LEWIS AND SHOSHONE LAKES

After we left Red Rock NWR, we headed to Yellowstone NP where we did some hiking and kayaking.  The main thrust of the visit was to put our kayaks in at Lewis Lake near the southern end of the park and paddle across Lewis Lake to the river that connects it to Shoshone Lake.  Shoshone Lake is much larger and where we spent some time in the back country of Yellowstone.  One day we paddled over to geyser basin and hiked around there.  What a great place.  No board walks, no signs telling you the name of this hot pot or geyser.  Just a trail to wonder on most of the time.  And the best part was that we were the only ones there!  The wind came up when we were on our way back to our campsite, and it was not the best paddling.  We hugged the shoreline and made it back to camp just fine.  But I don't like whitecaps and rough water in our boat.  Need a spray skirt and rudder for that kind of kayaking.  We also had to hold up at Lewis Lake on our return until the wind died down and we were able to get to the lee side of the lake to get to our put in/take out point.  Had a great time and will try and explore that area some more.

The pictures below are out of order.  I had some major problems trying to upload the photos.  Click to enlarge.

Getting ready to put in at Lewis Lake.  Very foggy when we left and navigated by GPS right to the mouth of the river.  Just like flying IFR except you don't need to keep the wings level nor worry about altitude.  Just keep the kayak on course - easy.

The fog lifted after we got to the mouth of the river.

Grizzly tracks on the beach.

The last 1/2 mile of the river is shallow and we had to pull the boats.

A podunk met us at our campsite.  I think he was used to begging!

The mouth of a river flowing into Shoshone had lots of lilies growing in the back water.

A nice sunrise.

Lone Star geyser.

Kayaks packed and ready.

When we could first start seeing land on our crossing.

The first part of the river is really a nice paddle.

Heading across Shoshone to geyser basin early in the morning.

A mud pot.

This picture does not do justice to the moss growing around the basin.

Lots of little geysers going off all over the place.

The creek going through the basin had a lot of moss growing in it.

And the frisbee had to come out at our camp.

Sunrise on our last day.

Marney checking out the whitecaps on Lewis Lake.

Lots of hot water pools on the edge of Lewis Lake.

Taking a little break.

Connie pulling our boat through some shallow areas.  A couple of folks came down the river in canoes and ask "how do you get the girls to do that?"

Where we tied up our food at night.

Hot water just flowing towards the lake.

Pretty little hot pot.

The elk were in full rut while we were there.  Lots of bugling in the evenings and early mornings.  And we found a number of young trees that the bulls were rubbing their antlers on while hiking into Riddle Lake.

A mule deer doe was not really afraid of us.

A dragon fly found the water a little to hot.