Trip Report: Saturday, March 4, 2000

I took my friend Ryan, who also does "freelance" work for our local paddle shop, the Canoe Rack, out for his first big water experience in Montana.  The owner of the Canoe Rack, Matt, is a dedicated kayak and canoe racer, and Ryan has been training with him in the evenings "Go, Go, GO!!"; I figured I could expose Ryan to the more spiritual side of kayaking.

I picked Ryan up at his house at 7:30am, and we drove out to the Canoe Rack to pick up a Carbonlite Eddyline Merlin XT for Ryan to paddle on Flathead. Matt was loading up a bunch of his other sea kayaks for a triathlon race that was also scheduled for Saturday.  Matt said,"I can't figure out why you guys aren't racing," I just smiled and said nothing.  I had much bigger plans in store.

We hit the put-in at the county park about 9:40 and were on the water by 10.  We paddled much the same route that my brother Dan and I paddled in October, but we paddled south of King's Point, rather than north, through the bridge in the jetty.  We paddled around Little Bull, and south of Big Bull.  The day was overcast, and occasional showers would spit lightly on us.  There was a line of encroaching sunlight in the cloud ceiling south of us, we privately and openly hoped that it would creep over us and bask us in the warm rays.  The peaks to the south were bathed in sunlight and the sky was a sunny blue, but it was gray overhead until the last leg of our trip.

Crossing past the islets east of Big Bull, we saw several pairs of Canada Geese, honking loudly to each other.  In a few months we'll see fuzzy goslings waddling about.  I'm reading Michener's Chesapeake right now, and it's caused me to see geese in a light I hadn't seen them in before.

Crossing the last mile to Finley Point, we landed in a small gravel cove that is under water during full summer pool.  Ryan dined on cold spaghetti while I busily set up my stove and pumped the fuel tank.  I told him,"Momma always said that a hot lunch is good for you!" to which he replied,"Cold spaghetti is just fine, thanks".

About 15 minutes later, I had more than enough hot pasta for myself, so I offered him a big serving--he quickly agreed that my Mom is right!  After stuffing my belly with semolina and tomato squeezings, I lay on the rocks waiting for the sun to creep northward.  Ryan still seemed impatient; used to his paddling trips with Matt, he was ready to "Go, Go, GO!", but I knew that he would come around.

Loaded up the boats and took a few scenery and candid shots with my new camera.  I finally broke down and purchased the Pentax WR-105, a water-resistant zoom point-and-shoot for constant use while kayaking.  Aside from fumbling around trying to find a secure place for it to travel tucked inside my PFD, it performed admirably, and wasn't even affected by a roll, and a few waves breaking over the cockpit and dousing me in my snug yellow PFD.  We paddled over to the first islet with a better view of the peaks now behind us so Ryan could pull his good camera from the drybag and catch the Mission range in the midday light.  I lay on the rocks again, listening to the gentle honking of the geese and feeling the first few direct rays of the sun.  Ryan said, "This is pretty cool, I could get used to this, as he sat down on the beach and reveled in the panorama.  I knew that I'd succeeded in pushing the "Go, Go, GO!" instinct to the back recesses of his mind.

We paddled North of Big Bull and caught a few waves that had rolled 23 miles south from the head of the lake. Ryan also hadn't had much experience in rougher water, but he does have good bracing skills, so he loved riding the wave "roller coaster".

Paddling back through the Narrows, we planned to cut in behind Kings Point island and paddle under the bridge in the jetty. Once we got into the bay, we found that there was a pretty significant mud flat, and a 200' portage to the bridge.  We tromped through the mud, concentrating on keeping our footwear on our feet, when a nearby cabin owner hailed us. "Hey, you might want to come up here and take a look at this!"  We walked up on his lawn and found that Stone Quarry Bay featured a mud flat over 1/4 mile long.  With "Thanks!" to the cabin guy, we slogged the 200' back to the water, and paddled south around Kings Point, the way we came out.

Back to the put-in by 3:00, did a little roll practice, and into some warm, dry clothes.  Ryan confided that this was definitely the way to enjoy kayaking.