Yellowstone and Grand Teton are set to start a phased reopening on Monday. Check their websites (nps.gov/yell).8
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Yellowstone National Park and Shoshone Lake
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Yellowstone and Grand Teton are set to start a phased reopening on Monday. Check their websites (nps.gov/yell).8
Ok, its a go. Will drive to Denver pick up daughter and check out Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Probably only 4 days to hang out. Car camping, backpacking permits might be tough to get last minute because everyone has changed plans. Thought about throwing canoe on top for a day or overnight paddle. Any suggestions? I understand the short amount of time. Thanks.
Yellowstone and Yosemite would two great examples of timing is everything. Being there at the right time solves a lot of problems.
Shoshone Lake is a wonderful spot.
Shoshone Lake is a wonderful spot.
For a scenic and easy overnight, in the Tetons you can put in at String Lake, short developed portage into Leigh Lake. Leigh Lake is absurdly scenic, with Mt. Moran at lake's edge. Can be windy in the afternoon with downcanyon winds. To be conservative, you can get a site at the point to avoid wind concerns. The sites at the mouth of the canyon are nice. Or you could do it as a simple day trip--it's not far, and portage is short and easy.
Two Ocean Lake is off the beaten path, but is a nice day paddle.
Shoshone and Lewis are nice, but entirely different experience--total forest without mountains. Lining upstream between the two is fun. Lewis can be windy.
Thanks ppine and Mason that’s all I need. Appreciate it.
Oh, and at least for Grand Teton, you'll need a Wyoming boat inspection sticker (there was an invasives inspection station at Moran when I was there a couple of years ago), and a Grand Teton NP boat permit, available at Moose and Colter Bay. For Yellowstone, you'll need an inspection and a park permit (link below). Yellowstone preceded Wyoming as a state, and so state regulations don't necessarily apply.
We had two places, near Pinedale and in Victor, ID. The upper Green in spring, the snake and reservoir in star valley. Some of the lakes in TNP, although wind can be brutal. There's also a stream from Victor that meanders north, but I forget the name. That's all.
Did it! Got back a week ago. Will post more tomorrow.
rented a tandem Kevlar canoe from Rendevous in Jackson. Cost $180 for 3 days.
we got the last 2 permits for our nights. Paddled String into Leigh. First site was way off the beaten path into Bearpaw. Second night back into Leigh at site I think 14B. Tough keeping one eye open and one finger on bear spray trying to sleep. Yogi visited a few site the night before according to some folks and the volunteer who was paddling a Kruger! She and her husband stay on Leigh for the summer volunteering.
Water was chilly to swim in. The run off streams were freezing!
Daughter and I worked our butts off paddling into the wind our first night sort of looking for our take out and carry to Bearpaw
Total driving mileage was 5800 miles. I took side trip back up to South Dakota to Custer state park and the Badlands.
my return trip took me back into Illini State park and they were hammered a few days earlier from tornados. Scary.
beautiful area the Tetons, crowded yes, worth it, yes.
talk soon. Thanks for the original post. Yes I wore my Canoetripping shirt! Will figure out pics soon.
rented a tandem Kevlar canoe from Rendevous in Jackson. Cost $180 for 3 days.
we got the last 2 permits for our nights. Paddled String into Leigh. First site was way off the beaten path into Bearpaw. Second night back into Leigh at site I think 14B. Tough keeping one eye open and one finger on bear spray trying to sleep. Yogi visited a few site the night before according to some folks and the volunteer who was paddling a Kruger! She and her husband stay on Leigh for the summer volunteering.
Water was chilly to swim in. The run off streams were freezing!
Daughter and I worked our butts off paddling into the wind our first night sort of looking for our take out and carry to Bearpaw
Total driving mileage was 5800 miles. I took side trip back up to South Dakota to Custer state park and the Badlands.
my return trip took me back into Illini State park and they were hammered a few days earlier from tornados. Scary.
beautiful area the Tetons, crowded yes, worth it, yes.
talk soon. Thanks for the original post. Yes I wore my Canoetripping shirt! Will figure out pics soon.
Welcome to Wyo. I used to live by Laramie and paddled the N Platte all the time.
The fastest way to leave the crowds behind in Ystone is to pick up a paddle.
There are few rattlesnakes around on the Plateau because it is just too cold for them most of the year.
The wind is a problem in Wyo, but lakes like Lewis and Shoshone are moderate in size. Plan to paddle early and get off the water by noon or 1300.
L Yellowstone is cold and huge with lots of wind. That makes it a dangerous lake to paddle.
In the Northern Rockies, there are some bears around. Most places they do not occur in the densities you imagine in your mind. Be vigilant at all times and never sleep anywhere near your food, toiletries or anything that could be construed as food. You will be fine. Bring bear spray and wear on our belt at all times.
The fastest way to leave the crowds behind in Ystone is to pick up a paddle.
There are few rattlesnakes around on the Plateau because it is just too cold for them most of the year.
The wind is a problem in Wyo, but lakes like Lewis and Shoshone are moderate in size. Plan to paddle early and get off the water by noon or 1300.
L Yellowstone is cold and huge with lots of wind. That makes it a dangerous lake to paddle.
In the Northern Rockies, there are some bears around. Most places they do not occur in the densities you imagine in your mind. Be vigilant at all times and never sleep anywhere near your food, toiletries or anything that could be construed as food. You will be fine. Bring bear spray and wear on our belt at all times.
Glad you had fun, and I hope my info helped out. I've always liked Leigh Lake. Years ago, I did what I called the "Grand Teton Grand Tour", where I put in at Jenny Lake and took out at Moose, paddling Jenny, String, Leigh, Bearpaw, Trapper, Jackson Lake, then down the Snake River to Moose where I had stashed my bike for the shuttle back up to Jenny Lake. Fun times.
Wow, this thread has sure grown in the last few months. I’m glad you had such a great trip. I’ve spent my summer hiking and backpacking in Yellowstone. While the front country is amazingly crowded, the backcountry... nope. I was backpacking last weekend, and on the first day, I saw one family on the trail. It was a LARGE family, of maybe 8 or 9, but it was a family. On the second day, I saw three other hikers. Then I got to the trailhead. Apparently I looked rather wild, as the tourists stared at me. Oh well. I camped on a creek, and had three otters pass through. It’s been a different season in Yellowstone, but good. If you had gotten reservations, you had the option of keeping them, cancelling them, and changing them. So, if you wanted to cancel, this year, you didn’t have to pay. Usually, no refunds were given. I had some reservations where my friends weren’t traveling, and so I changed the sites. The backcountry office was willing to accommodate. And if you wanted to do the trip as planned, that was great. And, if you want a “walk in” permit, you can get it up to 48 hours ahead. So with a free weekend coming up, I can put in some options on Thursday, and by that afternoon or Friday, I can know where I’m going. Normally, I wouldn’t know where I was going until I had gotten to a backcountry office and seen what was available. Knowing ahead means I can pack more appropriately, and drive directly. I know, it’s little stuff, but I like it. A couple of weekends ago, I hiked down Delacy Creek trail to Shoshone Lake, and over to the Lewis Channel. I met a woman who had hiked an inflatable down Delacy Creek, and was paddling on Shoshone. It was flat as a pancake, and she was having a ball. I was really jealous. Anyway, I’m glad you had a good time. Oh, and the tornados in Illinois—my home town is Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the derecho (sp?) went through. Geeze, the pictures are horrible. I still have family there, and every house has damage. Scary stuff.
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Glad you had fun. I have not paddled there, but have always thought it would be great. I first passed through on a coast to coast self supported bicycle tour and later drove through on the way to either a backpacking trip or a off road bike tour in the west (I forget which trip it was).
It is some beautiful country and the crowds are gone once you get 100 yards from the parking lot. As far as traffic goes time of day and day of week can go a long way to minimize traffic even in peak season. Late afternoon Sunday the weekend folks are mostly gone until late in the week. Most of the motorized traffic seems to be allergic to waking up and getting out early so getting travel out of the way in the morning helps a lot. Even on a bicycle we found traffic manageable during the summer by staying away from peak traffic times. Rental RVs were the scourge of the roads for us. We really had to look out for those. They will rent a huge RV to someone who shouldn't be driving a pickup truck.
It is some beautiful country and the crowds are gone once you get 100 yards from the parking lot. As far as traffic goes time of day and day of week can go a long way to minimize traffic even in peak season. Late afternoon Sunday the weekend folks are mostly gone until late in the week. Most of the motorized traffic seems to be allergic to waking up and getting out early so getting travel out of the way in the morning helps a lot. Even on a bicycle we found traffic manageable during the summer by staying away from peak traffic times. Rental RVs were the scourge of the roads for us. We really had to look out for those. They will rent a huge RV to someone who shouldn't be driving a pickup truck.
Here I am paddling upstream on the Lewis River in Yellowstone to Shoshone Lake in the summer of 2004 in my custom-made Huki V1-B, which I had just bought in Sacramento, California, and was "paddling back" to Connecticut all over the USA and southern Canada. Curious and fascinated park rangers took these photos because no one had ever seen a Hawaiian outrigger canoe (va'a) in Yellowstone before. They later emailed the photos to me.
A va'a is a terrific upstream canoe because it is the fastest canoe hull made, and because you can easily hold an angle against the current (or wind or waves) with the rudder while paddling single-sided with no need for correction. I will miss that Huki when it is gone. Soon.
A va'a is a terrific upstream canoe because it is the fastest canoe hull made, and because you can easily hold an angle against the current (or wind or waves) with the rudder while paddling single-sided with no need for correction. I will miss that Huki when it is gone. Soon.
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Looks more like a kayak for people that don’t do rolls (or can’t).
Are there different sizes of Hawaiian canoes? Only kind I can remember seeing pictures of are ocean going ones with crew, passengers and supplies for an extended trips.
Are there different sizes of Hawaiian canoes? Only kind I can remember seeing pictures of are ocean going ones with crew, passengers and supplies for an extended trips.
I bought my Huki OC-1 outrigger without ever having paddled one or even seen one in person. And I drove 10,000 miles round trip to pick it up in Sacramento and then "paddle" it back to Connecticut over seven weeks while living out of my 1997 Dodge van conversion. I indeed bought it because I did not have a reliable roll in the cold ocean in any of my three sea kayaks, which were my primary watercraft from 1996 to 2004 after 40+ years of CanAm open canoeing.
In the Hawaiian, Tahitian and Samoan languages, "va'a" means small boat. Today, va'as are typically made as OC-1s, like mine, OC-2s or OC-6s, but they can be made even bigger for large racing or sailing teams. They are all considered open canoes, and they are all paddled with a single blade.
One theory is that the Pacific islands were populated by southeast Asian peoples sailing large outrigger canoes, perhaps even all the way to the Americas in the unrecorded past. The Pacific rim is dominated by outrigger open canoes, not CanAm canoes, and they are especially popular on the west coast of the lower USA, especially for ocean surfing and racing and for aerobic exercise. I am the rara avis who has used my va'a mostly on inland lakes and rivers, although I have paddled it in the Pacific, Atlantic and the Gulf of Controversy.
In addition to claiming to be the first to paddle a va'a in Yellowstone, I also claim the va'a altitude record for paddling Saddlebag Lake, California, which is just east of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 10,080 feet (3,072 meters).
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