LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Tough love
It is Saturday morning in snow-covered Kitchener. My lovely wife is getting a rare sleep-in morning while I am surfing the net, drinking a coffee, while my kids are bounc- ing on the couch in the next room watching Go Diego Go. I am longing for the spring and summer so we can get packed to go camp- ing, fishing, biking, and canoeing. But first I need to get a canoe. I decided to surf to your Canoeroots and Family Camping web- site, wow it looks great! I have been reading your back issues online. Any suggestions for a family canoe that I can use on the Grand River and take to some provincial parks for some fun and excitement? We are all set up with the van, mountain bikes, and tent trailer, we just need the boat! I am on a tight budget and looking for very used.
Patrick Mazzocatto Kitchener, ON
It sounds to me like you’re a perfect candidate for what we call in our an- nual Canoeroots Canoe Buyer’s Guide, a recreational canoe. These are usually quite stable, durable and inexpensive, something you can pile the family into for short trips and not feel guilty about if it runs up on shallow rocks on the Grand. There are hundreds of these canoes around, both new
and used. Shoot for something 15 to 16 feet long and manageable to load on the van or trailer. Often well-used canoes are well- loved canoes. The ones you want to avoid are those abandoned in the sun for years or left to rot under a tarp. Typically though if it’s too far gone, you’ll know as soon as you see it. —SM
Hooked another one
I simply wanted to congratulate you on a fine magazine, which I have only just discov- ered. I signed up for a subscription through the Mountain Equipment Co-op website, but hadn’t seen an actual version of Canoeroots and Family Camping until it arrived yester- day. It is a wonderful read, which has me keen for the ice to break up so we can get back on the water. In fact, it got me thinking of the trip to La Verendrye Provincial Park in Quebec we did last May. The ice was out, but we still had to weather a snow squall. Thank- fully, the rest of the four-day trip was warm and sunny.
Rob Annan Montreal, QC
Two-year-old Aidan Newman from near Golden Lake, Ontario, wonders if he’ll look
just like his dad, Steve, when he grows up. PHOTO SHELLEY TIGGES
C A M P S I G H T S
Gordon and Bruce Annan (then four- and two- years old) are avid canoe trippers, even when the fish aren’t biting. PHOTO ROBERT ANNAN
WIN A SIERRA DESIGNS JACKET! Send us your best family camping photo. In each issue we’ll print a few and send the winner a waterproof-breathable 2.5 layer Cyclone Shell, a $90 value. Go to
rapidmedia.com/campsights for entry rules. Send your letters to Family Camping magazine to
editor@familycampingmag.com.
THE FINEST KEVLAR CANOES ANYWHERE.
www.sourisriver.com 807-597-1292
4 FAMILY CAMPING
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