A Long Back Cast

  A campfire glows over our Long Island camp site after sunset What began as an annual camping trip with my son, Scott, to Eastern Ontario's Crotch Lake over a decade ago has grown into a three generation guys trip encompassing both my sons-in-law, Charles and Justin and their boys, Theo and Fox. These energetic seven-year-olds though enthusiastic campers, are new to the realm of outdoor living. Wilderness camping with small children has its challenges. There are many potential dangers lurking in the outdoors -  uneven footing on the Precambrian Shield rock, the nearby lake, campfires, noxious plants, and biting insects. Thankfully, this year the bugs, both mosquitoes and horse flies, were almost nonexistent, and poison ivy was nowhere to be found at our camp site. Theo (left) and Fox (right) in conversation  The reward for me in camping with kids is to watch their youthful exuberance and sheer joy as they experience the wilderness, far removed from the daily distractions...

  In August 53 years ago, I discovered Algonquin Provincial Park for the first time. The awe inspiring landscape resonated with me and has kept drawing me back to the park for more than five decades. My affinity for the park was cemented at the age of 16 when high school friend Mike Turner invited me to join his family on a three-week vacation to their family compound on a pine-studded island in the middle of Cache Lake.  If my memory serves me correctly, the site consists of four rustic frame cabins, the original structure having been built by Mike’s grandfather in the 1920's, two boat houses and a pine needle-covered basketball court pounded into the dirt by generations of teenagers playing hoops. Propane gas provided the lighting and ran the cook stove, and water came from a hand pump.  The island has served as a rendezvous place for four generations of extended family, some of whom hailed from California, and an aunt  in her eighties who travelled from France eac...