Terrible Childhood Vacations--Bowron Lake Circuit

 We took some notoriously horrendous and poorly planned vacations when I was young.

One of them was the Bowron Lake Canoe circuit, up in British Columbia.

Here's a link to the park service reservation page.

First off, we had no canoe experience prior and my parents signed up for the trip with a church group going.

We drove to the Bowron Lakes lodge--the starting point.  From southern Oregon.  So we were already tired from that drive when we got there.  We probably drove straight through, knowing my parents, who didn't like to pay for a motel for any reason.

We also had zero backpacking experience.  My parents were out of shape.  We kids were too young to be much help.  I don't know how old I was.  Maybe 11.

It wasn't built up like now, with groomed campsites.  We rented two canoes there and went through a brief orientation with the others in our group.   

We loaded all the gear, which included food for over ten days in case it took longer than that.  We took tube tents to sleep in, basically large plastic tubes.  You ran a rope between two trees through the tube, to hold it up to form a triangular open ended shelter.  At the tubes base, on the ground, it was about wide enough for one sleeping bag.  Our sleeping bags which were the type sold then, mostly flannel with polyester outer, were heavy.  We had cheap easily torn rain ponchos.  And a lot of food, in zip lock bags.  The others in the group made fun of how much food my mother packed but by the end of the long paddle, they were mooching off us.

I don't recall how many people were in the group.   I became enamored with two boys, Ingo and Heino, the latter, being the one I liked best.   He liked me too.  I think they were 13.  He was from northern BC somewhere, don't recall.

Anyhow, there were many portages, where the canoes and gear had to be carried.  We had no canoe carts at that time, so the canoes were hoisted overhead and carried by two people.  This had to be the adults or older teens while the rest of us carried the packs.

It rained a good share of the ten days we were out there.   The lakes were windy and paddling extremely tedious and hard on my parents who were not in shape.   The portages were difficult.  Since we had only two canoes between five of us, and my brothers always wanted to paddle I was reduced to a ride along most of the time, which bored me to death.  And it was colder, in the wind and rain, to not be paddling.

There was nothing enjoyable about the trip outside of seeing the end of it---the lodge where we started.  But the lodge people were waiting for us, with an urgent message.  My mother's father, recently retired, had been up on his roof and fallen off onto his head and would not live.   With this news, we rushed to get everything in the car and head home.  In Vancouver BC, my mother and oldest brother got on an airplane to fly home.  My younger brother and I were stuck with a worn out irritated sleep deprived father who drove straight through, snapping at us if we even spoke.  My father didn't like his in laws anyway.  

His own father was mean.  We never liked seeing his parents, although his mom was sweet.  But my mother's father was legendary for his kindness and generosity to others.   He was a good man, gentle, kind.  It was a blow for my mother I'm sure to lose him in her life as it was to me.

My grandpa died before we made it home.  I don't remember if my mother made it home in time to see her dad before he died.  

I kept in touch by letter for awhile with Heino, maybe Ingo too, I don't remember.  But distance slowed our friendships over the next year or two.  I never saw either of them again.  My first crush.  Or crushes.  I liked them both.

The trip was an endurance nightmare.  I think my parents decided to go not understanding how difficult it would be to paddle that many miles, carry canoes and gear long distance in portages, sleep in plastic bags basically, all without getting in shape and without any experience with canoes or canoe backcountry camping. And in constant rain.  In some ways, this was good, because we brought more food than we'd need and didn't understand how bad it would be.  It was even worse for me because I didn't get to even paddle much and for a kid, made to just shut up and ride along, yuk.  

That's life as a kid.   Even though I thought then, and even now, how awful it was, I admire my parents for deciding to do it, even with no experience whatsoever.  They were miserable on that trip.

 Look now though, I have a kayak!   And I could paddle a canoe I bet.  However, I have no desire to paddle a canoe 70 some miles in rain and wind or to huddle nights freezing and wet in a flannel sleeping bag that is also damp.