Navigating Life: The Sun Is a Compass

The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds 
by Caroline Van Hemert

Caroline Van Hemert is a scientist and adventurer. As she finished her doctoral dissertation, she and her husband planned a journey through the Alaskan wilderness. As she traveled, she hoped to rediscover her love of the natural world that first lured her into science and to envision the life she and her husband would create for themselves at this time of transition.

Seeing a gray-headed chickadee is special not because its feathers shimmer with iridescence of because it has just arrived from Polynesia but because almost nothing is known about these tiny birds. If I hadn't been paying attention, if I hadn't tuned my ears to the patter of wings and the echo of silence, I would have missed it entirely. (p. 14)

Dr. Van Hemert mentioned studying writing before beginning her biology graduate work, and her words are often thrilling and enthralling. She writes of her first introduction to fieldwork in Alaska.

They flew so close to one another that, for a moment, I couldn't see the sky above me. As they came directly overhead, I ducked. When I looked up again, the palette of colors--white wings against blue sky, ray rock against green water--left me gasping for breath. (p. 26)

Though her parents had spent years sending their children outside, camping, skiing, and exploring their home state of Alaska, her field work transformed her attitude.

For the first time, I saw the natural world not through textbooks but through my own eyes. I began to understand how ecological questions I'd learned about in school were embedded in the muddy, messy realities of fieldwork, and I loved it. (p. 27)

Cue poetic knowledge, though most of us probably don't imagine tents, camp stoves, rain, snow, and lots of guano when we think of the term. A recurring theme in the book is the contrast between fieldwork and laboratory work in modern science. Time in the laboratory is the norm for scientists, but Dr. Van Hemert obviously has fallen in love with the natural world, not with the laboratory. She writes of the early naturalist and indigenous people who learned to observe the natural world, that by watching and listening, they were able to learn about the seasons, plants, animals, and birds. Today's scientist, however, uses more equipment and laboratory tests than observation to advance knowledge.

Science has gone the way of most other things in our digital world. High-tech, computer-centric, and data-hungry. As a result, we know much more than we used to. But we also spend much less time as observers. Wandering through the woods with only a backpack, a notebook, and a pair of binoculars has become a novelty, rather than a necessity, for many biologists. (pp. 125-126) 

This book reminded me of the generous gift we provide in nature study, the habit of walking through the natural world and paying attention to it. Dr. Van Hemert fell in love with birds and being outside with them. Her love of them led to advanced study in biology, because she wanted to understand and protect them, but that very study pulled her away from time immersed in their wild world. It's a tension every biologist and naturalist will recognize.

We tend to think the days of crossing the arctic on skis are over, but they're not! Few make the attempt, and it's no less difficult than in early days of exploring.

In this transition zone, where spring is nudging out winter, there is no perfect way to travel--too much snow for hiking and too little for skiing. The river flows through a narrow slot canyon choked with ice, making paddling impossible. We clamber over logs and across fields of pine needles and crispy brown ferns, skis dangling from our feet like useless appendages. Sweating and straining, we cover less than a mile in two hours.

If you're traveling by ski and boat, you run many great risks, even with air-dropped supplies. More than once, they escape real danger or barely avoid starvation. There are many times they escape death through quick action or luck. The water, the mountains, the bears, the hunger...they all present very real dangers.

As a mother with daughters, I paid close attention to Dr. Van Hemert's conversations with herself about the possibility of having children. A baby would limit their freedom to explore, but her sister and others reveal some of the great joys of children.

If parenthood inspires the sort of bond I feel with them [her parents] right now, even from a distance, maybe my sister is right. Maybe having a child matters more than battling brush and postholing through last season's snow. Maybe family trumps wilderness. Or perhaps these pieces--made of illness and love and birth and death--are inextricably linked, tangled and messy like the green stalks of alder that grow on every hillside. (p. 155)

The book itself doesn't give a final answer except in the epilogue, which describes their first backpacking trip with a ten week old son. It's different, but enchanting.

I knew a baby would change our lives. What I hadn't realized is that this doesn't mean we must let go of what we love. Only now do I see that my worries about losing myself, or us, or our desire for adventure, were misplaced...We will continue to navigate by the only means we know: one stroke, one footfall, one moment at a time. (p. 293)

If you're interested in dangerous adventures like hiking through the Arctic, this book will give you an excellent idea of what that will be like, and perhaps some tips on the planning and preparation. If you know me in real life, you know this is far more ambitious than anything I'd even consider. It doesn't sound fun or worthwhile in the least. But I love reading about adventures like this one. I'm completely content to live vicariously through Caroline Van Hemert and others who share their tales in books I can drink while sipping tea at my kitchen table.

This book is about a crazy journey through Alaskan wilderness, but it is also about finding wonder in the natural world, balancing self and others, and learning how to make a life as a family.

I will include this in our list of possible high school North American geography books. It's definitely best for a more mature reader as the author writes about traveling and living with her husband before they were married, even as the author asks herself what their future as a couple will be. She also occasionally mentions times when they are intimate. These instances are sometimes a little more descriptive than I may prefer for my teenagers, but there's nothing explicit.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. I checked this book out from our library.

2016 Grand Adventure, Days 15-16: San Francisco and Kirby Cove

You can find links to any other 2016 Grand Adventure posts at the "home page."

Day 15: We left our friends and drove to San Francisco, arriving around noon. It was too early to go to our campsite, so we had a picnic lunch on Rodeo Beach in the Golden Gate Recreation Area. Finally, the children saw the Pacific Ocean. And promptly fell in love, despite the gray skies and cold water.

It's amazing they ate anything at all, given their fascination with standing as close to the waves as they could without getting wet. (They got wet, of course.)

We stopped by our campsite at Kirby Cove campground before driving out to a suburb to have dinner with Kansas Dad's aunt and uncle. This campground has access to a beach nearly under the Golden Gate Bridge with amazing views of San Francisco (if it's not too foggy) and ships going in and out of the harbor (even if it is).

This was one of my favorite campgrounds of the whole trip. Who would have guessed you can camp so near to San Francisco? There are disadvantages, of course. You have to trundle your gear down a hill (wheelbarrows provided) and there's no running water. Totally worth it!

We found plenty of wildlife, birds and a sea lion or seal unconcerned by our presence.

We had a lovely dinner with Kansas Dad's family and his aunt even graciously provided two bags full of cookies to sustain us over the next few days. We had been worried about the sound of the foghorn or the boats so nearby, but we mainly heard the waves crashing on the shore.

Total driving for day 15 - 155 miles.

Day 16: The following morning, the kids and I spent as long as we could on the beach while Kansas Dad packed the van.

The children amassed quite the nature collection by the time we needed to leave. We left everything there for future visitors, taking only pictures with us. Well, and a lot of sand and wet shoes. (The shoes were famously soggy and damp for the next week as we were never anywhere dry enough long enough. They should have worn their sandals!)

Being so close to the bridge, we stopped on our way out and walked out a bit on it. The noise from the vehicles is quite overwhelming, but it was fun to watch boats in the harbor.

Then we spent the entire day driving, arriving at one of the Redwoods campgrounds, Elk Prairie, in time to set up camp and make dinner. It lived up to its name as these Roosevelt Elk were nonchalantely relaxing across from the registration wall.

Total driving for day 16 - 319 miles.

2016 Grand Adventure, Days 11-12: Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks

You can find links to any other 2016 Grand Adventure posts at the "home page."

Day 11: We woke to a misty morning at Sequoia. We hadn't noticed any bears, but there were mule deer wandering through the campground. We visited the Foothills Visitor's Center which had only a few small exhibits and rather unhelpful rangers. We wanted to know the grade going up to the see the giant sequoias. Kansas Dad was a little worried about the van making it up the mountain as sequoias only grow above 4,000 or 5,000 feet. However, Kansas Dad insisted we had promised the children they would see giant sequoia trees and it seemed silly to have driven so far and miss them. So up we went!

It was damp and chilly with low clouds, but the trees still looked magnificent. The Giants Forest Museum is larger than the Foothills Visitors Center with lots of attractive and informative displays. Then we walked the Big Trees Trail, which is an easy short paved trail.

It's always a little sad to me when they pave trails, but I understand that it not only allows access to visitors of all abilities but also protects the environment. The paved trails often visit the most famous sites and this one also provided evidence of all sorts of information about the sequoias so you could see exactly what happens over time.

It appears the trees don't really die; they just eventually tip over, leaving exposed enormous roots.

Sadly, the trip down the mountain was more exciting than Kansas Dad would have hoped. The van's engine struggled for a while then made a large clumping noise before dwindling to a whine. Kansas Dad carefully steered us slowly down the rest of the mountain amidst our prayers we'd at least make it to the visitor's center, desperately hoping we wouldn't be stranded on the long winding road, blocking the path for other visitors and (horrors!) having to walk down that busy highway with our four children.

We did make it down, which was good, but then Kansas Dad spent hours trying to use the pay phone (no cell service) to communicate with our insurance company for the tow service, our mechanic back home (because he knew the problem was the same we had last year and the part should be covered by the warranty company), the warranty company, a rental company (failed on that count and had to find a rental later), and a number of different area mechanics before finding one that would have time to look at the van that day (Friday afternoon).

Finally, he made arrangements and a tow truck came for the van.

Kansas Dad rode along with him and the kids and I waited at the visitor's center. I didn't want to go on any trials or wander far because Kansas Dad had no way to reach us, so we sat outside for a few hours. The kids were terrific. We had a deck of cards and played lots of games. They taught me the first taekwondo form. When the visitor's center closed, the nicest ranger at Sequoia asked First Son to help her fold the flag. (The other rangers had been no help at all when we were trying to find a cab. No one offered a phone and they couldn't even find a recent phone book to look up a rental car company. We were surprised and disappointed.)

They read their own books, and finally, we managed the last few minutes by reading from a book I had on my Kindle.

Kansas Dad had rented the last minivan in the area, booked the last hotel room in the city, and rushed back to Sequoia to pick us up. The mechanics had promised to leave the van where we could get it, but when we got there, it was locked in the garage. So there we were without clothes or toiletries. Sigh.

We did find a terrific Chinese restaurant thanks to Yelp and then found a superstore for some t-shirts and toothbrushes.

Total driving for day 11 - 40 miles (not counting the miles the van was towed or the miles in the rental van).

Day 12: Kansas Dad picked up our bags first thing in the morning. Since we had to wait on the mechanics, we decided to drive up to King's Canyon National Park, originally not on our itinerary. We didn't have time to drive to the actual canyon because we wanted to be back to town in time to pick up the van before the mechanic closed (praying it would be ready and we wouldn't have to stay the whole weekend!).

We walked to the General Grant Tree and then drove a bit in the park before heading back.

This is one of the trees people have lived in over the years. They even stabled horses here at one point.

It was still misty, of course, which is a regular weather pattern where sequoia thrive.

Our mechanic was terrific and finished the van in time for us to pick it up. We had just enough time to stop and buy First Daughter a new pair of shoes since hers were literally falling to pieces. Then we started our drive to Yosemite, glad to have at least half a day there.

Total driving in the rental van - about 140 miles. (The kids discovered reading lights in the rental and have declared it's the one "need" we we finally replace our van.)

The drive to Yosemite would have been more beautiful in daylight, but we were glad to find a place to stay overnight near the park for less than $200. (We had given up our camping site the day before.)
Total driving in our van - 145 miles.

2016 Grand Adventure, Days 7-8: Grand Canyon National Park

You can find links to any other 2016 Grand Adventure posts at the "home page."

Still on day 7 - We drove from Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument to Grand Canyon National Park, through the east entrance. The first visitor's center we reached was Desert View with the Watchtower.

About five minutes after we reached the edge, Second Son asked, "Can we go now?"

There are lots of nice people visiting the national parks who are willing to take family pictures. Too bad our five-year-old makes that face every time.

We reached our campground in time to have lunch there and managed to come upon a very enjoyable Critter Chat. Kansas Dad thinks the National Park Service sends their A team to the Grand Canyon.

We hiked just a tiny bit of the Rim Trail and visited the Yavapai Geology Museum. There were lots of mule deer wandering around. Our extra layers kept us warmer during the night, though walking Second Son to the bathroom in the freezing weather (low of 31) was only bearable because of the astoundingly clear night sky (which he didn't appreciate, sigh).

Total driving for Day 7 - 126 miles.

Day 8 - We had new neighbors when we woke up, a young family from San Francisco with a two-year-old who won the hearts of our children, especially the girls. We could barely pull them away from him quickly enough to make it to an 11 am Ranger-guided Fossil Walk. She talked a lot about the geology of the canyon but the highlight for the children was the last part when she wandered on the rocks and pointed out fossils under our feet. I think First Daughter took pictures of each one.

After the ranger talk, we walked back to the main visitor's center for a packed lunch of peanut butter and honey roll-ups before attempting a little hike on the Bright Angel Trail.

Second Daughter, as usual, spotted a small creature of interest as hundreds of other visitors wandered obliviously past.

We also spied a California Condor just after lunch.

The hike on Bright Angel Trail was breath-taking, but emotionally exhausting. Kansas Dad and I were both too concerned with keeping our four children away from the edge to appreciate the views. So we only hiked about twenty minutes down the trail before turning around.

The highlight of Grand Canyon for the kids was the shuttle ride we took to Hermit's Rest and back again. Second Son especially loved riding the bus more than looking at the canyon.

Kansas Dad and I would love to return to the Grand Canyon and hike some more without young children. I'm glad we visited, but it was probably one of our least favorite parks because there were so many people (and it must be much worse later in the season!) and we were always discomfited by the distance or lack thereof between our children and the edge. The main visitor areas all have fences along the rim, but the disadvantage there is the theme-park aura of parking lots, large paved areas, lots of people and restaurants, and (ironically) the fences.

Total driving for Day 8 - 10 miles (and most of that was Kansas Dad trying to find us when the kids were tired, the shuttle bus was full, and he hiked back to the van to come back and pick us up).

2016 Grand Adventure, Days 1-3: Mesa Verde and Four Corners

You can find links to any other 2016 Grand Adventure posts at the "home page."

Day 1: We drove 441 miles to Lathrop State Park in Colorado, where it was windy and cold. We searched for a while before finding a campsite that seemed relatively sheltered for our tall tent. This seems like a nice state park, though we didn't stay long enough to explore. We expected the temperature to be chilly, but everyone woke in the middle of the night too cold to sleep and we were digging through bags for more clothes to add on. Checking online, I see the low temperature for the night was 23 F.

In the morning, as we were trying to get everyone up and going after a wakeful night, First Daughter stole First Son's pillow...and he just kept right on sleeping.

Mountain through van window, by child

Day 2: After a quick breakfast, we drove 260 miles to Mesa Verde National Park, our first official destination. Though the distance was less, the elevation was greater. We drove through the North La Veta Pass (9,413 ft) and the Wolf Creek Pass (10,856 ft, and snow). This was our first trip (of many) over the Continental Divide.

Again, we braved rain and cold at Mesa Verde. Generally the temperature overnight was in the 40s with periods of heavy rain, though it dipped down into the 30s at least a little. The campground here is really nice and has lots of amenities available during the season, which started the day after we arrived.

Day 3: Second Daughter woke us at 6:10 am so at least we got as early a start as possible. We ate breakfast and broke camp before visiting Mesa Verde proper. The drive to Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum alone was impressive for our Kansas kids.

We walked up to Park Point, the highest point in the park at 8,572 ft, from which we were able to see Shiprock. This formation had been in First Daughter's science reading for the year, so I was excited to see it with my own eyes (more than she was).

We walked out behind the museum to see Spruce Tree House (closed to visitors, so we just looked at it from afar), then followed the Mesa Top Loop Road to see a few of the sites, though we didn't have time for everything.

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

The inhabitants not only carved out the palaces and dwellings, they would sometimes climb to the top to maintain their fields without ladders!

After a morning exploring, we climbed into our van for the drive to Four Corners. To get there, we drove through some of the emptiest landscape of the United States. It was cold and windy at Four Corners, too.

So argumentative we made them go to different states!

There's not much in Four Corners, but all the children enjoyed standing in four states at the same time. (We have a picture of each of them.) Then, we hopped back in the van to drive to Moab, where it was rainy and cold and muddy. Luckily, I had booked a campsite at a private campground with a communal kitchen. Thank goodness for dry meals! Total driving for day 3 - 248 miles.

Grand Adventure 2016 Home Page

There's so much to write about our Grand Adventure I decided to give the trip it's own "home page." I'll add links to the posts here as I get around to writing them.

Link to the overall post (showing the mileage and other numbers)

Our Adventure Day by Day
I debated about whether to write detailed posts on our adventures, but decided I wanted them on the blog so I'm afraid you'll have to endure them.

• Days 1-3: Mesa Verde National Park and Four Corners
• Day 4: Arches National Park
• Day 5: Canyonlands National Park
• Days 6-7: Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
• Days 7-8: Grand Canyon National Park
• Days 9-10: Hoover Dam and Death Valley National Park
• Days 11-12: Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park
• Days 13-14: Yosemite National Park
• Days 15-16: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Kirby Cove campground
• Days 17-18: Redwoods National Park and whale watching
• Days 19-20: Mt. St. Helens and Olympic National Park (Hoh Rainforest and Ruby Beach)
• Days 21-23: Vancouver, British Columbia
• Days 24-26: Museum of the Rockies, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons National Park
• Days 27-29: Sinks Canyon State Park, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, family, and driving home

Planning and Preparation for a Grand Adventure

The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids: How to Plan Memorable Family Adventures and Connect Kids to Nature by Helen Olsson is a fantastic resource for planning camping trips with kids. I highly recommend it. I created pages of checklists, all based originally on the ones available in this book. Most of the book focuses on shorter camping trips, though, and many long-term camping articles and posts online assume you're in an RV rather than tent camping, so here are a few ideas I might expand into actual posts on preparing for a long tent camping trip with four children.

• Clothing for six for a month - prairie, mountains, desert, rainforest, tide pools, cities, hiking, swimming
• Feeding six with a camp stove and a cooler
• Keeping clean at a campground
• Washing dishes at a campground
• Staying unplugged and sane on long drives between campgrounds
• Junior Ranger program - Fantastic or a Hassle?

Am I missing anything?

Our Grand Adventure 2016

Kansas Dad was on sabbatical this spring, so we planned a Grand Adventure. We drove from Kansas to Vancouver and back again, visiting as many national parks as we could manage along with some friends and family along the way.

1 van with over 200,000 miles on it before the journey began
2 adults
4 kids
1 large tent

29 days
5823 miles (not counting the rental when our van broke down)
6 hotels
1 cabin
11 campsites 
11 states
11 national parks
1 national monument
1 national recreational area
4 state parks
1 aquarium
3 science and nature museums
Hoover Dam
whale watching
a ferry ride (van and all)
and another country (Vancouver, BC)

We have well over a thousand pictures to wade through, but here are a few to get started.

Kansas, ready for adventure

Canyonlands National Park

Death Valley National Park

Yosemite National Park

Kirby Cove campground, nestled under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Yellowstone National Park

I prepared some posts to run while we were away, but now they're all used up and I'm wading through mountains of laundry, camping gear, mail, and the usual detritus of every-day life, so while I have lots I want to share about our adventure, the blog probably won't be very active for a few weeks.

If there's anything in particular you want to know about car camping or traveling for a month with four kids, let me know and I'll be sure to write about what we did and how it went.

Camping Mishaps You, too, Could Survive (and Lots of Fun You, too, Could Have)

In October, we took a fall camping trip to Roaring River State Park in Missouri.

On the winding highway between our rural Kansas home and the rural Missouri state park, we were trapped behind a gravel truck that dropped a monster of a rock on our windsheild about five minutes before it turned off the highway. The cost of the trip immediately doubled as that windshield was a complete loss. Thankfully, things improved after that.

Kansas Dad's parents and brother and sister-in-law joined us for part of the trip as well. It's no Great Sand Dunes, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Kansas Dad and Missouri Uncle supervised the fishing. We saw lots of fish, but didn't catch any.

There were plenty of hiking options. We found three trails perfect for our family and probably could have done more with more time.

For some reason, I love pictures of my family hiking off into the woods.

The hatchery fascinated the children, too, so we spent some time there feeding the fish and marveling at the sizes and numbers.

Second Son is about a foot from where we saw a monstrous snapping turtle. This little waterfall was just over the bank from our camp site.

I kept hoping the kids would learn something about geology.

But they mostly wanted to play in the water.

"Don't worry, Mom. We won't get wet..."

Don't worry, kids. There's a laundry room.

It was actually a lovely trip, with lots of time for the kids to just revel in natural settings. Then one of the kids got sick in the tent on the last night. While not enjoyable, we survived the ordeal and learned you can handle just about anything camping. (We also learned to pack Chlorox wipes which are worth purchasing for camping even though we don't use them at home.)

Oh, and we were all reminded why Kansas Dad is my hero. Real husbands crawl out of snug warm sleeping bags in near-freezing weather at 1:30 am to clean up vomit in a tent, not that you should mention it at your wedding.

August 2015 Book Reports

 The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids: How to Plan Memorable Family Adventures and Connect Kids to Nature by Helen Olsson covers just about anything you might want to know before camping with children. Kansas Dad and I were planning a trip to the Great Sand Dunes and this book helped me feel slightly prepared. It covers all the important topics like food and wildlife in a light-hearted tone. Highly recommended, if you intend to venture into the wilderness (or a developed campground) with children. (library copy)

1776 by David McCullough was a great book to read as the children started to study the Revolutionary War this fall. Though I expected the book to center on the Declaration of Independence and the Continental Congress, it followed George Washington much more closely than the activity in Philadelphia. Fascinating reading. (library copy)

Osa and Martin: For The Love Of Adventure by Kelly Enright was a Kansas Notable book recently. I've been interested in Osa Martin since I found From Kansas to Cannibals: The Story of Osa Johnson at the library. This book follows their adventures closely but read a bit like a list of places they went and things they did. (library copy)

The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events #8) by Lemony Snicket. The kids and I are going through this whole series. It's starting to drag a little, but now even I want to know what happens in the end. (library copy)

A Nice Little Place on the North Side: A History of Triumph, Mostly Defeat, and Incurable Hope at Wrigley Field by George F. Will - my review here. (complimentary copy from Blogging for Books)

Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus by Pope Francis, written mainly for priests, often spoke to my experience as a catechist. (purchased Kindle version when it was free for a promotion or something)

I'm pretty much caught up! Hopefully September's list will be published in a timely manner...

Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order). My homeschooling budget is always grateful for any purchases.

These reports are my honest opinions.