WCP Online Newsletter

Adventures at the 48th Parallel -Report Prepared by Don Barnett
by Charlotte Lackey (email)

Contributed 09/08/2005  Responses:  0

During our 2004 visit to Glacier National Park, we paddled clunky rental sit-on-tops, and only on the lakes where the concessionaires were located. We envied a man who backpacked an inflatable up to Avalanche Lake. This year we got our revenge, returning to Glacier NP with an Innova Helios inflatable tandem kayak as checked baggage. Today (Wednesday, September 7, 2005) we took it to the Many Glacier area, inflated it with the foot pump, and launched onto Swiftcurrent Lake, which was almost calm. Soon we reached the mouth of the shallow, rocky class 1 stream which drains Josephine Lake into Swiftcurrent, but made little progress upstream on it, so we paddled over to a hiking trail access, took out and carried our kayak 2/10 mile to Josephine Lake where we were surprised to be greeted by 20+mph headwinds and spraying waves. Encouraged by the warm sunshine and spectacular mountain scenery, including Grinnell Glacier in front of us, we paddled vigorously for a challenging, splashy mile then stopped to add another layer of clothing. Kayaking into this wind was new to us, so we tried feathering the paddles and went into the wind a few more minutes but soon turned around and cruised downwind along the lakeshore to the nice little 1/2 mile long stream which drains Josephine Lake into Swiftcurrent. I took my kayak paddle apart to make a canoe paddle to use my very familiar canoe strokes. When the stream became too shallow, I got out and walked a fisherman trail a hundred yards while Charlotte walked the empty inflatable downstream. Then we paddled the last of the whitewater, ducking under a pedestrian bridge, and returned across Swiftcurrent Lake to our launch area tired and happy after a trying but exceptionally beautiful adventure.
Don Barnett