Gearing up for camping

It all started with an invitation: another family asked us if we would like to join them on their canoe trip to Widgeon Lake, in Pitt Meadows. It would entail an overnight stay in the campground.

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?

Eating Lead Paint: It Still Happens

Argh. My 3 year old has eaten the blue paint off her Hello Kitty McDonald's toy. As a concerned mother, I try to email McDonald's Canada to ask whether they know what is in the paint. Pointedly, there is no email address listed anywhere on the McDonald's website. The U.S. has a special email centre, but there are no email centres in any other countries. Hmmm.

Okay, now to the good old telephone. The woman receiving my call silkenly reassures me that all McDonald's toys are thoroughly tested for safety. I tell her that I am worried about the possibility that as the toy is made in China, that there might be lead in the paint. Finally, she says that it is not possible for this to happen in Canada, that lead paint would not be allowed in Canada. I then told her that there have been cases of children's jewellery containing high levels of lead, causing serious health problems in children who suck on their necklaces. If you have a small child, you know that children put everything in their mouths. She finally placated me by saying that she would take my telephone number and make an inquiry about it.

I did a quick internet search to confirm what I had told her. As recently as July 5, 2007, there was a recall of children's jewellery for lead content, http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/recalls/2007/07/childrens_metal_jewelry_recall.html. Here is an article from the American Academy of Pediatrics on a case of lead poisoning from a toy necklace: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/114/4/1096.pdf Also, there was a recall of Thomas the Tank Engine toys only a month ago for lead paint. See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11271805 And now, not even Disney goods are safe from dispensing lead paint: http://www.babycenter.com/news/?id=101768&scid=pcbulletin:20070723:0:0:0#story . You'd think it would be common sense for manufacturers to consider making children's toys safe for... children.

It would be naive as to believe that you and your children are protected by the government against hazards so well established as lead poisoning. Cases of actual lead poisoning are not uncommon, and you are foolish to assume that you are protected simply because you live in the U.S. or Canada.

Lead poisoning is a result of the cumulative ingestion of lead, through sources as wide ranging as playground paint chips, old paint in home interiors, lead miniblinds, and... toys and jewellery. A cumulative amount as small as one tenth of a square inch of lead paint (the size of a pencil eraser head), depending on the concentration of lead in the paint, of course, will result in blood levels of lead exceeding what is considered safe in children. "Sustained blood lead levels have been linked with behavior and learning problems, damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth, and hearing problems."-- Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Conclusion to the story: Beryl from McDonald's called me back the same day that I made my inquiry and said, "I'm happy to advise you that there is no metal in the paint. This becomes a part of the testing that has to meet all standards set for Canada by the safety commission." I told her about Thomas the Tank Engine, and she asked me whether the recall was for Canada. Yes, it was. My friend's Thomas toys were part of the recall, and the toys were purchased in Canada. She also offered to have a safety tester from McDonald's labs call me to speak to me about the toy. She assured me that noone else has complained about the Hello Kitty toys. I told her that they were only recently released. She said the actual date was July 6. Okay, I stand corrected. I guess 19 days ago is not considered recent. I was most concerned about the amount of paint that was removed through a "normal" mouthing of the toy by a preschooler.

I have to say that I am impressed with this follow-up call and the offer to have a lab tech speak to me. Now, do I take her word for it, or do I have the lab tech call me?

Green thoughts

Finally, after six months, my copy of an Inconvenient Truth was ready for pickup at the library. As I folded mountains of warm laundry, I listened to Al's soothing voiceover and watched his famous powerpoint demonstration. My husband did not even bother to join me on the couch, but remained glued to his computer. I think both of us are smug because we feel that we are already sensitive to green issues. I thought I was immune, but instead I just became more guilty about not doing more.



My husband has threatened to buy a minivan to accommodate the butts of any visiting or local grandparents who may happen to need a ride while in town. I've always believed that you should buy a vehicle for its main use, not for the 10% of the time, or the 36.5 days of the year, that you have secondary use for the vehicle. Why buy a SUV when you have never left a paved road in your life, or a minivan when most of the time it's only your family of four, or even worse, just you alone driving the bus?



I do admit, however, that cramming my butt between two child car seats has been an excruciating experience, whenever we are taking a fifth passenger. The problem is that I can't justify driving around a behemoth of a vehicle on a daily basis when the majority of the time, there are only three passengers during the week and four on weekends (and two of them under 40 pounds).



All this made me look into hybrid minivans. Toyota, which has been producing a hybrid minivan since 2001, has not provided any clear indications of when they will be exporting such a vehicle to the North American market. I am guessing as long as people continue to buy the Toyota Sienna, why bother shooting yourself in the foot and sell a model to compete with it, with a lower profit margin. Either that, or some Toyota executive is under a death threat from some hitman for an oil company to stop exporting the hybrids or else... Many people writing in on the issue who propose that with the elevated cost for hybrids, that they are not worth the financial savings, fail to see the reason why some of us want to buy a hybrid. It is not to save money. It is out of environmental awareness. How about a greener planet for our children?



Already, this year I invested in buying a Chariot XL bicycle trailer. In it I can take both of my children up until the age of 7, rain or shine, and pull them behind my mighty mountain bike. Two days of the week, I don't even use my car, thanks to the Chariot. My husband commutes to work on his bicycle, rain or shine, year round. When I'm lugging almost 100 pounds of trailer and fruit of my flesh, I'm getting fit and keeping my conscience clear.



It would be so much easier to be on my bicycle all the time if I didn't have the temptation of a car hulking in my garage, at my disposal, ready to follow my every command. Why can't I drive the three blocks to the library like everyone else without feeling guilty that the bicycle trailer is watching me, ready to swallow up the 95 books I am returning if I would only give it a chance? So what if my children whine and fight in the trailer when it's hot outside, especially when I'm taking waaaaaay too long to climb the hill back from preschool to home? A 5-minute drive easily turns into a 15-minute sweat fest on the bicycle. Being green is inconvenient, that's the truth.