The Northville-Placid Trail cuts through the West Canada Lakes Wilderness in some of the most remote terrain in the Adirondacks. It’s about as far from human hubbub as one can get. But one rainy July morning, it’s anything but placid.
Deep in a blowdown-filled beaver swamp, the woods reverberate with the voice of my daughter, Rae, who at the moment has—let us be frank—quite the potty mouth. As her backpacking guide, I just made the strategic misstep of laughing as she waded into knee-high slop, followed by my request that she hold that pose while I fish out my camera. Hence, the profanity.
It’s day three of what I thought would be a leisurely four-day itinerary on the French Louie Loop, a seemingly ideal starter trip for Rae after she blessed me with the plea every backpacking father hopes for: Please take me on a trip and show me how to do what you do.
Her request came 18 years after I nearly turned her off from backpacking forever. I had dragged her along for some father-daughter time when a horrid week at work sent me impulsively packing for a weekend getaway to clear my mind. All it really made clear was that a hot, uphill “death march” (her words) was not the best way to spark a teenager’s passion for this sort of thing. It took her this
