For what it's worth,
this is the knife I bought when I was your age, a
Buck 105. Still have it, some 30 years later. It has field dressed and butchered deer, cleaned bunches of fish, prepped a lot of meals, and whacked a lot of bushes. I used to carry that along with a
Schrade Old Timer. I still have both knives and still take the 105 when I'm out camping.
As to the 10-inch Bowie, I say carry what you like. Let experience be your guide. Maybe your camping experience will tell you useful things about the Bowie, like how well it carries, and how well it does for you the things you need a knife to do.
Nowadays my camping is limited to occasions few and far between, and for hikes and jaunts (yeah, short ones) I usually carry a fully serrated Spyderco Snap-It (discontinued, but a fun gift from a friend, usually clipped to a camera bag), and a Cold Steel Voyager XL (usually clipped to my front pocket).
That said, what I carry depends almost entirely on how long I'll be carrying it, under what conditions I'll carry it, what I need it to do, and whether or not I like carrying and using it. Most days outside, that's the Voyager, and it's usually carried in conjunction with another, smaller, knife of some sort, usually a Swiss Army knife.
Meanwhile, here's hoping that your camping trip proves fun, safe, educational, and entertaining. Let us know what you carried and how it worked out!
