Canoe Tripping: The Company You Keep

As my close friend, Carolyn, so eloquently observed about canoe tripping:

"Its not the physical activity; it's the company that wears you down."

Deciding with whom to venture into the wilderness is the most important decision you make in planning a canoe trip. Believe me. You have to spend 24 hours a day with these people, and it is not considered acceptable protocol to abandon, beat or dismember other trip members, no matter how annoying they can be. This is especially true for family members.

When we paddle down the Upper Missinaibi River this summer, that will be about the forth or fifth year my family has ventured into the wilds with our friend, Pete, and his kids. Last year Carolyn and her son, Kai, joined our ranks as we all paddled through Killarney Provincial Park. We’ve paddled the Allagash River in Maine, Quetico (the Canadian Boundary Waters), and of course we’ve been through Algonquin a couple of times. The point is that we have gotten to know each other well – for better and worse.

So, to give you a feel for what it is like to be in the middle of the woods with the same few people for days on end, here are a few snippets of conversation, most of which my husband, Brian, recorded in a little spiral notebook on our last canoe trip through Killarney.

1) My 8 year old daughter Hannah speaking of something she did wrong to my husband: “It’s already happened. It’s passed. Deal with it.”

2) Pete instructing the kids on how to obtain firewood: “Look for a beaver dam and steal from the damn beaver.”

3) Martha, Pete’s daughter: “Dad, DAD, DAAAD, What the hell is the matter with you?”

4) Five year old Kai looking off across the still waters that surrounded the island we were camped on and casually asking: “Pete, is that your boat going down the lake?”

5) Me in response to comments on the rain tarp I set up: “I did it a 4 o’clock in the morning, so don’t give me shit.”

6) And Brian then placating me: “Next time you look for a wife, not only check her teeth, but make sure she sleeps with one eye open to track the weather.”

7) Joe, Pete’s 16 year old son on learning from the best: “I wish Brian was my Daddy.”

Then there are my two favorite instances from our trip to Algonquin in 2004:

At the end of the day, I walked up behind Pete and Brian who were washing dinner dishes in the lake and caught Pete remarking “God, your wife is a bitch, but man can she cook”.

Several days later, I accidentally knocked one of our two rolls of toilet paper into the thunder box, only to come back to the privy the next morning to find a note from “Forest Ranger Gump” suggesting that I dive in and retrieve the rolls if it happens again.

These are the voices of my canoe family. We definitely irk each other at times, but we’re found a rhythm that makes each day in the wilderness rejuvenating and fun.

I’ll conclude with a final quote from my husband Brian who remarked after we spent 10 hours in the pouring rain paddling and portaging through a place called Kirk Creek in Killarney:

“Canoeing in the rain is better than a good day at work” – especially when you are with the people you love.