This particular family had worked its way up from camping in the backyard, to a car camping location, then finally to a backpacking situation. We were quick to agree to join them, and the preparation odyssey was on.
Widgeon Slough
First, the research. Not much was written on the location, although there was enough information on the Internet to be helpful. It would take 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to paddle to the campsite across Grant Narrows. The trek to Widgeon Falls would take one hour, and the extremely painful hike to Widgeon Lake would be impossible (10K). Mosquitoes would be plentiful, as the area is a slough. The monopoly on canoes belongs to Ayla Canoe Rentals, located precisely where a person would want to launch for this trip, at an exorbitant price. A rental from MEC would be much cheaper, but would be inconvenient and impossible for those without a roof rack. Winds kick up in the late afternoon, creating whitecaps and making it harrowing for novice paddlers. Some paddlers have experienced other people "borrowing" their canoes while they left their canoes unattended. The campsite tends to be overcrowded in the summer.
Gear Budget
Next, gear preparation. I think we went to MEC at least five times to buy more equipment, and to exchange equipment for other equipment. The children had never been camping before, so the gear list was extensive and eventually cost us an estimated $1000. We figured this was reasonable because we remembered spending at least that much ourselves for each adult when we first bought equipment for backpacking. We even had to buy clothing for the kids because we know how uncomfortable wet cotton can be on a hike. It never dries, and wet socks make for a blistery time.
Clothing
The racks were already bare of the right sizes. I bought their clothing a few sizes too big. Maybe a mistake because already their NoZone sun shirts are showing a lot of wear from only a few wearings. Their Bug Shirts are roomy, maybe a little too roomy. The smallest size available for hiking boots ($60) is a 10, and my almost five year old's feet are a 9.0. We bought them anyway. We also bought synthetic hiking socks. Cotton is a complete no-no for camping and hiking since when it gets wet, it stays wet. Mini Outdoor Research hats are nearly the same price as the adult versions! We bought them anyway. They are highly recommended for being waterproof, keeping their shape, and floating! Ideal for paddling.
Sleeping Bag
The hardest decision was which sleeping bag to buy. Books recommended a synthetic bag for children since kids, ahem, pee in their bags. Cleaning would be easier. So, I set my mind on a synthetic mummy bag, adult size. Talking to a human being at MEC influenced me to buy the MEC Krib, a kid-size synthetic barrel bag, for $40. Rationale being, they would squirm out of it and never sleep in it anyway. It would be warm enough for our summer alpine overnighters, even though it is only rated at +5C.
After speaking to a friend, I had my original beliefs reinforced. So I went into return the MEC Kribs and buy two synthetic mummy bags, adult size. Lugging the bags home, and hefting their 1.8 kg, we then changed our minds again. We could not possibly backpack these huge and bulky things around. We returned those bags and bought down mummy bags, the fluffy as a cloud and trendy chartreuse MEC Habanero, rated to -7C.
We also bought two Thermarests, but bought the MEC brand instead of the Thermarest brand. Thermarests are self-inflating foam mattresses that you place under your sleeping bag. They make a huge difference in comfort. When I first went camping, I brought an air mattress, which proceeded to deflate through the night so some time in the night I ended up sleeping on the ground--a cold and miserable experience. A cheaper alternative is the blue foam pad, but it does not compact as much and we intended to use the gear for backcountry camping in the future, meaning weight and volume would be an issue in our backpacks.
Tent
I spent the most time trying to decide what to do about the tent. We already owned the Sierra Designs Outlook, a 3-person tent. We could actually fit all four of us in the tent as is, and we set it up in the living room to experiment. My youngest could fit across the head area, with lots of room to spare. It would be uncomfortably tight, though. Meanwhile, I scoured through craigslist daily, looking for the ultimate tent deal. No dice. Lots of cheap tents were selling, often in the two man or monster size category, at 50% off retail. Many tents in packages, brand new, were available. Hmmmm. What's up with that? I never found anything worth buying through craigslist. I tried http://www.costco.ca/, but they sold out of the right size just when we were getting serious about buying. Coast Mountain's website was being revamped and was unavailable. While looking for Sierra Designs tents, I found a Surrey store, Skyview Camping, that I never knew about (http://www.skyviewcamping.com/). Canadian Tire had a large selection of car camping tents in the monster category, as well as the full range of other sizes. The one I wanted, a two room with screened room in front, was on sale at $100 off $300, but when I got serious about buying, jumped back to regular price. A bit of a turn-off now, to think that I'm paying $100 more for waiting a week to decide on it. Wracked with indecision, we finally decided to rent a Wanderer 4 from MEC with the option to put that rental money toward a purchase later.
When we rented the tent and practised pitching it in our backyard, I discovered: 1) plentiful sand and dirt on the floor, making my almost five year old declare it too dirty to sit in; and 2) a mummified, stiff and browned pair of blue stripe toddler socks, still preserved in the accordion "just took them off" state. Yech! There was an unidentified brown stain on the light wall of the tent, and all the tent pegs were bent and twisted out of shape. I managed to pitch the tent in 5 minutes by myself without instructions, but my husband later pointed out that the vestibule was on the wrong side, as the rental clerk advised him that the waterproof side was to be the entrance, not the vestibule (which I thought was a natural to cover the entrance).
At the end of the Widgeon trip, we decided to buy the Wanderer. We were miffed that MEC would only apply the cost of one night's rental, and not the two we paid for, toward the purchase of a new one. We made this decision despite the problems with the zippers catching on the flaps, and the rental tent leaking water through the floor even though the ground conditions were completely dry! From the stats, it was the lightest tent and had the best floor, and, at the lowest $249, it as a no-brainer. We compensated for the leaking floor by buying a groundsheet. We take comfort in MEC's policy to take back just about anything for any reason. We love MEC.
Mosquito Repellent
Citronella or DEET? I loathed the idea of coating the children's bodies with DEET and then possibly swimming in the water with the DEET greeting the fish. I remembered the time in the Everglades that I coated my legs with 70% DEET and was rewarded with the imprint of the shopping bag logo on my skin where the bag touched my leg as I was sitting in the car. There was an interesting chart which compared the number of minutes that various mosquito repellents protected against mosquito bites. Skin-so-soft was not terribly effective, and neither was Citronella, but at least I could reapply Natrapel (available at MEC, 10% Citronella) every 20 minutes and we would be okay... it was an impractical but healthier choice. If I had found soy oil available, I supposed it should have been the first choice, but I never saw any at MEC.
Here is a very useful table provided by the University of Florida IFAS Extension:
Products
|
Active Ingredient
|
Average Complete Protection Time
|
OFF! Deep Woods
|
23.8% DEET
|
5 hours
|
Sawyer Controlled Release
|
20% DEET
|
4 hours
|
OFF! Skintastic
|
6.65% DEET
|
2 hours
|
Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent
|
Oil of lemon eucalyptus;p-menthane 3,8-diol (PMD)
|
2 hours
|
Bite Blocker for Kids
|
2% Soybean Oil
|
1.5 hours
|
OFF! Skintastic for Kids
|
4.75% DEET
|
1.5 hours
|
Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus
|
7.5% IR3535
|
23 minutes
|
Natrapel
|
10% Citronella
|
20 minutes
|
Herbal Armor
|
12% Citronella; 2.5% peppermintoil; 2% cedar oil; 1% lemongrass oil;
0.05% geranium oil
|
19 minutes
|
Green Ban for People
|
10% Citronella; 2% peppermint oil
|
14 minutes
|
Buzz Away
|
5% Citronella
|
14 minutes
|
Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard
|
0.1% Citronella
|
10 minutes
|
Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil
|
Active Ingredient not known
|
10 minutes
|
Skin-So-Soft Moisturizing Suncare
|
0.05% Citronella
|
3 minutes
|
Gone Original Wristband
|
9.5% DEET
|
0
|
Repello Wristband
|
9.5% DEET
|
0
|
Gone Plus Repelling Wristband
|
25% Citronella
|
0
|
At the end of the trip, here was the mosquito bite score: Dad 2, Mom 7, Kid#1 0, Kid#2 0. It wasn't the bug shirts that helped, since Mom and Dad were bitten in the only areas exposed: face, neck, hands, ankles (and thighs for when Mom went for an al fresco bathroom stop). We didn't use the Natrapel except at dinner, when we spent lots of time standing around. Foolish mom. I read that children aren't as attractive to mosquitoes due to their small size, and thus low CO2 output, etc. I also dressed the children in light colours. Well, at the least the kids were protected.
Whistle, Headlamps, Hydration
We read that the most important things to buy for the children are: a whistle to blow if lost, a personal headlamp, and a hydration system. We bought all three. Our youngest enjoyed the hydration system so much that she drank 500 ml of water in a few hours, and had to pee TWICE enroute to Widgeon, resulting in two messy roadside stops for the one hour drive. Our oldest complained that the bite valve tasted "yucky" so I smelled it: definitely a strong synthetic stinkiness. She never drank from it after that. As for the headlamps, the kids found creative ways of wearing the stretchy headband. Did you know you can wear the LED light as a bellybutton or as a Rudolph nose?
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