Into the BC Wilderness

Our district's resident outdoor education guru, Lance, sent an email earlier this year to all teachers asking if anyone might be interested in doing the Bowron Lakes canoe circuit in July, as a Pro-D activity. I probably deleted it (I get SO many emails during my work day) but Quina (pronounced: Keena), my lovely friend and colleague, forwarded it to our staff and asked if anyone would be interested in doing the trip. Beginners were welcome, and the price was right. From then on, I was pretty much hooked.

Initially it didn't even look like the trip would be a go. Only Quina and I had responded to Lance's email, and it took a few more tries before we had a full group. However, after Lance sent out his last call, there was a waiting list. We had the maximum number of people that could go: 14. That's a lot of teacher talk!

In preparation for the trip, Lance held two mandatory canoeing workshops and 1 optional one. I attended all of them. I had been in a kayak once, and I might have been in a canoe once?, but overall my confidence was low. I really didn't know what I was doing on the water, and I wanted to be as prepared as possible. Also, I know myself pretty well, and I don't have a very steep learning curve when it comes to athletic pursuits. I need to practice, practice, practice. I need to practice more than the average joe, methinks. But I'm okay with that.

We also met Lance at his school and he went over a bazillion things for the trip: how to pack, what to pack, how much to pack, what to avoid, examples of different gear, etc. I was taking notes like crazy. I bought a backpack, I borrowed gear from everyone I could, I went shopping at MEC, and tried to plan all my meals & snacks. All in, like, one weekend. :)

You don't want to be unprepared for a canoe & camping trip that takes you into the BC wilderness for eight days. You need to pack all your food, there's no vehicle access, and once you're out there... there's no turning back. These were my thoughts as I was trying to pack for this trip. I wanted to bring everything and be prepared for every eventuality, but when you carry everything on your back, you need to be pretty exact.

Now I was ready to embark upon what surely would be an amazing experience!