Sylvania Wilderness - Eagle 2 & Loon on Loon - August 2018

[JeremyA]

This was our first family trip with a little portaging. Sylvania is beautiful and the campsites were the cleanest I've ever encountered. The water in most of the lakes we paddled was exceptionally clear and we were able to do quite a bit of fish watching. We were out for 6 days, staying at Eagle 2 for a night and Loon for the rest, both on Loon lake. I had read that Loon is the nicest site in the park and I stumbled into it due to a last minute cancelation. It lived up to the hype with a nice private swimming area at the landing and an open breezy site with at least three nice tent pads as well as a great latrine area. We had the threat of storms for a few days, but it all missed us. Noteable events included a stolen shoe recovered 1/4 mile from the campsite while gathering firewood, running out of fuel for the stove and making an unplanned drive to the outfitter mid-trip, and nearly severing an extensor tendon in my left hand the day before we left on a DIY seat hanger courtesy of our canoe's previous owner.

I'd love to know more about how other people tripping with kids pack. I feel like we're pretty minimal, but it still adds up to a lot of gear when the kids can't carry much. We do bring chairs, but our cook kit is pretty small and we do mostly dehydrated meals. We tripled the portage, which was thankfully a very easy 99 rods.

 

[Odyssey]

WOW!! Absolutely fantastic family trip photos!! Thanks for this.
Ran out of fuel?! It happens sometimes. No fun eating uncooked crunchy instant noodle.
Close call on the injury. That can soon send a trip sideways.
But the sixty four thousand dollar question is...what's the story with the wayward shoe?

ps Judging by the gear in your photos and the smiling faces I'd say you're family tripping just fine, and that triple carries are worth every one of those smiles.

 

[snapper]

Thanks for the wonderful photos. I really appreciated the leaf teepee I'm guessing your kids made. Being outside really helps to spark play and the imagination.

As to your questions regarding packing, it's kind of up to you and what you need. Some kids are happy playing with a rock (one of my grandsons) while others need "stuff" to be happy; although there tends to be less of a need for it all when you're in a place like you were. Honestly, based on your photos I think you packed just fine for your group. Was anyone unhappy or thinking they were missing anything? If not, you did well.

For what it's worth, once your kids get old enough to paddle a bit more of the time out, having two canoes with an adult & child in each one will make the boats a lot less crowded so maybe that's what you're really looking for. Not sure so I'll leave that up to you.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

 

[JeremyA]

Odyssey I would love to know what happened with the shoe as well, but it will remain a mystery. We got up one morning to see one of my son's bright yellow Plae shoes (they're foam like Crocs) had been dragged out from under our tarp into the middle of camp, and then soon noted the other was missing completely. We looked all over around our site and even paddled around the lake incase it ended up in the water. We had long given up when I was out collecting firewood with the kids and found it on the ground at least a 1/4 mile from the tarp. There wasn't so much as a tooth mark in it either.

snapper We don't bring anything to entertain the kids except a book to read in the evening before bed and didn't feel like we were missing anything, I was more wondering if some folks manage to pack lighter. I definitely look forward to splitting into two boats, but we squeeze into the Lamoille well enough. I would really like to get out to the BWCA into some more remote areas, so my big concern is portaging everything (especially over rougher terrain). As it is now, we're going to be spending a month in Alaska next summer so the Boundary Waters will likely wait until 2020.

Thanks!

 

[dennis b]

Thanks for the pictures....makes me remember my trips to the UP.

 

[Odyssey]

Most members of the Corvidae family steal items, so it's not unusual to see a magpie, jay, raven or crow making off with booty. (Booty. Sorry for the pun.) Then there are squirrels and their cousins to keep an eye on. Racoons can be nighttime camp marauders too. Or do what I used to do. Provide an answer to the kids with a "scary ghost story". In this case it sounds to me like The Tale of the Bashful Barefoot Bigfoot...named Boris. Long story short is Boris the bashful barefoot Bigfoot is finally caught sleepwalking stealing shoes so the family sit him down and feed him hot chocolate with marshmallows, and gift him with Mom's pink fuzzy slippers. Boris is happy. And so now whenever they hear "flap, flap,flap..." in the night they all know Boris is sleepwalking again in Mom's pink fuzzy slippers.

Actually seagulls are crafty too at snatching things.