Two families; five kids; three canoes and one BIG wilderness. This was our Spatsizi Wilderness Paddle adventure.

We started out in a cold rain along the long portage that required a rope belay of a heavily laden canoe down the steep trail. Reaching the shallow rapids of the upper Spatsizi River near the Sacred Headwaters, we slid the canoes into the silt-laden water, tied in gear and food for 10 days, put PFD's on the kids, and pushed off into the swift water that cuts dramatically down through the Spatsizi Wilderness Plateau.

The silty waters hid many tracherous rocks that banged and redirected our canoes, threatening to toss us all into the icy waters. Many stretches of rapids sloshed water over the gunnels and around every corner were sweepers, deadheads or standing waves to keep us all on our toes.

Without fail, every place that we came ashore was covered in tracks - wolf, grizzly and moose - but no humans. In fact, the absence of other signs of humans made us feel like we were the first people to travel down this wild river. This was the challenge we posed to the kids -how to leave no trace of our campsites, so that the next paddlers would have the same rich wilderness experience that we had. The kids rose to the challenge by digging holes for our fires and burying the ash, checking over the campsite before leaving to look for any little bits of trash that might have been forgotten, and using a trowel to dig proper cat holes.

Storing 90 person-days of food in such a way as to be beyond the reach of bears was a daily challenge overcome with ingenuity, considerable rope, and a few raw hands.

Kids in the wilderness with no electronic distractions find other ways to entertain themselves. Sand olympics, wrestling, fishing, and building sand traps occupied their free time.

New experiences for the kids included learning to gut fish and discover what they've eaten by opening their stomachs, conquering the fear of drowning in rapids, trying to ignore mosquitoes, and the difference between a draw and a pry.

New experiences for the adults included how to fit 9 people, 3 canoes, and gear and food for 10 days into one pick-up truck, how to pass a kidney stone in the wilderness, and how to keep spirits up on day 9 of packing up a wet, sandy tent.

When we finally reached our take-out, 255 km downstream of the put-in, and reluctantly pulled outselves away from the river, we each brought our own bits of the Spatsizi Wilderness back with us in our bones.