Kayaking String and Leigh Lake
Finally, early Monday morning, after a weekend of rain (and a raging hangover thanks to a night of Calypso Cocktails), Kerri and I got to bring the kayaks back out to the water.
Our final destination to kayak in the area was the String Lake to Leigh Lake trip in the National Park. They are two bodies of water separated by a few hundred yards of land, which we were told time and time again, “it’s not so bad a portage”. With my back feeling better the portage challenge was accepted, and we set out from the Canoe Launch area of String Lake.
Kerri, “scoonching” into String Lake
String Lake is a very small lake in comparison to Jenny and Leigh Lakes. In fact, it is laid out as a long, skinny, winding lake both very shallow and very clear. String Lake happens to be the lake in which I got to take a dip bath in a few years back after a long stretch of boondocking without any form of shower. Yea it holds a special place in my heart because of it, and for that reason alone I desperately wanted to kayak this small lake. As a side benefit, there was some amazing scenery…
… but, every small lake must come to an end and String Lake came to an abrupt conclusion at a set or rapids. Those rapids descend from Leigh Lake just above, but we would not be traveling via the water. Here was the “not so bad” portage between the two lakes, and no one mentioned that it was up hill and over a few snow banks which proved quite hairy carrying a kayak…
… and at the end of the quarter-mile-or-so portage was a set of stairs that drop you – and your 50+ pound kayak – back to water-level of Leigh Lake. Then, once back at the water, they left only *just* enough beach area to launch a single kayak at a time. Considering this is a common kayaking portage, the park service left a lot to be desired in the final 30 feet. This was definitely our most difficult portaging experience, but in the end it was worth it…
… once on Leigh Lake and moving along the glass-like waters, the hardships of land life quickly faded away. With Mount Moran ahead and miles of open lake – which we shared with only three other people in kayaks – the adventure was just beginning.
As we slowly (very slowly) paddled our way towards Mount Moran with the Western banks of the lake on our left side we stumbled onto a tiny beach with what we thought was a sign post from a distance. As we neared the beach the signage was confirmed as “camp site #16”. Who new? There was back country camping way out here where no other trails traveled. Camp sites pretty much exclusive to human-powered boaters. This set off both our inner-explorer as we began scouting out some of these sites for some overnight kayaking at an undetermined future date.
It was at this time that I noticed a very particular log in the water ahead. Small, but funny looking enough to catch my eye. I looked over to Kerri, “is that a log or a beaver?” Before Kerri could reply the “log” changed it’s path. Beaver! I paddled closer – slowly – to try to get a photo with the uber-wide-angle lens of the GoPro but once I got within 30 feet the beaver slapped it’s tail on the water and dived underwater, never to be seen again. If you know anything about GoPro cameras, 30 feet is too far away to take a picture of such a small creature. In fact, though I have scanned all photos taken this day, I still can not find the beaver in any of them thanks to uber-wide-angle lens of the GoPro. Nevertheless…
Our destination, between Mt Moran (right) and Mt Woodring (left)
At the end of our ‘trail’ was the foot of Mount Moran. Water cascaded down the mountainside and into Leigh Lake here. It also was the home of at least one of these kayak-camp-sites (#14). We beached to scout it out and have our quick meal of fruit and Kerri’s homemade cole-slaw (the only ‘slaw I have ever liked in my life).
At camp site #14 with water cascading down the two mountains on either side
The return trip was easy and uneventful. We tried to spot the beaver again, but it remained elusive. The portage back to String Lake was simple enough (we learned to carry the kayaks on our shoulders) and we arrived back to the Canoe Launch with just over 7.5 miles traveled round trip.
I know this is a late comment, I just found your blog and have been reading the whole thing. We (self, husband and 2 kids) camped at one of sites on Leigh Lake back in the day because it was only a couple of miles from the trailhead – doable with a 6 and 8 year old. We backpacked in, though. It was beautiful to wake up in the morning and have coffee on the beach with that view of Mt. Moran. If you do kayak in someday, I’ll warn you that the lake is prone to strong winds in the late afternoon, in fact, on our trip we rescued a couple that were canoeing after the winds dumped them into the lake. Luckily, they held onto the canoe, and the wind continued pushing them onto the shore by our camp, although they were in the middle stages of hypothermia by that time. I also have a suggestion for you sleeping in a tent (and you should know that LOTS of backpackers have trouble falling asleep that first night, I just expect it.) I take some benedryl and a shot of whiskey to get at least a little sleep. The following nights I don’t seem to have a problem. You might try a multi-night trip and see if you adjust to tent sleeping that way.
I’ve been searching for images of this portage for ages. Thank you.