I had the chance to bring the two oldest with me for an ice out trip. I took my daughter (now 6 1/2 years old) on a similar trip 2 years ago and now I'm also bringing my 3 1/2 year old son. Just a simple trip to Ragged Lake which I have never been to.

So what happens if you take you get taken out of school/daycare and watch mindless TV for several hours without asking for a single pee break? You get a massive Ice Cream at 11 in the morning! This is daddy's parenting style at it's finest.



My 25 year old backpack had finally died so my new pack is the large MEC Slogg and I love it. No more need for all those little dry bags, just stuff in all the sleeping bags, clothes, and toilet paper, seal it up and go. My daughter had grown so I got her a new bag for her and packed it kind of heavy. My daughter's old pack went to my son who was carrying all the food.



We didn't see another boat all the way down to the portage. We were planning to single carry and things started out good until both son and daughter started struggling on the steep rocky and muddy incline, they were almost falling backward from the weight of their packs so change to Plan B. I put the canoe down and helped them carry their packs over the short portage then went back and got the boat. Still made good time and before we knew it we snagged Campsite 3 on Ragged Lake which was perfect for us. On a point with shore on 3 sides and wide open space inside. On the tip of the point I got an intermittent cell signal that allowed me to text the wife to assure her everyone was fine.



The hammock is the only toy we brought. The kids spent a lot of time hunting "crystals" which to me looked like slightly sparkly rocks.



There was a good climbing tree too.



This was our sleeping arrangement. The kids on the mondoking, feet in the middle and heads on opposite sides and I was on the smaller thermorest. It was the perfect plan but I miscalculated because they both wanted me to sleep with my head beside theirs. Arrrrrg! Luckily we all fell asleep quickly.



The official firepit was on a huge rock but it was just a pile of rocks and muddy ashes with no practical place to build a fire. I had to chuck all the rocks over to the side and scrap off all the muddy ashes with my axe until I got down to the base. Then we had one nice fire.



I prefer not having a fire ring as it lets you feel the fire more. Unfortunately previous occupants had built two auxiliary firepits which were used to pretend cook some pine cones with some white fungus like deposit that the kids called marshmallow. Speaking of marshmallow, that and maple syrup, chocolate chips, fruit and granola bars, plus a bit of pancakes, oatmeal, and Annie's pasta was all that the kids ate. Their diet was 90% sugar.


This was a perfect site with lots of room for play and exploring for the kids. We had taken a couple of exploratory hikes. First towards the nearest campsite but we turned back when we could see it was occupied by people who were much quieter than us. The other hike was to the top of the hill behind the site where I was hoping to get a better cell signal, but did not. We got slightly thrown off course coming back down and had to walk much further than expected along the shore to make it back to our site. On the day we left it was a beautiful morning.



Before we headed out we explored 3 of the nearby campsites and we found the coolest looking tree.



This time I made sure the kid's packs were much lighter and we rocked the portage in a single carry.
Another successful trip with the little ones. Next year's goal, if my wife allows it, is to get out with all 3 kids, including the youngest who will be 2 1/2 at that point.