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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
1999 Trip #3: Lake McDonald
Posted By: Shawn
Date: Monday, 12 April 1999, at 12:10 a.m.
Just got back from a killer weekend. I took off from work on Friday afternoon with two friends and we started off at Glacier National Park, which is about a 3 hour drive north of Missoula Skiied Saturday, and paddled Friday and today (Sunday)
We hit the park about 7:45 pm just as the sun was starting to set (Man, I love this daylight savings time stuff!) There were only 3 other vehicles in the town of Apgar and one was unoccupied. In the summer months, million visiters visit the park, and most of them go through Apgar either coming or going.
Anyhow, I drug my boat across 4' deep snow (Glacier gets a lot of snow, and 4' is just what it had melted down to by April!) launched my boat at about 8:10 and glided across the gently rippling lake. Mt. Stanton and Mt. Vaught stood as snowy sentinels at the head of the lake. These peaks are about 9500', and were almost totally covered with snow. It's going to be really neat in a month and a half when it warms up and I can watch avalanches rocket down the peaks from across the lake. One of my friends brought his new digital video camera and recorded my return, so hopefully, I can upload some images of the peaks--they were truly awesome!
I paddled about halfway up the lake and decided to head back before it got too dark. I forgot my headlamp at home, and being alone, I figured it was probably not a good idea to be paddling in the dark.
I paddled back to camp and splashed over a few random short waves. It sure felt good to be back in the kayak after nearly two months, especially looking up at snow-covered peaks that I'll be climbing later this summer when the snow melts.
Shawn
The photo below from the Glacier website shows the view I had on Friday night, although judging from snow accumulation (lack thereof) the photo was probably taken in late July or August. Looking north from where the picture was taken near the foot of the lake, Mt. Stanton is the large peak on the left. Mt. Vaught is the peak in the middle. Mt. Brown is the peak to the right, but I couldn't see it from my low vantage point. I launched just east of where this photo was taken, and paddled to the point about a fifth of the way in from the right edge of the pic.
Estimated trip length: 3 miles. Weather: wind SW 10 mph, 45*F, and not a cloud in sight!
I'll post the map when I get to work tomorrow.
Shawn
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