Growing Up Camping

My first time backpacking was when I was just 3 years old. My dad heard somewhere that a good rule of thumb is that kids should be able to hike as many miles as their age. Whether that rule of thumb is actually true or not, my first backpacking trip was a perfect 3 mile hike in Sleeping Bear Dunes. Since I was so little, I lucked out and didn't have to carry more than my stuffed animal and maybe a small water bottle. Even with basically no extra weight, I still would stop multiple times to whine about how tired I was and beg my dad to carry me. Since my parents didn't want my brother and I to think of hiking as a chore or not a good experience, they did whatever they could for us to enjoy it. Up on my dad's shoulders I went! This only lasted about 100-200 feet, then I'd ask my dad to put me down and I'd zoom down the trail, leaving my dad even more tired from carrying his heavy pack plus a child. He also would realize that I was not actually tired, and was just testing to see if he'd carry me... classic 3 year old things! Eventually my little trick stopped working, but luckily, I continued to enjoy hiking and backpacking.

Over the years, we'd continue backpacking at the same places we car camped: Nordhouse Dunes and North Manitou Island, as well as other places. One location we went camped at was Pancake Bay in Ontario, Canada and I remember that being one of my favorites, probably because of the name.

In 2007, when I was 10 years old, we took our first family trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). The BWCA is a wilderness area in the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, and turns into Quetico after you cross the border into Canada. The BWCA / Quetico is for canoe tripping. Canoe trips are basically backpacking trips, but instead of hiking from campsite to campsite, you canoe! Connecting each lake is a trail called a portage, where you carry all of your gear (and the canoe!) to the other side. Some portages are very short, like a couple hundred feet, while others can get up to a couple miles. Now if you're a hiker, that probably doesn't seem so bad, but unless you can carry all of your gear in one go, you'll have to do the portage 3 times: twice with a load of gear, and once without. The portages were tiring since you had to carry all your gear, but also felt great to get up and on your feet since the rest of the day you're sitting in the canoe or sitting at camp. Arriving at the portages was always a mix of excitement and nerves because you never knew what the trail was going to be like. Some portages had a beautiful flat trail, some were straight uphill and rocky, and some were mosquito-infested swampy trails. The same nervous-excited feelings arose when paddling up to a campsite. Some campsites were just average campsites, while others I can still picture so vividly. There was one really small campsite we stayed at one year that was super buggy, and pretty miserable. Another one, on Grandpa Lake from one of our earlier trips, was a big and beautiful campsite on an island. We stayed 2 nights at this site because it was just that great! On the extra day that we stayed at the site, we went fishing, read books, went swimming, and just hung around camp soaking up the sun and enjoying the rest day.

My parents are the reason why I love the outdoors. We unfortunately haven't been able to go on as many big family camping trips like we used to because of college, previous summer jobs, and with me now living in Utah. My brother and I not having the time in our schedules didn't stop my parents though. They have gone on so many adventures over the years, just the two of them. They've backpacked in Alaska and Colorado, canoed more routes in the BWCA / Quetico, backpacked more in Michigan, and hiked the John Muir Trail. I already know of two different trips they have planned for this year, and they are always dreaming of and planning future trips. Seeing their adventures and hearing stories is so inspiring to me. They are just always trying to get outside and explore new places, and I hope to do the same for the rest of my life. I also hope to raise my future kids very similarly to how my parents raised me. I want my future kids to love and appreciate the outdoors, and go on a lot of camping trips and other adventures.