I see you have gotten some excellent kid advice. I have taken my daughter along since age 1 and the things I would add are:

1.Be forwarned that they get much more bored in the boat than on land - in my experience, base-camping is ideal, 5 miles a day fine, 10 is challenging, more unrealistic.

2.Take her own daypack, lined with plastic, book/toy in zip-lock, etc. so she can have her own stuff with her in the boat and join a bit in the portaging. Small binoculars?

3.Take a bug head-net for her just in case, bugs are the downfall for some kids and late June is... late June.

4.Take more kinds of camp shoes than you would for yourself, i.e. take ALL THREE -- something waterproof, tennies, and sandles/watershoes for swimming. Kids hate wet feet and duck shoes or rubber boots can save the day on a rainy trip. But if it's hot, they'll want their tennies. Kids shoes are small, bring them both. Let her swim in her life jacket - it's a blast for kids.

5.Take a very small tarp (4x6 or cut in half)just for her (could go in her daypack), for 2 reasons: a. To make a nice place to sit, eat, play when she is feeling persnickety, doesn't want to get dirty, there is a lot of poisen ivy around,etc. and b. to cover up in the boat in the rain. A kid duffing gets really cold even in rain gear and this helps tremendously.

5. Everyone else already said this, but really do take rain PANTS for your daughter in addition to the raincoat. A lot of time when you might be happy standing around or working in your raincoat, your daughter will want to sit down or curl up somewhere.

As far as making your ex-wife more comfortable, especially if she is a non-canoeist or non-camper, make sure she knows that there is a long tradition of taking kids of all ages to the BWCA/Quetico and they really do have a great time.

Somebody mentioned taking a friend -- in my experience, 7 is too young for that, unless the friend or friend's parent has canoe-camped a fair amount before. Most kids that age are a little scared, especially of the boat tipping over or of bears. Later on, that will save you though.

Posted by lah on May 31, 2002 at 10:45
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