Follow the Leader
8 REASONS TO TAKE A GUIDED
FAMILY TRIP THIS SUMMER STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT MACGREGOR
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE
Marc, Nathalie and their son Ki joined this family canoe trip in the middle of a four-week holiday. The French River fell between eight days relaxing in Cape Cod and a week on a Wyoming dude ranch. Both international litigators based in Zurich, Switzerland, it was their first vacation in 10 years. “We came to Canada to do something we can’t do in Europe,” Marc told me, “At home everything is so close together.” After the Swiss family (not Robinson) dumped their canoe trying to make their way up a slot rapid below our Five Fingers Rapid campsite, Ki decided he’d paddle the rest of the rapids with Kate and I. This gave his mom and dad the freedom to try more challenging sections of whitewater. Ki told me he was more comfortable with us, but added in German, to his dad, “If we were skiing in the mountains I don’t think they could be trusted.”
SAFETY IN NUMBERS
At a set of rapids on the French, the guides discussed the route, the challenges and the consequences with the group. In the end, the kids enjoyed snacks and cheered on their parents from shore. Every boat made it through.
CAMP FRIENDS
Kate’s favorite part of our French River trip, and the reason she wants to return, is the other kids. It was fun to watch them get to know one another, while we parents did the same. By the second day, we all knew one another well enough that group parenting rules were in effect. Running in the pack with Ki and Kate were Toronto-based seven-year-old Kiara and her cousins Milly and Archie visiting from West London. Kate came home with a cute British accent, telling her mummy that she has an invitation to visit Big Ben (whoever he is).
32 EARLY SUMMER 2012
L
AST SUMMER, my five-year-old daughter Kate and I—and Rapid Media TV cameraman, Dan Caldwell—parachuted into a Black Feather
Wilderness Programs’ Family French River trip. After 20 years of paddling, it was my first guided trip where I wasn’t the guide. And it was Kate’s first canoe trip with complete strangers. We met the Black Feather guides and the other families at The Lodge at Pine
Cove, 350 kilometers north of Toronto, or a four-hour drive from our home through Algonquin Park. The historic French River is a 105-kilometer heritage waterway Provincial
Park and designated Canadian Heritage River that was once a major fur trade route. The French winds its way from Lake Nipissing to Georgian Bay through a maze of channels and bays in a windswept pines landscape made famous by the Group of Seven. We were there for four days. We’d packed only the items on Black Feather’s
checklist. I didn’t know where we were going, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t care. Somebody else was taking care of all that. If you want to get out this summer but don’t have the time, skills, confidence
or desire to pull it together yourself… call an outfitter now, show up and have the time of your lives. Here’s how and why.
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