Family Camping BASECAMP | BETCHA DIDN’T KNOW | LITTLE EXPLORERS | GET-AWAY | BUBBLE STREET
[ BaseCamp ]
The People In Your Neighbourhood I
was excited about my new five-pound refillable propane tank. I had two but- tered cheese sandwiches in the frying
pan and two hungry campers begging for food. It was our first father-toddlers camp- ing trip and I just then remembered the safe place in my basement where I’d left the adapter hose that connects my new tank to my Coleman stove. What happened next is a bit shaky, like
the real life video footage from an episode of COPS. Driven to crime by hungry, whining children, I stole the green canister from my neighbour’s abandoned picnic table. Upon their return I thought it best to con-
fess. I’m glad I did. Te two large middle-aged men were, I’m certain, linked to the Russian mafia—or let’s just say one was in importing and the other was a simple truck driver who just purchased a new BMW 760. I know all this because they invited us
back for souvlaki skewers cooked over their fire. After the kids were tucked into their sleeping bags, I returned to share a $200 bottle of Johnny Walker Blue toasting the new automobile. My first 20 years of camping I did in re-
mote places—mountains, lakes and rivers— where seeing another group was grounds to keep moving to a different spot. Since start-
[ BetCha didn’t know aBout…] Moose
n The word moose is derived from the Algonquian name moz, meaning he trims, shaves. Must be that unfashionable mullet, goatee, and patchy spring coat.
n Moose are known as elk in Europe. North American elk were named by early European explorers who thought this large deer species resembled the European elk (i.e. moose). Presumably they had yet to see an actual moose…
n In 1910, 10 moose introduced in Fiordland, New Zealand, disappeared into the impenetrable bush. Occasional sightings were as credible as reports of Bigfoot until moose hair was found in 2002.
n Male moose lose their antlers in the fall and re-grow them every spring. Antlers take three
30 SPRING 2009
to five months to develop, making them the fastest growing male organ in nature.
n Native American myths about moose with devil’s antlers are based on the misshapen appendages worn for life by castrated bull moose.
n The largest moose ever recorded was discovered in Alaska. It stood 2.34 metres at the shoulder, weighed 816 kilograms, and had a rack spanning two metres.
n The flap of skin that hangs beneath the throat is called a bell.
n In 2000, the Moose in the City project flooded Toronto, Ontario, with 326 life-size moose statues. Sold at a charity auction, these moose quickly became a source of
corporate pride and prize targets for high school car rallies.
n Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, is named from the Cree word moosegaw, which means warm breezes. Nevertheless, the city’s mascot is a 10-metre, 9,000-kilogram concrete moose named Mac.
n Chocolate moose, a dish made famous by the Muppet Show in 1978, is a culinary staple of northern tourist towns.
» VIRGINIA MARSHALL
ing a family, one of the many changes I’ve had to accept is trading these solitary so- journs for a more convivial camping atmo- sphere. A few weeks after the propane incident, I
spent the August long weekend at the busi- est campground in the Highway 60 corridor of Algonquin Park. Packed into the knot of campsites were nearly 300 people—more than the population of the two towns in which I live and work. Ziggy was the first person I asked to bor-
row a corkscrew. Te twenty-something hip- py girl across the campsite road rummaged through embroidered pouches and secret compartments in her chartreuse Westfalia. Nothing. Te campers to the left were Baptist and
said they didn’t drink, although the teenage son suggested we just sink the cork. I said thanks and moved on before the question- ing began. On the other side, a young couple cuddled
close to the fire, wine glasses in hand. Per- fect. Except they’d forgotten a corkscrew too and grabbed a screw-off bottle on their way to the campground. Finally, I met Harry Sarin, a radiologist
at a big hospital in the city, and his wife, a nurse on leave raising their three children.
It was their first time camping with kids, but by the looks of their sun-faded pup tents and micro stoves (and yes, a corkscrew) I guessed that they’d backpacked Europe. Te following morning, Harry wandered
over asking if we had sugar for their coffee. We handed him a bottle of maple syrup. It was the best we could do. Over breakfast the kids became fast friends and we planned an all-day hike and cycle together. Campgrounds like these aren’t about wil-
derness. To me they are about being sur- rounded by like-minded outdoor families— people you get to know more in a weekend than you do your neighbours at home. Campground neighbours give what you
don’t have, loan you what you’ve forgotten. Tey pick things up in town and leave you their worms and leftover wood. Tey boost dead batteries and return stray Frisbees. Tese neighbours make family camping more fun than it would be without them. And, campground neighbours forgive you
for stealing propane canisters and don’t ask truck drivers how they afford $200,000 Eu- ropean luxury sedans.
SCOTT MACGREGOR is the publisher of Canoeroots, Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Kayak Angler magazines. He lives his life of petty crime with his wife Tanya and young family in the Ottawa Valley.
PHOTO: STEVE PAGE
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