How to Create Your Smoothest Family Canoe Trip Yet (Part I)

Every outdoor parent dreams of passing on their love for adventure to their children. We want them to thrill in it like we did when we were young and like we still do. We want to see the wide-eyed wonder on their faces as they look up from their phones and see some magic.

But planning a perfect trip is a daunting task. Folks may say, “There’s no such thing as a perfect canoe trip,” but that’s not going to stop us from trying, is it?

The biggest obstacle in the way of creating a smooth trip is the unknown. I don’t know what I don’t know and how am I supposed to prepare for the unknown? Well, there are a few things we can do to avoid some of the biggest pitfalls that might surprise us on a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness and Quetico Park.

Know Your Family's Goals

Everyone in your family might be hoping to get something different out of your family canoe trip. One might want to so some BWCA fishing as much as possible, someone might want to swim in a waterfall and someone else may simply  want to take a nap in a hammock at the camp site(that’s me).

Discussing everyone’s goals while you’re still in the planning phase will accomplish a few things.

1.      Everyone will be more invested in the trip if they participate in the goal setting. Knowing you’ve made the effort to include what they want will help bring them on board.

2.      They’ll be more eager to help others achieve their goals because they know it won’t be at the expense of theirs.

3.      They’ll have something to look forward to. Instead of dreading sleeping in a cold forest, they’ll look forward to that magical swim by the waterfall.

Then, once you’ve worked together to accomplish individual and family goals, your kids will start making new goals. First it will be,” Now that we’ve swam at a waterfall, I can’t wait to get back to camp and swim from shore.” Pretty soon it’ll be, “On our next camping trip I can’t wait to….” or “Next year when we come back to the Boundary Waters, I hope we can…” and BAM…they’re hooked.

For us, a really hard thing to overcome was the high level of emotion young humans can carry. It’s especially heavy when they meet disappointment. So, working with them to accomplish a few goals on each trip will very likely reduce the number of outbursts, tears and frustrations that can haunt many a family excursion.

Make Assignments

In our family, we discovered that giving our kids special jobs provided them a little bit more ownership in our trips and went a little way to keeping them occupied. Idle hands and all that.

I remember when my son was very little, his job when we got to a new campsite was to collect all the sticks. All of them. He was a very active little kid, so this was certainly, in part, a ploy to keep him busy while we set up camp. However, there were several positive side effects to the job.

A.     It needed to be done. The sticks were a tripping hazard for the little kids who liked to run pell-mell through the campsite. Also, we didn’t want to pitch our tents on top of all those sticks. The sticks could put holes in the tent and would be most unpleasant to sleep on.

B.     All the sticks and logs he found went into the campfire fund. The more he found, the better the fire would be, and the campfire has always been one of his favorite parts.

C.      He got the wiggles out. If we’d been hiking or paddling all day, I guarantee he had some stored-up energy that needed to be vented. Without something constructive to do, he’d have certainly found something destructive to do.

D.     He became invested in the campsite. If we were there for the week, he spent time every day looking for more wood and sticks for the fire. Thus, leaving the campsite cleaner than when we found it.

Jobs, of course, can vary depending on the ages and abilities of your kids, but here’s a few ideas:

·      Helping set up the tents (my granddaughter loves pounding in the stakes)

·      Finding the toilet, or clearing a place for the toilet if your campsite doesn’t come pre-toileted.

·      Cleaning the canoes

·      Gathering firewood

·      Exploring the area

·      Looking for berries (to be used in pancakes, mmmm)

·      Helping set up the food prep area

·      Help get the next meal ready

·      Gather all the skipping rocks into one spot

·      Set up that hammock

It’s also important to make sure there’s a reason for the job. Kids know when you’re just trying to get them out of the way, and I know you didn’t drag them all the way out to the middle of the woods to get them out of the way. You want them to be involved as much as possible even if that means more work for you. Remember, the goal is to teach them to love the outdoors.

Today's Conclusion

The bottom line is, as parents, we may not know everything that is going to happen on these trips. The unexpected things of the universe can surprise us for the good or the awful. But we know our family. We know what they are like, and we know what things they like and how to get them like the things we want them to like.

The biggest key to our love of the outdoors becoming contagious is some high-quality preparation. Doing what you can to remove the speed bumps before your trip even begins will guarantee a smoother journey.