Dave is all smiles as we celebrate reaching our 100-mile goal.
quick snack, and enjoy the incred- ible scenery of the southern half of the lake one last time before pad- dling back through the narrow pas- sage that seemed to divide the upper and lower part of the lake. After finding that our planned is - land camp wouldn’t suffice, we con - sulted the map and realized that there was a boat launch and small campground about a mile farther north that would give us the vitamin D exposure we sought. This was the first time during the trip that we uti - lized an actual campground; the pic- nic table, fire pit and level campsite were welcome additions. Sitting around the fire that night, it was obvious how tired we were. We ended up paddling another 23 miles that day, bringing us to 50 in two days and over 80 in the previous four. We were both nodding off be- tween discussions of how we planned on hitting our 100-mile goal. The original track that we plotted only brought us to about 90 miles for the trip. Despite paddling every nook and inlet as closely to the shoreline
as possible each day, we were still about 20 miles short of our goal. Our original plan had factored in a light- er day of paddling to finish off the trip at about 15 miles; we knew if we did that we would end up short of our goal. We rerouted a course on the map and calculated that we should be able to paddle approximately 20- 23 miles and achieve our goal. WIth that, we crawled into our hammocks and crashed hard. >> Day 5: 23 miles As we launched into another frig- id morning, a beaver swam by and out of sight around the corner as mist rose from the water as far as we could see. We continued to pad- dle northward up the lake, then east into one of the last two large inlets and bays. As we rounded a corner, the largest peak bordering the east- ern edge of the lake came into view towering above us with that amaz- ing reddish brown dirt. The cove we were paddling into was filled with low-lying fog, and the sun, having just come up above the ridgeline, cre- ated crepuscular rays through the
trees and mist. We paddled on into another tiny cove, then another, and another. We saw multiple loons and a few mergansers swimming around in the early morning light as well. The rest of the day was spent chat- ting and knocking off mile after mile of shoreline. Midday came and went, and 10 miles, then 15 miles came and went. We finally passed 100 miles less than 2 miles from our orig- inal launch point. We both breathed a sigh of relief that we weren’t go- ing to have to paddle in circles be- fore getting out of our kayaks. We exchanged a quick fist bump as we drifted into the place where we set off five days prior, having just pad - dled 101.4 miles in total. The pad- dling portion of the trip was officially over. All that was left to do was set up camp one last time to enjoy one more night in the Montana wilder- ness before making our way back home the following morning. N
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