Jean-Michel Cousteau Family Camp on California's Catalina Island: Reality is the Best Theme Park

The High Ropes Course

It's the end of January, the days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer. The time of year when the Canadian brain lets itself look forward to summer and think about where to go for vacation. In our family, one of my patented Dad's Adventure Vacations™ is a given. In the past these have included white water rafting on the Kicking Horse River and Toby Creek, heli-hiking in the Cline River area, and the Columbia Ice Fields. Last summer, we also went to the Jean-Michel Cousteau Family Camp on California's Catalina Island. The kids liked it so much we're thinking of going back this summer.

Before last summer, we'd never been to a family camp. I'd never even considered going to one. But when I started planning last February, I heard about the family camp at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and told the boys about it. The decision to go was easy. Who can resist digging for dinosaurs? Then I heard about the Jean-Michel Cousteau family camp that was happening a couple weeks after the Royal Tyrrell camp. The reception from the boys was lukewarm. Although I grew up watching Jean-Michel's dad, Jacques, on TV, they'd never heard of him. Or Catalina Island. Or actually been to a family camp. So we packaged Catalina Island at the end of a family vacation to California: SeaWorld, Universal Studios, Disneyland, Catalina Island. Little did we know that the camp would be everyone's favorite.

Learning to stand up paddle board

Don't get me wrong, the theme parks were fun (full disclosure: although we live in Canada, we've had season passes to Disneyland twice in the past, and the boys have been there at least 10 times...judge not lest ye be judged yourself), but their engineered rides and structured excitement paled in comparison to the real-life experience of the camp. Where the animals and people at SeaWorld are separated by plexiglass, the boys were able to snorkel among the fish and kelp from the camp's beach. Where the kids at Disneyland rushed past each other on the way to the next ride, at the camp they interacted with each other on a very personal, basic level. And where Universal Studios reveals the magic that happens behind the scenes to bring stories alive onscreen, on Catalina the parents and kids created their own magic. It didn't hurt—for me at least—that Jean-Michel Cousteau sat with just the four of us for a few meals and talked about his adventures growing up on the Calypso.

It's fast. It's fun. It's ga-ga.

Getting ready to snorkel through a kelp forest

The snorkeling, paddle boarding and kayaking (Michael and I followed a playful sea lion across the bay one morning) were amazing, but the best part was the freedom. Although there were daily planned activities like archery, the high ropes course, stand up paddle boarding and guided snorkeling, you could also do your own thing. Want to go snorkeling? Walk into the dive shack, grab some gear and go. Want to go stand up paddle boarding? Grab a board and paddle. Tide pooling? Take a walk to the rocks at the end of beach.

The time we spent playing as a family was golden. So was the time Mack and Michael spent off with their new friends. There was always a game of ga-ga for them to join or kids on the water trampoline who were more than happy to push them off and be pushed off. Kids could be kids, and parents could be...relaxed.

Tide pooling

Will we be one of the families who go to Catalina every summer, some for over a decade? Probably not. There's a whole world out there to explore. But we'll definitely go back. If not this summer, then next.

Interested in other family camps? Read this post:
Family camp at the Royal Tyrrell Museum

The camp at sunrise

Kids Fitness: Winter Workouts for Kids, Part 2

Old school kids fitness: The snowball fight

This is part 2 of Kids Fitness: Winter Workouts for Kids. With today’s sedentary, electronic lifestyles, getting kids moving and active can be a challenge at the best of times. In the Canadian winter, prying kids away from their video games is…more difficult yet critical to their fitness today and setting them up for a lifetime of year-round physical activity. Here are five activities that will get you and your kids moving and having fun when the snow is flying.

1. Parent/kid fitness class—Let’s face it, running isn’t much fun. I started when I was 16. Two chronic running injuries (plantar fasciitis on the left and IT band syndrome on the right) and a ruptured disc in my neck later, and I can’t run on regular basis anymore. But I can run once a week in a parent/kid running course at our local recreation centre (the Westside Recreation Centre in Calgary). Mack says he doesn’t like it, but when the class ends and you ask him if he’d like to sign up for the next class he always says yes.
2. Snowshoeing—You don’t have to drive out to the mountains to have fun snowshoeing for a couple hours. Any urban park with snow will do. You don’t even need enough snow to need snowshoes. There’s something about having snowshoes on their feet that makes kids find ways to have fun. They’ll run around, explore places they’d otherwise walk past, and have a blast.
3. Walking to school—It doesn't get any more old school than this, and there’s nothing like walking to build your aerobic fitness. When Mack started grade seven, he wasn’t allowed to take the school bus anymore. Now he and Michael (grade three) walk to and from school, which is 10 or 15 minutes one way. Michael actually prefers walking to taking the bus. Go figure.
4. Snowball fights—Talk about fun. Yet how often do you see kids outside pelting each other with snowballs? Pick teams and home bases, or declare every man for himself, and let the battle commence.
5. Wii—Yes, a video game. But leave Lego Star Wars and Mario Kart on the shelf. Games like Active Life Explorer and Just Dance 4 are fun, get you're heart rate up, and give you a full serving of aerobic exercise in every session. Like swimming in Kids Fitness: Winter Workouts for Kids, Part 1, these games are excellent alternatives when it's just too cold to go out.

Kids Fitness: Winter Workouts for Kids, Part 1

When done correctly, shoveling snow is a competitive sport

I’m assistant coach for my 8-year-old son’s indoor soccer team. After the last game a parent asked the coach about workouts her son could do to get in better shape. Coach Tim suggested bike riding and going for walks. He was on the right track, but considering that it was the middle of January, -10 C outside and the ground was covered in snow, he wasn't very helpful.

With today’s sedentary, electronic lifestyles, it seems that even two practices and a soccer game a week aren’t enough to keep kids in shape. The Canadian winter doesn’t help. Too many kids park themselves in front of the computer or Xbox from October to May, with some extending the gaming season through the summer. Yet, winter is the favorite season of my 12-year-old son Mack and myself. Here are some activities that will keep you and your kids moving—both inside and outside—through the snowy months. Note that I said you and your kids. Nothing motivates kids to get active like seeing their parents get off their butts.

1. Shovelling snow—Just like swinging a kettle ball over your head is an old-school full-body workout for adults, shovelling snow is an old-school full-body work out for kids. Show them how to lift with their legs and they’ll work their calves, quads, hams, glutes, abs, lats, delts, traps, pecs, tris, bis, and pecs , as well as build their aerobic fitness. You can turn shovelling snow into a game by challenging them to see who can make the biggest pile of snow by the end of the winter, or turn it into a family quest to build a single, giant pile.
2. Wall climbing—According to the February 2013 issue of Outside, wall climbing is kinda sorta maybe displacing zumba as the next big thing in fitness. Even if you don’t climb yourself, you can take an hour course to learn how belay your kids and crawl up the wall yourself.
3. Swimming—Nothing beats swimming laps in a lesson for fitness, but it’s not very fun. If your kids balk at swim lessons, take them to nearest wave pool for an hour or two each week. You’ll both burn off a ton of calories and build your aerobic base. This is perfect for days when it's way to cold to go outside.
4. Tobogganing—Tobogganing combines all the benefits of stair climbing with speed, crashes and laughing. Except that those crazed fitness addicts usually do stairs in skimpy running clothes and lightweight running shoes. Your kids will be wearing bulky snow pants and trudging through snow and ice in heavy winter boots, adding to the fitness value.
5. Skating—I told my kids that in Canada, everyone needs to know how to do three things: ride a bike, swim and skate. This is an activity that they’ll be able to do their entire lives. My 78-year-old mother still skates once a week, and she’s one of the youngest people I know.

Go to Kids Fitness: Winter Workouts for Kids, Part 2 for five more winter workouts for kids.

Kids Snowshoeing Gear: Picking out Kids Snowshoes

MSR Shift snowshoes in action

The question of how to pick out a kids snowshoe came up on the discussion board of the Mountain Mamas (& Papas). When I started snowshoeing in Scouts, you had two types to choose from: oversized wood and sinew tennis rackets, and longer wood and sinew "Iroquois" style snowshoes. Both had leather bindings that were prone to icing up. There were no spikes or teeth or fangs on the bottoms. There were no step-in bindings that you tighten by turning a knob.

Good traction makes a big difference on hills

For snowshoes, as with most things, I prefer simplicity. Fewer moving parts mean fewer things to break or freeze up in the backcountry. I also prefer snowshoes with good traction. Even if you aren't going to be climbing mountains, having enough teeth on the bottom of your snowshoe will let you go up moderately steep hills with ease and descend them without your snowshoes slipping out beneath you. Many is the time I've watched people on cheap rented snowshoes slide their way down from Rummel Lake or Chester Lake, never to go snowshoeing again. The right snowshoes will increase the odds of your kids snowshoeing more than once.

My snowshoes are MSR Lightning Assents. They have aggressive traction built into the frames, in addition to toe crampons and cross bars with teeth, and heel lifts that make going up steep hills feel like climbing stairs. They're fantastic, but you can spend half the money and get a great snowshoe with many of the same qualities. The heel lifts are a nice-to-have, but most people don't need them and even fewer actually use them. For adults, the MSR Evo or Evo Tour (approximately $139 and $169) are great, and I bought my kids (8 and 12) MSR Shifts ($90). For younger kids, I'd recommend the MSR Denali Tyker ($60). I've seen them in action against other snowshoes in what I'll call the "mini" segment of the market, and toddlers on Tykers seem to be able to go a lot farther.

MSR Shift Snowshoes for kids. Note the two traction bars and teeth at the toes.

The bindings on all of these snowshoes are simple rubber straps that aren't prone to icing up and that even kids can get on and get off. They're also very light weight snowshoes. Best of all, they're no more expensive than other snowshoes, but can increase your odds of having a fun time.

Wondering where to go snowshoeing with kids? Read these posts:

Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: River View Trail
Snowshoeing with Kids in Banff: Lake Minnewanka
Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: Hogarth Lakes
Heli-snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis
Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: Canyon Creek
Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: West Bragg Creek

Note: MSR didn't pay me anything to write this review.

Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: River View Trail

The campground road to the trail head.

Examining animal tracks.

The River View trail in Kananaskis, although not a designated snowshoe trail, is a fun little path through the trees when you only have an afternoon and don't want to spend most of it in the car driving deeper into the mountains.

Located on the east side of the Rockies, southwest of Bragg Creek, River View trail doesn't always have a lot of snow so save it for the weekend after a big dump. Because it's not one of the designated snowshoe trails in Kananaskis, once you turn off the campground road you'll usually be following someone else's tracks, but the snow isn't always so packed down that you don't need snowshoes. Along the way you'll wind through evergreens, along the frozen Elbow River, and have options to wander off trail and make the snowshoe longer or shorter than usual 4 km round trip.

However, on this kids snowshoeing trip to River View trail, we didn't actually do the River View trail. We had too much fun on the snowshoe from where we'd parked on the highway outside the locked Paddy Flat's campground gates to the trail head, which is also the start of the Paddy's Flat interpretive trail. What should only take five minutes took us an hour.

Extreme snowshoeing

 Almost straight out of the car (after we'd gotten unstuck. NOTE: park on the side of the highway, not in front of the gate. Even if the snow doesn't look that deep), the boys were alternately stopping to examine animal tracks and chasing our dog through the half-meter deep fresh snow. Most of the tracks along the campground road were obliterated by snowshoe track, but Mack and Michael were able to follow what was probably a lynx the entire way to the start of the interpretive trail.

A closed campground in winter takes on an entirely different feel than when it's open in the summer. What is usually an orderly arrangement of roads, cars, campsites, and campers becomes a wide-open playground. Suddenly, the normal rules don't apply and you're free to roam. The signs are no longer in effect. We cut through campsites, wandered through the trees and slid down the hill between two of the campground's "loops". Even the playground took on a different vibe, and the boys spent a half-hour extreme snowshoeing down the slides.

Unfortunately, the sun starts getting low in the sky early in January. We could see the trail head from the playground, but we didn't have time to go any further. So when the mitts were soaked and ice frozen all the way around the tops of boots we headed back to the car and home. With a stop at Bragg Creek for a post snowshoe ice cream cone, of course.

Distance: 4 km return
Elevation gain: Negligible
Hiking/Exploring Time: 2 to 4 hours
Driving Directions: Heading south on Highway 22 from the Trans-Canada, go straight through the traffic circle. At Bragg Creek, turn left at the four-way stop. You'll come to a T-intersection. Turn right onto Highway 66. Follow this to the entrance to Paddy's Flat campground and park on the side of the highway.

 CLICK HERE FOR A DRIVING MAP

Wondering how to get started? Read these posts:
Kids Snowshoeing Gear: Picking out Kids Snowshoes

Wondering where else to go snowshoeing with kids? Read these posts:

Snowshoeing with Kids in Banff: Lake Minnewanka
Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: Hogarth Lakes
Heli-snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis
Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: Canyon Creek
Snowshoeing with Kids in Kananaskis: West Bragg Creek 

The trail head