{"id":27732,"date":"2022-09-17T10:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-17T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=27732"},"modified":"2022-09-12T12:29:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T19:29:28","slug":"lessons-from-solo-moming-it-through-hells-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2022\/09\/17\/lessons-from-solo-moming-it-through-hells-canyon\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Solo-Mom\u2019ing It Through Hells Canyon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every summer, my husband Nick teaches kids to kayak in Cascade, Idaho. We park our trailer there and I work remotely, homeschool our kids and paddle daily. Cascade is the epicenter to a dozen sections of famous multi-day rafting trips: the Grande Rhonde, Snake River and Salmon River just to name a few. Over the years we\u2019ve created an incredible tribe of family paddlers who are always pinging me with permit draws and dates for river trips. If the date works for the whole family, we\u2019re always in.<\/p>\n

This spring, the Burnham Family drew a coveted Hells Canyon permit. Hells Canyon is the deepest canyon in North America and this trip would potentially be my longest raft-supported trip with the kids, six nights and seven days. But Nick would be teaching a kid’s kayaking camp that week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I grew up in an RV. You\u2019d think I would be a pro camper but honestly, it\u2019s quite the opposite. I have almost no tent camping experience. In fact, when Nick and I started dating, the number of times I had slept in a tent was so little, he would take me camping for anniversaries because it would be more special in his eyes\u2014and I needed practice.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s no surprise that it never really occurred to me to solo-mom-it down the Snake River. I regretfully declined the Burnham\u2019s invite.<\/p>\n

Weeks later I got a text. \u201cWe know you said no, but we decided it was best if we drove to where Nick is teaching, hang out with you for a day, drove you to the put-in, then drove you back to Nick after the trip\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

I laughed at my friends\u2019 blunt efforts to eliminate any inconveniences or excuses and encourage me to say yes. So, I obliged with a little hesitation but mostly excitement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I had prepared nothing come the week of the trip. In fact, the day before my pick-up the only thing I had successfully done was to have bought Ziploc bags for snacks, but I hadn\u2019t packed the snacks. I was really going to have to hustle to pull this off. I started packing early the next morning. By mid-day, I had two large drybags stuffed to capacity. When my friend stopped by to check on me before going for a paddle, it only took one look to realize my mistake. I needed to get our gear down to one giant dry bag.<\/p>\n

Mid-trip, the anxiety of over-packing to eliminate forgetting something led to my first lesson: You can never pack it all. Instead, mentally prepare for the things you\u2019ll physically forget<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I tried to be prepared for every scenario. But you can never be 100% prepared\u2014especially given only one bag. If you have your basics down, everything else can be improvised. As a parent, it\u2019s important to prepare for how you react to scenarios where the kids are accustomed to instant gratification. For example, on the second day, Parker was upset I didn\u2019t bring a certain toy for her and her friends to play with. Instead of saying it didn\u2019t fit or making an excuse, I apologized and told her I did the best that I could, and I just couldn\u2019t make it work. Recognizing that I wasn\u2019t intentionally trying to keep her from something, she immediately said,\u201d It\u2019s okay, Mom,\u201d and went back to making houses with rocks.<\/p>\n