Shaky puddin was Burt's ( Gator) favorite I do believe

No, actually, that is a green nylon poncho.  I still have it.  It wasn't too bad, just too full for in a canoe, so she had to watch the wind.   

Space Food Sticks aren't available everywhere, but I heard of a place online that has them still.  You have to buy a big box and we have lots of them left still from my unwise purchase this past summer.

And yes, Tang is available.  We take Tang on every single trip.  Have never taken (nor heard of) "Shake a pudding", so I can't speak to that.   

Wow. You can still get space food sticks? Tang is still around I think. Shake a pudding anyone?

I'd take a flannel shirt and even jeans over what looks like that green rubberized raingear any day.

Spartan2 wrote on Feb 7^th, 2012 at 8:03pm:

Yes! We were very young camping Devils Lake Wi. I remember it rained for hours. The tent ended up with ankle deep water. Bro and I hung out in the back of the station wagon and scarfed down boxes of them while Dad & Mom relocated the tent.... Good times  thanks for the reminder.

This doesn't add to the thread much, but I was cleaning out a cabinet today and found this photo which had been taken out of my 1988 album and needs to be put back. 

It was taken on Day 6 of our only family trip.  It had rained all morning and we had been cold and wet (notice the bottoms of my cotton pants are wet and our daughter is still wearing her poncho because she was cold.  The sun came out as we made made the portage at Pipestone Dam and then we stopped at the northern campsite on Newton Lake for lunch. 

The kids are eating "Space Food Sticks".  Does anyone remember those?  They came in chocolate and peanut butter.  I bought some from a retro place online this summer to take on our September trip, just for old times' sake, but they aren't as good as I remember!   

There were arguments and little tiffs on this trip.  There were many laughs and a few coughs, like when we all took refuge in OUR tent during a really bad thunderstorm on Wind Lake and we discovered that the 15-year-old teenage boy had feet that smelled so bad it would have been preferable to just be struck by lightning!    There were challenges, and there were times when their canoe got out of my sight that I worried.  It wasn't relaxing like a tandem trip.

But looking at this now, when they are grownups, with families of their own, living hundreds of miles away. . . .it does make me glad that I have this moment frozen in time and can remember sitting there in the sunshine at the end of our trip smiling at Dad, who had picked up the camera (a rare occurrence.)

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I don't feel a lot of nostalgia for blue jeans and plaid cotton flannel shirts, though.     Or those enormous eyeglass frames!

My best advice is to let your teenager bring a friend.  It was absolutely the secret to my success in taking my daughter on annual Quetico trips starting when she was six (she's 24 now).  Friends mean everything to teens.  Together, Liz and her pal Emily learned how to make camp, portage, and all the other wilderness canoeing skills.  It was (is) a great tradition, it certainly enriched my canoeing experience, and I look forward to keeping the tradition alive, this time as "gramps" with my grandchildren.

prouboy

I was brought on a trip as a teenager in Boy Scouts. I'm so thankful I went. I learned a lot on that trip both about me and the outdoors. It also hooked me and I've been going almost annually ever since.
Now a days I'd bring a teenager to show them what the wildnerness is and what its all about. Show them why it needs to be protected. Show them the stars at night, the smell of bacon on a campfire and the sound of a loon. ALL of those things can change a person for life (usually for the better).
They usually wont realize how nice it is to get away from their computer, phone, video games etc. However they will learn that they can get by with out them and have an awesome time.

For some of them it will be their first chance to pee in the woods (exciting I know  ) It is the experiences like that that can have a profound impact on them.

Make carrying gear a challenge and they will rise to the occassion.
Bring LOTS of food though

All of this BTW coming from someone who isn't too far past his teenage years.

azalea wrote on Jan 25^th, 2012 at 12:04am:


I thought that's what they meant in the "sherpa" post

Quote:


Save your aching back, let the kids carry it!!!

Many years ago I took my 15 year old nephew who had lived in Milwaukee and Detroit to Beaverhouse and then into Jean for a week.  We had portaged into Beaverhouse and were paddling to the ranger station.  My nephew asked if he could have a drink of water.  I said sure and handed him a cup.  He looked at me like what am I suppose to do with the cup.  I said dip it in the lake and take a drink.  He said no thanks.  A few minutes later I took my cup and took a drink of water.  He looked at me with big eyes, thinking I was crazy.   A few minutes later he asked about a drink.  I said the water was safe to drink.  He summoned all his courage and took a drink.  He was amazed that he didn't die.  Later on he said that you would never drink the water in Detroit.

Later on in the days as we were going past some rocks formations, he asked he if what he was seeing was man made.  He was referring to the rocks, beaches and water.  I said everything he saw was made by god.  He said he wasn't sure because everything in Detroit was man made.  It was also great to watch him see his first snapping turtle trying to lay eyes at our campsite and see how the turtle would hiss and snap at a sick.  Plus there is always a thrill to watch a kid catch his first large fish.  Plus, it was just neat to see his amazement at his first introduction to "nature".
Westwood