What could be better than backpacking with your daughter? (Ok, yeah, taking both daughters, the dog, and the wife, but let's not be too greedy.) For a few years (three and a half, to be specific) I've wanted to take Clara on an overnight backpack trip. At the beginning of the summer I had grand plans of a trip into the remote backcountry where we'd enjoy the trip in, set up camp, and get to bed early only to do it again the next day.
Now, at the end of the summer, it's looking less and less likely that's going to happen. The timing never came together and I was a bit overly ambitious in selecting destinations. (One possibility involved me hiking all the gear in, returning home, hiking in with Clara, spending the night, hiking out with Clara, dropping her at home, and returning for the gear.)
I haven't yet given up completely on an overnight hike with Clara and it seemed only prudent to test the accommodations before we were deep in the bush. Sunday morning I floated the idea to Clara and I've never seen her so excited. Her eyes about popped from her skull and she spun around the house for hours in anticipation.
After rest-time we set up the tent in the backyard and loaded in all our gear. I'm ashamed to admit I now know that my REI three-man tent will just fit a queen size inflatable mattress. It even seemed remarkably empty given we had no actual gear to store inside with us. (Usually there's an assortment of boots and coats and stinky clothes and all the rest.)
I built a fire in the firepit and Amy popped us some microwave popcorn. (I had hoped to find some JiffyPop, but oh well.) Clara loves staying up to watch baseball and eat popcorn, but watching the fire and flipping the odd kernel to Tokul was even better. When we were done we put Tokul inside and crawled into the tent. Clara changed into her jammies and then declared she didn't like the sleeping bag.
Huh? It's a wonderful goose-down bag good to 20F! What's not to like?
She wanted her barely-there fleece "bag" that her great grandmother made. It's good for sleeping at NanaPapa's place, but wouldn't do much in the woods even if it was only expected to drop into the upper 50s.
The battle raged all night. She did sleep a touch, mostly on top of the bag, and I slept probably a little less. Whenever I woke I'd throw the bag on top of her and later find she'd be cuddled up against me trying to stay warm... with the bag pushed down to her feet.
It started to rain at some point in the early morning (one of only two rain storms in weeks -- the other was when I was out hiking with the girls and Grandpa Jack), but luckily I'd put on the rainfly as a precaution.
Clara finally convinced me to get up for good at about 6:45. I didn't know what time it was, but it was clear she wasn't interested in sleeping or letting me sleep. Although I was disappointed in the way the night went she raved about it to Amy and later in the day so it must have been a success after all.
Now if I could just find a spot and a time to go backpacking with her for real...
