BASE CAMPING With Children

I thought I’d never figure it out. I mean, you can go backpacking with one small child or even canoe camping with two. But three? How do you get away from civilization (including crowded campgrounds) if you have a trio of kids to cart along?

That was our problem. In the years before we accepted irrevocable adulthood (i.e., became parents), my wife, Becky, and I hiked and paddled in the backcountry every chance we got. When baby Nate joined us, we just stuffed him in a backpack child carrier and sallied forth. We didn’t hike quite as far, and our shoulders ached a bit, but we still enjoyed “real” wilderness experiences.

Then Jesse graced our family, and since we couldn’t carry two kids in addition to all our gear, we tied extra seats in the middle of our canoe and paddled into the wilderness.

But when Samantha blessed our nest, well … um … what could we do? The answer, when it finally came to me, was so simple, elegant, and enjoyable that