I took a bit of a hiatus from the paddling industry. I had a failed Arctic expedition, an expedition that I pulled the plug on, even before it started, due to some serious misgivings. I felt that I had let sponsors, friends, colleagues and even family down. It was a major blow to my ego (And, I will admit, my ego was pretty big back then).
Rather than face the uncomfortable questions about why I ended the expedition on the eve of launch, I left the fold. I left sponsorships and business friendships behind. Then I got married and found an “adult” job, which led to having kids.
Kids, our twin girls, O & P.
The girls are the reason I am back and fully immersing myself in the paddling lifestyle once again. I have always been an “All or Nothing,” kind of guy. When I commit to something, it is 110% or not at all. When you take your small children in an environment that CAN be dangerous, it changes your risk assessment calculations and I had to learn to be more patient and meter in the amount of exposure for our family; taking “baby-steps”.
Not raising the girls as paddlers was just not an option; using canoes and kayaks as a means of connecting to the wilderness world has been at the core of my being since I started paddling seriously over 26 years ago. Fortunately for me, the girls love going “paddling.”
It has been a re-awakening for me to raise our girls as paddlers. It started with a canoe trip on an Ocean estuary at Hammonasset Beach State Park, just off Long Island Sound in Connecticut. We were on vacation and the State Park offered estuary canoe tours.
We, my wife Sarah and I, took the girls for that first canoe paddle when they were 2 years old. They immediately fell asleep due to the gentle rocking of the boat. Sarah and I looked at each other and Sarah said, “I think we can do this more often.”
Being the kind of guy I am, what I heard was, “We need to start planning some BIG trips by canoe as soon as we get back to the tent and, by the way, we need several canoes to fill the niches for every type of trip we may ever take!” I’m still convinced I heard Sarah right, but she contends otherwise!
Needless to say, we are now back in the paddling lifestyle 110%. Our girls took their first “backcountry” trip at the age of 3 up on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage for 6 days. Paddling and camping among the islands of a large freshwater lake in Northern Wisconsin.
I would say we’ve been taking “baby-steps” to get the girls on their first “Wilderness” trip, but Sarah might say we’ve taken some “giant-leaps.” It’s always a compromise, I’ve had to adjust my attitude and Sarah does admit she likes to backcountry travel with “The new Matt.”
The first multi-day backcountry trip was just the beginning of introducing the girls to wilderness canoeing and kayaking. The girls are now 5 and we’ve already had some fantastic backcountry/wilderness adventures. check back in to our blog for more of the adventures O & P have led their mom and dad on in the last three years!