sighed. "Fine, I'll come if you make me." He grabbed the handle of the oversized suitcase. "But I'm not repacking."

"Suit yourself," Stan said with a shrug. "You're the one who's going to have to carry it." He turned to the others. "Everyone ready? Wendy, you got our fresh water?"

"Yeah, I got 'em," she replied, slinging the large canteens across her shoulders.

"Soos, you got the tents?"

"All ready to go, Mr. Pines!"

"Good. Let's head on out!"

The party walked out of the shack, with Dipper and his enormous luggage bag bringing up the rear. They had barely been walking a minute when his arms began to grow sore, and he quickly felt a line of sweat spring up on his forehead along the brim of his cap.

"Hey, Dipper, you gotta keep up!" Stan called to him from up ahead as his nephew's suitcase got caught across a tree root.

"I'm trying," Dipper grunted.

Soos frowned in concern and doubled back to help out the younger boy. "You wanna trade, dude?" he asked. "These tents aren't as heavy as they look."

Dipper let his arms fall and sighed in relief. "Would you? Thanks, Soos."

"No problem, dude," Soos replied. He slid the two folded-up tents off his back, handed them to Dipper, and picked up the latter's bag with surprising dexterity. "Come on, let's get moving before we lose Mr. Pines."

The two of them continued walking, following the thinly worn path deeper into the woods. The tents were lighter, but the rough canvas had the unfortunate side effect of quickly covering Dipper's back in a humid perspiration.

"Campground's almost in sight," Soos said after a while, pointing ahead to a small clearing where Stan, Wendy, and Mabel had already begun to unload.

"About time," Dipper said. Suddenly, he heard a small sound in the trees off to his left. A low groaning, or maybe a growl. He whipped his head around, but he didn't see anything among the trees.

"Soos?" he said tentatively.

"Yeah, dude?"

"Did you- did you hear something?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Soos said with a frown. "Why, did you?"

Dipper glanced back. The trees stood perfectly still an innocent. He could see nothing that could have been growling. Still, he could have sworn-

"No," he said at last. "No, I must have imagined it. Let's go help set up camp."

A/N: What do you think? Should I continue? I figure at some point in the future, Gravity Falls is going to have a camping episode, but I wanted first dibs on the premise.

Update (17 June 13): Credit for the cover image goes to tumblr's Kymbo3.