FAMILY CIRCLE ROUTE FROM THE FRONT LINES TO THE BACKCOUNTRY: Parents Ellen and Sean Byrne both work in Powell River health facilities, and have been on the job through the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, they spent six days paddling the Powell Forest Canoe Route – a circle from Lois Lake to Powell Lake – with their children ages 12, 9 and 5. BY SEAN BYRNE
The Powell Forest Canoe Route has been on our ‘Powell River Bucket List’ for years, so when our summer travel plans were cancelled due to the pandemic it seemed like the perfect opportunity. In a way, it’s kinda funny – after months of socially distancing, our choice vacation was to head into the backcountry where we’d scarcely see another person for six days! We had about two weeks to organize and plan, and we wanted to do
it on a shoestring, so we borrowed as much gear as we could from friends. We bought a dehydrator and dried meals such as spaghetti, curries, rice and beans, fruit leather, and tofu jerky (well-worth the investment), and used blow – up mats for sleeping (which doubled as floaties for swimming during the day). At first the idea of lugging all of our supplies and camping gear through the forest, loading and unloading it multiple times per day, with three kids, aged 5, 9 and 12, and a dog in tow, seemed daunting. We imagined them complaining about being tired and bored, and fighting with each other as they went through withdrawals from electronics and sugar. However, from the first moment we hit the water on Lois Lake, something amazing happened. Instead of complaining of being bored, they began to take an interest in nature around them. Instead of fighting over the re-
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• September 2020 • prliving.ca
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