I had an unexpected chance to get some dirt time with both my kids today, so we went for a little adventure on a section of trail a little further North than we were yesterday. Thanks to the curiosity of the ten year old and cooperative ground conditions, we found an awesome little wilderness spot a little way off the trail. It was brand new for us and a pretty cool little spot. We discovered a little tributary of our local creek and thought it was the perfect place for a little exploring and a picnic lunch.

My son decided to ride his bike this time, and we took the jogging stroller as is our usual MO these days, but I also brought the little baby carrier (It's an Infantino Flip Front & Backpack Carrier) to give it go too. I rolled the baby there and carried her back. She slept both ways so I guess they're both a hit. One of these days I might go to just the carrier with my daypack, or upgrade to a better child carrier backpack, but I have to admit, I like the jogging stroller. It lets me carry more, and it keeps me a little more cautious, because I'm less adventurous on inclines and bad terrain.

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When we broke through the pine forest beside the main trail, into an area that we've been curious about, we discovered what felt like a secret forest. (Not such a secret with the local mountain bikers though.) We haven't ventured in there before because we've always had the baby with us, but today the trails were pretty dry and I found a route that wasn't too steep, so I decided to give it a go. There were trails all over the big ridge, with lots of ups and downs and a creek down below. It was a good work out and a lot of fun to explore. This little area has taken some serious storm damage, but it was really peaceful today. Until the scream, that is, but more on that later.)

I brought my canteen stove and a huge piece of thick foil for underneath, (lower impact, IMO) with the intention of harvesting some natural tinder to boil our water. I didn't want a big fire, but did want to give the boy a chance to practice his fire starting skills.

We didn't use the squirrel nest we saw because it was WAY too high. We did use birch bark along with some cedar bark. Silver? Yellow? River? I'm not sure. I've always called it Silver, but we're going to double check. Whatever it is, it took a spark really well and blew into flame pretty easily. We threw in some twigs to feed the flames and had a rolling boil in less than 10 mins. The boy started the tinder with his brand new SAK and ferro rod. (Sorry no pics of the actual start. I was supervising.)





We decided to use my canteen stove to boil some water for Mr. Noodles and KD. I used my GSI Halulite Tea Kettle to boil the water, and we filled the kettle with water from the boy's new Naglene with compass lid. He used a huge tin cup and plastic LMF spork, which he loves, and I used my canteen cup and tried out my brand new Sea to Summit andonized aluminum spork. He had KD and KoolAid, his all time favourite lunch, and I had Mr. Noodles and flavoured tuna. (Lemon and pepper this time.) One of my favourite trail meals. YUM! (The baby had some baby oatmeal and a bottle.)

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The Scream

While I was getting settled in and feeding bacpacbaby, bacpacboy went to explore the creek. He found an old tent under the tree in the middle of the creek and tried unsuccessfully to rescue it. As he was climbing out of the creek, he got stuck (both feet) in knee high mud on the banks. There's obviously been a lot of storm damage in there, and the mud was super thick. (He thought for sure that it was quicksand and screamed.) He was well and truly stuck so I need to perform a rescue operation. I used a long branch, so that I wouldn't get stuck too. (He asked me afterwards, "Mom, that was just like what we're supposed to do if someone falls through the ice, right?" Cool lesson, if a little dirty.)

Once we got him out, he crawled to shore, found a digging stick and then crawled back to try and find his shoes. (Yup, both.) After about 15 minutes of digging he pulled them up, two gloppy gloopy messes. By that point he looked like a mud monster, so I sent it to the rocky shore to wash up. It was high drama for a while, but it gave the baby time to eat before we fussed with our lunch. He sure had a great story to tell bacpacdad when we got home! (The shoes weren't much better after washing, so they went home hanging off his pack and he peddled in his sock feet. Good think he wore thick merino wool socks. They have flames on them. What are ya gonna do?) Oh, to be a bacpacmom!

Here's a short Youtube video of the trip AFTER the clean up:

Trip to the Creek

Thanks for looking!