Mother and Son Trip

With  few days left before we head out on our big adventure, I took advantage of this time to take my son on an overnight canoe trip.  It had to be close, short, and minimal to easy portaging and canoeing.  This would be his first time canoeing in the bow of our canoe, and my first time taking him on a canoe trip alone.

Insert mini story here… LOL

This trip definitely had its ups and downs! If you follow me on Instagram (sue_squared), then you would have seen my disaster with my sunglasses. We were on our second lake when I swatted away some of the deer flies around my face and head….. that’s when I flicked my glasses and off they flew into the lake.  I sadly watched them sink quickly. They were gone! I swore up and down like nothing else, back paddled a bit, but they were done.  The lake has eaten them up.  These weren’t ordinary sunglasses either, they were my prescription sunglasses! It’s a good thing I had my regular glasses in my dry bag. I just hadn’t put the strap on them yet, but I immediately did so with my regular glasses. I was not going to lose them too.

Anyways, I digress to the bad, let’s go back to the actual good  of the trip.

Wednesday

I had gathered most gear the night before so I had very little to do Wednesday morning. I packed up the barrel and had to use an extra backpack for the remainder of the gear, loaded the canoe and we headed on our way. 

At the put in, we noticed this pump on the side. Figured it was used for gathering water for something, just wasn’t sure what. Hayden was saying it looks like a fire hose. We quickly loaded the canoe and started this journey. We have been here a few times now, so Hayden even knew where on the lake we were headed.

It’s a short paddle to the first portage, and I decided to double carry the gear since I wasn’t sure if I could carry both the barrel and the canoe together on one trip.  I had not yet tried it with our boat and this is a very rocky portage, so I didn’t want it to fail here.

We made quick work on this portage and headed into Puzzle Lake. We had one more portage to do before getting on Loyst.  This… this is where I lost my sunglasses. I was so angry that I didn’t take anymore pictures from here to our site.  I think even Hayden realized how angry I was! (yes I may have been swearing a whole bunch!)

It took us about an hour of paddling and portaging to get to the site of our choice.  With little help from Hayden (ya, he’s 9, but loves to play and not really set up camp), I set up the hammocks, tent, barrel hang, and organized a bunch of other gear.  I had to eventually get him to help gather fire wood as we needed it to cook supper. No there is  not a fire ban here, I even checked with Ontario Parks and also surrounding county information. There was just a ban on open fires, campfires were good to go. Knowing this I did take precautions and kept the fire small.

Hayden decided to do some fishing while I was organizing, but I had to stop every now and again to either unhook the line that was stuck on the rocks, or help him get fish off the hook.  Eventually I told him enough as it was not helping me get things organized and it meant our swim wouldn’t happen.  With that he helped out a bit around camp. LOL. Bargaining tips for later!!!

We headed out in the canoe to the cliffs on the opposite side of the lake. I knew we could jump into the water safely and I was needing a swim.  The water was beautiful and warm!  Plus the canoe looked really pretty resting up along the cliffs :).

At this point, it was getting later in the evening and we had to cook supper.  I got Hayden to break up the firewood into smaller pieces while I prepped our pizza.  This is a favorite meal of ours and so easy to prep and cook on the fire. Supper was ready in no time and Hayden used the barrel as a seat next to the make shift bench on the site.

After eating we headed out in the canoe to do some fishing. I have only one pole, but brought along my UST fishing kit to try.  It had some hooks and weights, and the line was attached to one of those kite string things (see picture below). On my first “cast” which was just dropping the line into the water, I caught this little fish. WOW, didn’t actually think I would catch anything, but it worked. I guess it’s really meant for those survival situations, but it was good for me. Plus I really just paddled and watched Hayden catch fish all night.

He actually did quite well and was even taking the fish off the hook himself. As the sun started to get lower, I was able to get this picture of our site being lit up by the setting sun. It was a gorgeous night.

Hayden decided to take control of the boat (as best as he could) and paddle us towards the little island that is on this lake.  As we got closer, he noticed a heron on the island.  We circumnavigated the lake quietly and whispered to each other.  He wanted to get really close to see it.  This was a wonderful moment and Hayden was in awe at how close we were able to get before the heron flew away.

With the sun getting really low, we headed back to the site for a little campfire and relaxation. This was the first time I was able to enjoy my hammock, even if it was just for a few minutes. During the campfire, we could hear rustling in the bushes… now if you know me, I hate nighttime wildlife encounters.  Raccoons are not my friend and I really didn’t want to have to chase any tonight.  However, after looking around we saw a beaver! It was munching on small trees. PHEW. With this behind us, we headed to bed. I find I don’t sleep well on the first night of a trip, and with this being only a one nighter I knew I was doomed.  I kept waking up to Hayden’s every move, thinking he needed something.  7 am couldn’t come fast enough.

Thursday

Morning finally came and the lake was once again beautiful. It was really hard to capture, but this lake has such a lovely color when it’s calm.

Before I had exited the tent, Hayden was out in his hammock and then catching fish. I had to once again try to untangle a line.  This time it didn’t happen. It was stuck good and we had to say goodbye to my hook and line. So no more fishing.  I started to prep breakfast, which was chocolate chip pancakes. I had gotten Hayden’s pancake cooked, started mine, and then the fuel ran out! I knew this little stove’s fuel tank was getting low, but I  thought I would have enough to get two pancakes cooked. Nope!

I sat there looking at my unfinished pancake when Hayden started to prep a fire in the pit.  He said “Don’t worry mommy, we will get a fire going so you can finish cooking it”.  So I threw him a fire starter stick and he built a fire. I helped him light it, but he did all the other work.  Within a couple minutes we had enough flame for me to finish my pancake. This is where he melted my heart. He said “See mommy, don’t quit”. Awe.. I sat in silence eating my campfire cooked pancake and was a little sad we had to leave.

With all the gear finally packed, we headed back to our vehicle. I tried once again to get some pictures of the color of the lake. Really, I think you have to see it for yourself.

One the two portages I decided to try carrying the canoe with the barrel.  I was happy that it was a success.  There was some noise as things were getting bumped around, which was probably my bear spray hitting something, but I could easily carry both.  Having a yoke would have made my Kawartha trip easier as I could have single carried my gear on the portages.

With both portages done, Hayden was pooped.  He did great though, despite me having to yell at him a few times to hurry up and get back to carry more gear!  He didn’t like that my water bottle strap was broken which made it difficult to carry.

At the take out, we were greeted by some crazy activity.  There was an Ontario Parks boat and two staff members going in to check out some stuff and then the fire hose set up finally got its story.  There were multiple fire and rescue trucks coming to fill their tanks with water from the creek. I guess this is how the area deals with possible fire fighting issues. There are not many hydrants in the country!

As we drove home, there was a lake with a swimming spot that we checked out. The bottom of the lake was all clay, and it squished between your toes as you walked on it.  We both went for a swim, which was nice as I was hot from the trip. After the swim we cleaned up and headed home.

It was a nice trip to get Hayden out in the canoe as  bow paddler.  He was trying off and on, and I told him that the more he practices, the more trips we can do like this.  There are places in Algonquin I would like to go with him and if he can keep practicing and paddling we will get there… soon.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this overnight trip.  Remember that it is always good to start small, and go local on your first trips with kids. Especially if going alone (my hubby wasn’t on this trip).  We have done much bigger trips when all three of us go, but I needed to see what he was capable doing on his own with just one of us.