Earlier in the spring, I had been talking to the kids about backpacking and potential backpacking trips that I'd like to take them on. I love backpacking because you can visit some very remote places, away from roads and cars. Places that few people are willing to visit, or ever see. I wanted to take them on a trip that would be fun, but give them a taste of what backpacking is all about. The Daddy & Kids Canoe campout was the perfect opportunity. We paddled in last year, but decided to mix things up this year with backpacking in.
On our way to the trailhead at Great Pond Mountain Preserve, we stopped by McDonalds to load up on provisions. We got to the trailhead by sunset, and began our hike. It got dark very quickly, and found ourselves hiking under the milky way. The kids clung closer to me, particularly Finn. Questions about wild animals, and Bigfoot came up. Finn's curiosity kept him asking questions, while Madie was on the other side of the coin saying "Okay, you can stop talking about that now!" Though she wouldn't admit it, she was a little scared too.
We had a map, and knew where we were going...until we missed the fork. We must have overshot it by a half a mile, but figured out we were a bit off, then got back on the correct path. The kids were a little concerned that we had turned around, and thought we were lost. I tried to calm them down by saying, "That's the great thing about backpacking, we have everything we need right on our backs!" An hour later, we arrived at camp and had s'mores. We set up our hammocks to avoid a blood clot from sleeping on a 30 degree slope. Why this spot was chosen, I have no idea! It works, but tent camping with 25+ people is quite rough. We wised up this year with the hammocks, but I'm still trying to figure out how to sleep in a hammock (I usually only manage 2-3 hours of sleep per night).
At the start...
The previous photo was too serious...let's spice things up.
Everyone else canoed in, including a family that used ours. It was nice, because we still took it out for a canoe ride. The morning was gorgeous.
Poor Finn woke up with some sort of rash. Not sure what it was, but it seemed to be connected to stress or anxiety, because it was gone after 24 hours. He seemed to have fun though!
The colors were incredible.
It's always fun to walk back the next day in the light so you can see all of the things you walked by. There were a few swamps where beavers lived along the trail. When we walked by in the dark, they would slap their tails against the water to warn us away. It was alarming in the dark when you least expected it.
These Happy Meal cameras were a huge hit at the campout.
Madie didn't want to look at the camera, at all.
Both kids had a good experience, overall. I think we have more trips in the future!
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