CAMPING

WITH THE NEXT GENERATION!!!???

Taking the kids camping can be quite exciting, especially if it's deep woods camping. You never know what they'll do first. They could get lost, tip the canoe over and drown, try to pet a porcupine or even drag a skunk back to camp. it really keeps a parent on their toes. ,

Not that we were exciting or anything, but we hopped out of bed at three in the morning,, two minutes ahead of the alarm clock. Someone yelled "First two in the truck get to sleep You just know that Eric would be the first one in. Around eight o'clock, we dropped John off at the trail head. Since he lost the stick toss he had to walk. Besides, he wanted to see the country. By the time we reached the Wet and launched the canoe, it was around nine o'clock. Right away I noticed that the canoe was handling sluggishly, but then again we had around 500 lbs of food and equipment on board. Of course persuading Eric to stop dragging his paddle helped increase our speed by about 20 knots. It couldn't have been a better day for canoeing. The current was slow, the temperature was around 75 and sunny. The bugs didn't bother me too much either because they were to busy chasing Eric. Some of the weekend campers we talked to in passing were whining and crying about having their coolers trashed. I figured that the raccoons had been well fed and would move on.

The river being low this time of year exposes a few extra rocks, so Eric had to get out and pull the canoe through the rapids. There was one beaver dam that Eric was pushing the canoe over when he suddenly disappeared. Must have found a hole or something. Anyway, he popped out of the water with a wide eyed expression on his face ..... funneeee!

We stopped at the spring near the Five Ponds trail to take on some drinking water. Five gallons for drinking and another fifteen for ballast. We arrived at ligh Falls about six o'clock, just in time to keep John from getting lonely. Earlier he had witnessed the hasty retreat of the weekenders. I assured him that it was because they were hungry and not because of the lack of deodorant. It took all the strength we had left to hoist our food bags and cooler up a tree, but we did it. You want to be sure that you have plenty of good strong rope for this job or the coons might break it.

The fun started about an hour after dark when we were all tucked in for the night. We were just lying there,minding our own business, when Eric had to go and mention something about a bear trying to steel our food. I managed to find enough energy to get up and check it out, yelling and carrying on like a maniac as I went. I even picked up a stick and threw it which later I found out was a no no. As it turned out, it was only a HUGE MOMMA BEAR and her CUBS!! While all this yelling and screaming was going on, John shot out from his sleeping bag at speeds that would make a race horse jealous. It was really hard to tell who was more "bare". It was fun watching him try to get dressed, put his gun together and load it at the same time. The bear ignored us like we were part of the scenery (which by the way was quite dark at that time) and continued to rip gaping holes in our food bag, apparently she wanted to acquire some marshmallows for her cubs.

By now John had his rifle together and started spraying the trees with lead. The action reached a fevered pitch when mama bear came flying out of the tree like a lead rock and hit the ground with all four paws spinning, sending moss and fems flying in all directions. Eric thought that the marshmallows would be safer under his pillow, but then again maybe not. Realizing that the bag may be a little to close to the tree, we moved it out toward the center. About an hour later, momma bear came back to see what was in our cooler. At that time we thought it necessary to respray the trees for remaining pests. Fortunately they didn't return any more because we passed out from lack of adrenaline.

Morning found us peering out from under our sleeping bags with blood shot eyes, Not seeing any unwanted woodland critters, we resumed the days more important activities such,as breakfast. Blue berries being ripe and all over the place, we couldn't help but get some in our pan cakes. After breakfast we decided to take a leisure trip up stream to find the Robinson River. Even in the summer, the temperature of the water is quite cold. I discovered this when I had to get out and push the canoe over twenty or thirty beaver dams. The mouth of the Robinson resembles a marshy delta and looked quite impassable up to the first beaver dam. We stopped at a nearby camp site for lunch and a little relaxation with our fishing poles. Unfortunately the trout wouldn't let us rest until we had enough of them for both lunch and dinner. While we were there, we were caught in a life threatening thunder storm and Eric was the only one prepared for it. I had to construct an emergency shelter out of our "aluminum" canoe. Fortunately the storm only lasted an hour and once again we were on our way back to camp. With three of us paddling, we could really make that canoe move. We had it skidding around comers, bouncing off banks and flying over beaver dams. I could hardly contain myself. That night we didn't get to bed until around one o'clock. It seems that we created more excitement than a bear can stand because we haven't seen any more of them.

Eric was so excited about going hiking that he was up at seven, ate fifteen helpings of oatmeal and was waiting on the trail before the first pancake was flipped. The weather was warin, the sky was blue and there was foliage everywhere. It couldn't have been more perfect for hiking if it had tried. Down along the swamp, the ground was plush with at least three kinds of fems and who knows how many kinds of moss. Spotting a good photographic opportunity, we dashed up Cat Mountain where we were met with the most wondrous scenery and lunch. We were there for around an hour taking it all in along with large quantities of wild blueberries. On our way back down to camp, we clawed our way up Three Mile Mountain to B & B pond to take more

pictures. The pictures from our previous trip are as you say "all washed up", due to the camera taking a swim. Finding a fresh water spring, we refilled our canteens and heading back down. By this time Eric was starting to show signs of fatigue, including some nice blisters on his heels. Moans and groans could be heard for a hundred yards in almost any direction. I asked him if he wanted us to call Mercy Flight, but he said that he could make it. Once we were back in camp, it only took him two seconds to pass out on his bed. I couldift understand why he was so tire, all we did was hike ten miles and climb a thousand feet or so.

After supper, Eric and John went swimming and had a splashing contest in the river. I was thinking about taking a dip too, but watching them turn blue made me turn yellow. Seeing

that everyone was so tired and we hadn't heard any more from Ws. Yogi and the gang, everyone turned in at sunset for a good nights sleep.

10:30, SURPRISE!! a small scratching noise triggered the release of vast quantities of adrenaline. Once again the sight of a human dancing around in his underwear and yelling did no more than entertain them while putting our food supply in jeopardy. Firing off a warning shot which by the way was the only one in the gun (that John thought was quite funny). Black bears dropped from every tree in the neighborhood and beat a hasty retreat. I then proceeded to reload the rifle to maximum capacity plus 20 or so more for good measure.

At one point when mama bear was leaving, she left one of her cubs behind and I thought that I was going to get to keep it. My wife has been wanting a new puppy and this one would be the right color and would grow up to be big. The bad part is she might get suspicious if it started climbing trees, and I would hate to get hit. They didn't come back again that night so I was able to sleep in until 7:30. For a fun experiment Wednesday morning, while Eric was still sleeping, I said "BEAR", to see if his hair would stand on end, but it hadn't laid down yet from Sunday night, and he only wiggled a little. Maybe tonight I'll stick a couple of marshmallows between his toes to see what happens. But then he might be grumpy if he couldn't find all his toes.

Wednesday morning, after polishing off a pound of bacon and a half dozen eggs, Eric tried one of our pancakes with fresh picked blue berries. Haven't been able to keep him out of the blueberry patch since.

Needing more fresh drinking water, we packed up supplies for the day, being careful to include our rain gear. Fortunately, while we were at the spring we had an opportunity -to try them out. On the way back we stopped at camp site #21 and browsed on blueberries the rest of the afternoon. For someone who doeset like blueberries, Eric seems to be able to gorge himself For dessert we chewed on wintergreen leaves and then picked some for tea.

Back at camp, I prepared a large stew while Eric went down to the river to catch some trout and crabs for dessert. At 5 o'clock I went down to tell him that supper was ready only to find him laying on a rock face down in the water. It a good thing he was wearing his face mask and snorkel.

Its now 9:30, our food supply has been put up for the night. John is chopping wood to keep the neighbors awake, I'm loading the rifle for the nights activities, and Eric is still eating. For our evening entertainment we laid out on the rocks above the falls and watched the stars twinkle and the bats fiter about. Later we were entertained by a group of mice playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on our pots and pans.

Thursday morning after a succulent breakfast of cakes smothered in butter, raspberry pie filling, blackberry jam and syrup, we packed up a few things and set out for Sand Lake. It was a great day for hiking, the weather was a little cooler and the clouds were a little iffy. Eric? Well he is already to go. I think he's planning some revenge for dragging him over Cat Mountain. John is being real mean, making us walk past all those blueberries without stopping. At Five Ponds we

~

met a really old man 0 by himself Must have been all of fifty years. old. Cringing behind Ws backpack we spotted an old dog. John inquired as to how the dog liked being out in the wilderness - "He hates it" was the reply, "he's a city dog".

Later on down the trail, we were trying to traverse a bog and John accidentally (uh-huh) dropped in his hat. Not being happy about the incident, he through his binoculars in too. Still not being satisfied, he jumped in himself, up to his knees. I just knew that this was a ploy for a break. After cooling his feet for an hour, which is about how long it took to pry him out of the mud, we merrily continued on down the trail. Even though the trail was dark and foreboding, we knew it was safe since we had sent Eric on ahead to scout for bears waiting in ambush. We arrived at Sand Lake about twenty minutes behind Eric and found the place as breathtaking as ever. While sitting around and enjoying our mid day snack, we noticed a chipmunk circling the camp. Cautiously it tiptoed in along side of the lean-to and into our bag of trail mix. After filling it's cheeks to about the size of a basketball, it tried to leave through the opposite side of the bag.

Talk about an excited chipmunk. Funeeeee. Trail mix went flying everywhere and we spent the next half hour rolling on the ground in raging fits of mirth. After regaining control, Eric set his sneakers by the fire to dry and we all went down to the beach to frolic in the sand. Upon returning, we found one of Eric's sneakers in flames. Did I mention that It was eight miles back to our base camp? I took what was left of it and lashed it to his foot for the return trip the next day.

Since it was such a nice day, Eric went swinuning, John set about making a pot of coffee, and I went sneaking through the bushes in search of photo opportunities. I even helped out the environmental cause by picking up all the discarded clothes on the beach. Of course I had to give them back before Eric would come out of the water.

To put our food up for the night we had a problem. We couldn't find two trees that were the right size and far enough apart to hang our food. Since we couldn't hang it we decided to disguise it. We put it in the out house and tied the door shut. That evening we had a short thunder storm with some lightning thrown in for effect. Didn't get much sleep that night either, didn't have my foam mat. The moon was so bright that it looked like it was time to get up, and Eric and John were snoring like chain saws.

The next morning, after choking down what the furry woodland creatures didn't want for breakfast, we packed up and headed back. The return trip was more pleasant. Nobody fell down, much, and we stopped often to gorge on handfuls of blueberries.

Back at camp we were pleased to find that the bears hadn't molested any of our stuff. The ranger did however find some fault with it. That night we ate like hogs to get rid of what food

was left and prepared for our final night camp fire. Weekend campers had been pouring into the area all day so I figured that someone was going to get a visit from our favorite furry woodland critters. A group of Boy Scouts that had arrived late and were camped above us were the lucky ones. Around one o'clock in the morning I heard what I thought was a cooler hitting the ground. Later I found out that the bear had relieved them of their candy supply. Since the moon was so bright I kept a sharp lookout for a while. Our mouse band had also returned and was playing "I

Tossed and Turned All Night". I was just nicely getting back to sleep when Eric's foot lightly landed on MY leg. Well! my eyes popped open and I nearly leaped out of my skin. For the next half hour we were rolling around on the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Every camper within a mile must have thought there were loonies lose. They wouldwt have been too far off.

Our lantern took a real beating. For the first time in three years every one kept runnini into it. Eric ran into it three times in a row. John took his turn and hit it two times before knocking it off and breaking the mantles. Next was my turn. I hit it so hard that I not only knocked it off and broke the mantles, but I busted the globe too.

Saturday morning as we were finishing breakfast, the Boy Scout leaders dropped in to swap bear stories and to see if there was a way they could con us out of our camp site. But since we were leaving anyway, we told them they could have it. Well, this made them so happy they al grabbed something and carried it down to the river for us.

While we were looking forward to going home, the bears were probably looking forwarc to another great weekend feeding frenzy.

Heading down river, I didn't have any trouble getting Eric to paddle. Every canoe we passed was washed ashore by our wake. For some fun and added excitement, we shot down through one set of rapids backwards. As we rounded the last bend in the river, Eric quit paddling as if trying to delay the end of a great vacation. Maybe next year we can do it again. We'll start planning tomorrow.