Description
This article is from the Outdoor
Activities for Young Children FAQ, by Gloria Logan
glogan@atk.com with numerous contributions by others.
54 CANOEING: Canoe Camping second post
A while back (a loonnngggg while back) I posted some questions about
canoe tripping with children. I received not many answers, but a bunch
of requests to know how it went. Thought I'd send a synopsis of the
trip.
First of, let me say it was GREAT! We had a wonderful time, and our 2
yr 6 month old, loved it! We canoed the Allagash Wilderness Waterway
from Indian Pond to Allagash. This is much more "urban" a trip then
we're used too. It has established campsites and Dept. of Conservation
campus along the way. We're used to trips were you don't see another
human life form the entire time. We chose this trip because of this
"urban" (I know I'm using this term very loosely) feature and its
proximity to home. We planned the trip so that if the first few days
didn't work out, we'd just get go back to the car and go home. After
that we were committed to the river and had to go to Allagash.
I read Kate Gregory's Canoe Camping with Kids post before we left and
we took a few ideas from that. We tried an umbrella for Erica but
because she sat in front of my husband that didn't work out. He didn't
have room to switch his paddle and wasn't able to see well. Instead,
I made a sun/rain hood based on the Tough Traveler's backpack sun/rain
hood. The two sides attached to the thwarts and made a neat little
tent that Erica could get out from under when she wanted to stay under
if she wanted. We made "tent pole" kind of deals that kept the hood
pitched at the peak about 1.5 feet above the gunwales.
For Erica's seat we had a small plastic and canvas director chair. Ron
attached two fasteners to the bottom of the canoe so that we could
strap it in to keep it from shifting around. Within the first 5
minutes in the boat Erica asked to sit on the floor instead of in the
chair. We had an extra life jacket she sat on. We did use the chair
when it rained heavily (which it did for two days) just to keep her up
off the floor. She also used it in the campsites a lot so it didn't
end up being baggage.
For entertainment, I brought a little backpack that I put a couple
of cars in, Erica's "Kara Baby", Kara baby's bottle and Kara baby's
blanket (which is a diaper). This is a very small doll Erica has had
since she was 1. I included some fake binoculars, a notebook and
waterproof pens, books, a teddy bear that was dispensible, and
some rubber bendable toys. She played with the doll and the fake
binoculars pretty much exclusively when she was awake. The canoe
had some kind of a hynotic effect on her. She slept quite a lot
or just relaxed against the packs looking asleep but with her
eyes open. For whatever reason, Erica almost never hung over the
sides or tossed things over the side. We think her little hood
kept her from leaning out too much. She seemed to like having
a "nest." She did adopt a stick at one campsite that was once
a pony, then a paddle, then a fishing rod. The stick she played
with over the side some.
Erica had a blast in the campsites. She found a stump, some sticks,
rocks and her baby and played away. We also took our labrador
retriever on this trip and they had a great time together. Erica
threw rocks in the water and Cloie (the dog) dove for them.
Amazingly Erica ate better camping then at home. I was worried about
that since we dry vegetables and tomato paste and make a lot of
dinners that are mixtures that toddlers tend not to like. Either
the fresh air or the knowledge that this was IT insured that
Erica ate very well.
In the tent we zipped our sleeping bags together and used
two thermarest pads. Instead of using the pads lengthwise,
after the first night we put them widthwise. Used lengthwise
they tended to separate and Erica would end up with only a
bit of sleeping bag between her and the tent floor. Next year she's
getting her own sleeping bag and pad. It was cozy this year.
Next year I suspect it would be crowded.
For clothing, we have found that for us, light cotton khaki
clothes are best because they dry very quickly and keep the
bugs off. Finding this type of clothing for Erica was
very difficult. I finally found in a bag of handmedowns
4 prs light cotton sheeting pants. I took three long sleeve
long underwear shirts and two t shirts for tops. She slept in
one of the long underwear tops and bottoms. I brought to bottoms
as well and was glad. I used them once under her cotton pants.
Thankfully we got enough sun and breeze to dry out after our two
rainstorms. Despite the fact we wore raingear these two
rainstorms soaked us. Now that I think of it, I've never stayed
dry while canoeing in raingear....
Raingear for Erica was tough. I finally bought rainpants (size
5) through LL Bean. I cut the length down and put a snap at the
waist.
Since Maine is having a bumper bug year, I worried and fretted before
we left about Erica being eaten alive. In preparation I bought
Green Ban bug dope, our usual skin so soft, and a pump spray bottle
of Cutters that I planned to use on her hat and clothes. I also took
some white men's cotton handerchiefs to tie around her neck. My plan
was to put bug stuff on them. This turned out to be a great idea, AND
those handerchiefs (I brought 5 since they are very small to pack)
turned out to be the greatest thing! Because I was constantly wiping
Erica's nose, or washing her face these handkerchiefs were handy! I'd
never go again without them! I had one in my pocket for her nose, one
around her neck, and one I kept with our raingear bag that I used as
her washcloth and two as backups. They dry really quickly too!
As it turned out the bugs weren't bad at all. This can be explained I
think by two days of rain and two days of stiff winds. We had some
bugs the other days, but they generally disappeared once we got a
fire started. We did find out that Chipmunks love Green Ban bug dope
and attacked about $15 worth.
We paddled some days only 2 hours and one day we paddled 8 hours. Our
plan was to keep the days short in order to keep Erica from getting
bored. After a while it seemed that she was just as happy to ride
in the canoe. This trip is a mixture of lakes and river with some
flat and some rips. The wilder the river was the more Erica liked it.
"Big waves Daddy! More big waves Mommy!" The river was never much
in terms of rips, but she loved it! Our average day was about
4 hours of paddling. This felt like a vacation!
None of my fears materialized, like constantly worrying about the
fire, being chewed alive, Erica falling overboard, or hurting
herself when medical help wasn't nearby. She was great about
the fire (I don't think she liked the smoke much so that helped
keep her away).
Guess that's about it (that's enough already Cindy)! We're really
looking forward to our next trip and will do some three day
trips in late September more than likely! I'll be glad to
share anything else we learned if anyone has specific questions!
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children, child, kid, Outdoor Activities, backpacking, ski, canoeing, biking, camping, trailer
