Making Room for Autism in Your Canoe by Fiona Westner-Ramsay (e book reader for pc .txt) 📕

This year was our son's first wilderness trip by canoe. Taking a child on a canoe trip can be a bit trying at times under any circumstances, but when you throw autism into the mix... you have to be that much more prepared. And so does the child. Thus, like many good autism stories... this one begins with visual aids.

(See #1 in the Footnotes Chapter for more details)



I am a bit of an artist and Photoshop gal (a popular computer program for graphic designers), so I was able to make a home-made picture story. I used my drawings and the internet, to help explain what canoeing and portaging is to Makobe and what it means to sleep in the forest (or the "jungle" as Makobe likes to refer to it).



After spending a few years slowly introducing Makobe (who just turned eight) to canoeing, we were able to make plans for a real wilderness trip into Algonquin Park’s interior. (See #2 in the Footnotes Chapter for more details)

A trip into the interior is a serious affair. We will be hours away from help if something should go wrong. There is bear safety to consider and weather conditions to prepare for. But we felt Makobe was ready. And, after going thru the visual aids multiple times in the days and weeks before the actual trip, we packed the gear, the car, the food, our bellies, and headed for the Rock Lake access point in Algonquin Park.


Day One

At the put in.

We left the iPod in the car purposely. Makobe loves his iPod videos and so we thought that would be a great motivator for the paddle home at the end of the trip. We loaded up the canoe at the fairly busy access point at Rock Lake Campground.

The day was beautiful and after a short paddle up a small creek, we were headed out across the bay. But before we had gone far, Mike noticed the new little Pack Canoe by Swift being paddled by someone near Rock Lake Campground. “There’s the new Pack Canoe,” Mike called out to us. Then a minute later he proclaimed, “I think that is Brian!” And sure enough it was! Brain Duplante is a fellow employee of Swift Canoe & Kayak, working the tradeshows with Mike, and at the Swift Oxtongue location.

We shouted out to him and Brian quickly paddled over to us to say hello and have a chat. While Makobe was a little taken aback by Brian's sudden apprearance, he did say hello with some prompting. (But only after he said “Bye bye Brian!” first!)

I couldn’t really blame Makobe for his wariness… we have never met with anyone in the middle of a lake for an unscheduled social visit before. With a warning of some strong winds ahead, Brian was off with this lovely wife, Brenda (who was in her own kayak) to paddle another of Algonquin's many lakes.

Makobe’s First Ever Portage.

After battling some strong winds, we were finally able to make it into the sheltered bay and entrance to the Madawaska River. Makobe was happy to play with his water toys and dragging his fingers thru the water as we paddled along. After a quick snack and stop for a drink, we paddled our way through the rocky waters of the Madawaska to the Galeairy Lake portage and dam.


Makobe transitioned like a pro! He helped carry his share across the portage, thru the forest, and even posed proudly under the bright yellow sign that marks the way for travellers, at the beginning with his water bottle and again at the end with his paddles.

We had the portage to ourselves and so were able to take our time. By the end of it we were all hot and Makobe asked for a swim. We decided to find a camp site for the night first (we were awfully close to the dam) and so put Makobe off with a “First – Then” scenario.(See #3 in the Footnotes Chapter for more details)

Camp, Sweet Camp

Within 10 minutes of the portage we found the perfect site to camp. It was an island so our dog Sadie could go without a leash, and it had a great rocky shore for swimming. It also had “all day sun” so that was an even bigger bonus. After some swimming we spent our time setting up the tent, the rest of camp, and lighting a fire.

Makobe was excited to sleep in the tent. But because Makobe doesn’t know enough not to wipe his marshmallowie hands on his clothes, at this point, we couldn’t take the chance of keeping Makobe’s worn day clothes in the tent for the night. So we brought clothes that we wear ONLY for sleeping and put the dirty clothes in a dry bag (air tight) under the tarp for the night - away from camp.

We also wrap our all our food, cooking utensils (as well as other scented objects like sunscreen, soap, etc.) in a tarp away from camp every night to help ensure bear safety as well. Mike sometimes refers to it as a "bear burrito". We even carry bear spray and noise makers for emergency situations. We had explained to Makobe we needed to put the food away (far from camp) so the growling bears wouldn’t get us. From then on he wanted us to “talk like a growling bear” where we would growl deeply and he would crack up with laughter.


Day Two

At the Camp

Today we decided to take it easy. The weather was nice and we thought Makobe would like to spend the day getting to know his camp site and routine. Bacon on the to start the day and swimming was next. Mostly Makobe spent the day in the water swimming, getting warmed by the fire in between. He also spent time hanging around with his stuffed horse toy on the rock by the water.(See #4 in the Footnotes Chapter for more details)

Mike and I enjoyed our day as well just attending to the details of camp life. There is always firewood to collect or a fire to tend to, a tent peg to adjust, or a tarp to hang. We also had to boil water for drinking as our water purifier’s cartridge was cracked and we had no spare.

Makobe participated for short intervals with chores he could be successful with (i.e. picking up kindling to start the fire, etc.) But as the afternoon pressed on – we got restless and so decided to explore the lake for a bit. We packed up some food and headed out. We paddled across another bay and came to a small island that was perfect for swimming - and jumping into the water (one of Makobe’s favourite water activities to be sure!). It was a very deep drop off but Makobe is a strong swimmer. After much water play, we paddled the shoreline back to camp while Mike trolled his fishing line and we looked for firewood. Makobe wanted to paddle for a little bit but got bored pretty quickly, as most kids do. By the end of the day Makobe was exhausted. He couldn’t wait to get to the tent after our roasted marshmallows that night.

Day Three

Rain Rain Go Away

Twice we tried to venture out for a day trip and twice we were shut down by heavy rain. Thankfully Makobe was dry in his rain gear, found the rain visually interesting, and what boy doesn’t like a puddle or two?! There was no thunder to speak of so Makobe did swim a bit but it wasn’t as much fun without the sun. (See #5 in the Footnotes Chapter for more details about appropriate dress for camping)

Makobe did ask for the iPod today but was easily distracted with camp life and let it go when we informed him he had 2 more sleeps before he would see his gadget. Knowing that roasted marshmallows and Smores were coming later that evening didn’t hurt either! But living in the forest was proving to be more reinforcing to Makobe then technology at this point, and for that we were grateful. We also brought a few toys for him to play with as well for such rainy camp days.

Day Four

Galeairy Lake Adventure

Today we woke to clear and sunny skies with very little breeze. A paddlers’ dream! We quickly made plans to set out for a day on the lake. We paddled to an island across the bay that had a camp site shown on the map. As we got closer we could see a number of trees had been blown over by a powerful storm not too long ago. There were over a dozen large trees down and all of their root systems were exposed in a wall of dirt. The camp site was a mess. There was a large tree down over the fire pit area and it was hard to see where a tent could go with all the damage. There were at least 3 large trees blown down around the actual site. We took some pictures and moved on.



Because Makobe wanted to swim again we headed over to the small island we had visited the day before. But we weren’t there long before our dog Sadie had uncovered a wasp’s nest close to where we were sitting. We moved away from the buzzing angry insects and gave Makobe a verbal warning that swimming was going to be “all done” in 5 minutes.

After working thru the transition, we packed ourselves back into the canoe and off we went in search of the Night Lake portage. Makobe stayed quiet for the paddle with a snack of gluten free pretzels and juice. We found the portage and walked across to investigate Night Lake. It was a small swampy lake that Mike was keen to come back to fish another day. We walked back across the portage and headed back out on Galeairy to look for another spot for Makobe to swim as the day was getting hot.

Across another bay we found a wonderful swimming rock that Makobe didn’t want to leave. It was a great place to jump from. Makobe was extremely happy with the landscape and swimming conditions there. We had a bit of a hard time getting him out but he eventually was calm enough to get back into the canoe for a small lunch as we paddled back across the lake to our camp again.

Seeing it was the last night we brought out the “Mystical Fire Packets” that create colourful flames within your camp fire including blue, green and purple. While I think that Mike and I found the concept a bit more fascinating then Makobe did, he did comment on the colours by labeling them spontaneously. Then off to the tent to sleep for the big day tomorrow…. We have to pack everything up and head home.

Day 5

The Old Man is Snoring!

On our last day we woke to heavy rain and rolling thunder. We decided to still pack up camp with the hopes that the system would blow over. Within a half an hour of taking our tent down and putting our sleeping bags back in their dry bags – the area where our tent had been was a total swamp. Our tent