A family affair - How to keep teenagers happy without electronics

So, how do two (almost) teenagers cope on a three-week wilderness trip without the benefit of TV and video games? Well, the answer to that is very dependent on the kids involved.

The reality is that there's lots to do to amuse kids in the wild, but knowing how to engage children is essential. For us, it's probably easier than it would be for most people because we've been going on extended wilderness trips as a family for many years and our kids know what to expect.  

The Kraiker boys were initiated into the world of canoe tripping at an early age. In this photo from the early 90s, Kyle, three, seems mildly annoyed after being splashed by French River whitewater, while one-year-old Brendan seems quite happy to ride it out - with the help of a bottle.

They spent a lot of time in pre-trip preparation getting their fishing gear in order and they're anxious for they're opportunity to hook into "the big one". On a previous trip, we were in the company of a long time paddling partner who's also a great story teller. Our friend Herb told the kids about "old Walter" a pike of gigantic proportions thought to inhabit the waters of a remote northern river. Herb embelished the tale of old Walter to the delight of the kids who hung on his every word.

They'd constantly ask for new installments of information about old Walter, hoping to get insight into the tricks they might use to snag him on the end of their line or to get better descriptions about the river location where the fish could be found. I think the kids know that old Walter is probably as much a reality as Santa Claus, but that never stops them from casting their lines any time they come across a fishing hole that holds promise.

Fishing isn't the only thing that holds appeal for our boys. They really enjoy the opportunity to see wildlife in the natural environment. The area of northern Saskatchewan where we're travelling has a good mix of habitat and should give us ample opportunity to watch animals. The northern boreal forest is much more sparse than in southern climates and that makes it easier to find animals. On any day, we're likely to see moose, foxes, wolves, beaver, otter and bear. 

14-year-old Kyle with the family van and canoes - the smaller canoe is nested inside the larger one for easier travelling.

Previous trip reports we've read about the area have all indicated that animals are plentiful and most seem unafraid of humans, often coming closer out of curiosity rather than running away. While that's a very an exciting prospect for our boys, it does cause us some concern as the area has a plentiful bear population. To reduce the risk of problems, all of us will be carrying bear spray repellent at all times when we're out of the canoes. We plan to do a lot of walking on our trip and we'll be sure that the kids are never too far from us.

European explorers had little cause to visit this remote corner of Canada and it wasn't until fairly late in the development of the country that much information was obtained about the region. However, the area has a rich history of aboriginal habitation and we expect we'll come across evidence of historical occupation. Our boys enjoy exploring archeological remains and try to imagine what life must have been like for people who occupied such regions hundreds or thousands of years ago. We've often spent many hours sitting among the scattered remains of tent rings and discarded stone tools, talking about what life was like. The boys enjoy inventing characters and trying to describe wha their day-to-day routine would have been like. Often, an unusual tool will be found lying on the ground and it's a great guessing game to imagine what the device would have been used for. We do our best to ensure that our visits are not disruptive, however, as it's important that archeological remains are left undisturbed.

The sand dune area is an exciting opportunity for walking trips. The clear northern air and the lack of trees make distance difficult to judge and it doesn't take long before you've travelled much farther than anticipated. Carrying a compass is important, but like Hansel and Gretel, it shouldn't be hard to find our way back if we follow the 'bread crumbs' of our tracks in the sand. We expect to find some pockets of unique plant life in the dunes and study how plants survive in this harsh environment of shifting sand.

The area around Lake Athabasca is noted for constant winds and we're expecting to take advantage of that. We like to bring along kites on our long trips and the enjoyment of flying a kite in the clear northern sky is hard to beat. The normal rule of thumb on canoe trips is to expect the wind to be blowing in your direction when paddling, but we're hopeful that we'll encounter some tail winds so that we can use kites as sails to assist our progress. That doesn't happen often on a trip, but it's pure magic when it does. The long stretch of Lake Athabasca shoreline we plan to paddle, from the William River to our fly-out pick-up point at the McFarlane River, is a likely location to offer a tail wind. 

11-year-old Brendan gives the trip's communications equipment a dry-run test from the family lawn. Everything seemed to work well. (You are looking at the picture he sent to CANOE.) With battery power and satellite time at a premium there will be no web-surfing or game-playing on this trip.

The winds may also present us with a challenge for travel. Because Lake Athabasa is so vast, there is a broad expanse of water over which the wind can whip up waves that can't be tackled in canoes. We've built in enough time into our schedule to allow for layover days if we're windbound, but we're also quite prepared to do some travel at night when the wind tends to calm down. There's a surreal, otherworldly sensation when traveling on a calm body of water under a northern sky. With the long hours of daylight, dusk extends well into the evening and the golden afterglow of sunset on a lake is spectacular. On a clear night, the profusion of stars above is often reflected in the calm water below, giving the sensation of drifting through space. With luck, the northern lights will treat us to a light show as spectacular as any fireworks display.

When our boys were old enough to show us that they could use knives safely, we gave them each a Swiss Army knife. One of the things that the boys enjoy doing is carving pieces of wood into decorative pieces of art or useful gadgets for the campsite. Weathered driftwood is a favourite starting piece as it often suggest an object just waiting to be revealed. Carved pieces from canoe trips have served as playtoys for our boys many years after the trip which created them is over.