View topic - Killarney with the little guy

hey guys, so I booked a yurt in Killarney for the last weekend of January... planning on 2 nights, the first night will just be to sleep as we'll be driving up after work. then heading home after the second night... We're taking our 2.5 year old along with us. this is the first time we will have been in killarney in the winter, is a day trip to topaz lake and back too ambitious with the little guy? we figured the crack is out of the question with him.... anyone have any other suggestions for a day out that would be suitable for the little guy but not boring for us at the same time ?

cheers

Kevin

Just go with the weather conditions and come up with several options.
How to you plan to transport him.
You live close to me (Milton)I have a small plastic sled ( 5' long, 4" deep) you can borrow and you can pull it with a harness I have.
I would fit easily in a trunk.
You want to keep him entertained and safe. A good experience will get you paid back big time when he is older.
Jeff

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho

Topaz lake ? thats easily 8 km one way , 16km round trip on a hiking trail, and not likely going to happen. Let alone dangerous for days with 10 hours of daylight .Snow will slow you down big time..so an easy sled pull on George Lake will be enough, be happy if you even get 1 km away from your yurt. Youll float better on big snowshoes. 2.5 year old winter camping?...you are a very brave person.

Why don't you just sit in the back with the baby?

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"it" ........




Jeff

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho

The same trail to Lumsden lake and return should be doable if it is packed down for snowshoes. It wasn't when I tried it and breaking trail through deep snow took a lot of energy. Still got to climb the peak overlooking Lumsden and Georgian Bay with the return to the campground much easier.

Another option is the Chikanishing trail that overlooks Georgian Bay, if the road to the parking lot and boat launch is plowed. If it isn't, there still might be snowmobile tracks to snowshoe on since a snowmobile trail crosses the road.

PS... snowshoeing on lakes near the shoreline and next to cliffs might be risky... I broke through the ice at the base of the cliff on Lumsden and fortunately only got soaked to the knees by falling back onto the ice and holding on. There must have been a spring there which made for thin ice... good luck.

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Thanks for the replies and the offer, I have a similar sled from what you describe but the game is to constantly get in and out of the sled and we get nowhere, we have a backpack for him which he's been in since he's been physically able to support himself and we would probably use that. I wondered about topaz as I recall it was an easy trip and a lunch stop for us when we last did the loop clockwise but I have no idea how well used or packed down the trail gets in the winter. We want to get him exposed to as much as we can right from the start he's already been on a canoe trip and I figure the yurts are heated and if we have to bail then we bail.. Such is life as long as everyone is safe and enjoying it, including our boy then that's what matters.

On a different note, has anyone on here done the lacloche in the winter ? I'm told only a few people do it every year and have yet to find any real info from anyone who has completed it. I've done it 3 times now in summer doing it in winter is very very high in my list of things I would like to accomplish

LM(f)AO

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Shawn http://myselfreliance.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIMXKi ... q2UJePJEog

Your welcome to sit in the trunk, in fact there's probably lots a of room inside the car...I'm not pulling U around on a sled though lol gotta draw the line somewhere

The child will enjoy a day outside sleighing, building snowmen and an igloo, rolling in the snow, skiing or skating etc more than a hike to Topaz. Lots of variety keeps them happy.

That makes a lot of sense, maybe a little too focused on a destination

We used to do that. We spent days in the snow -- and overnights in the hot tent -- when the kids were about 3. Lots of fun!

They need lots of bedding on the sled, and wind protection for the face.

Other than that, games and songs...

...and the goal of your trip is to have winter fun with the kid. The goal is NOT to make any particular destination. The sooner you accept that, the more fun you will have. (It took me several trips in canoes to understand that it's perfectly acceptable for the trip goal to be the collection of rocks, or pine cones, or to capture a turtle.)

Dave

While its Algonquin, not Killarney, we blogged out Yurt experience last year. Not sure how much of it you can use. A note - the Ravens are the food stealers in winter. Our youngest would have been similar age to yours at the time. We went in extreme cold, and the yurt heater could only barely keep up - especially if the kids kept opening the door.

Our teen fared worse than the boys.

That's my experience as well -- very young children are better partners than early teens.

Neither are bad -- it's just that the younger ones are so happy with the little things...

Looking back, I wish I'd focused less on work, and done more trips with my kids. I did enough, but in retrospect, perhaps only just...

Dave