Kayaking the Lakes

Saturday August 6, 2011
Gros Ventre Campground Site B104
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Today was a day for kayaking String and Leigh Lakes.
So we took off in the car, kayaks atop.
Along the road to the put IN we stopped
at a pull OUT with a good view of the Teton range.

Here they are with their names from the information
sign.  From left to right:
Static Peak, Buck Mt, Mt Wister,
South Teton, Middle Teton, Grand Teton,
Mt Owen, Treewinot Mountain.
Since I don’t have a wide angle lens, the only real
mountains visible
in this photo are the last 5.

This is a GREAT place for all you bikers.
There are many “back roads” and dirt roads
in addition to a separate bike path that runs
along the park road and is being extended
to run from Jackson to the Moose Visitor Center
and beyond.   Biking is definitely on the agenda.
Stay Tuned!

We pulled into the String Lake parking lot,
found the put in
(not too shabby)

and got launched.

A cowboy is confident he’s not going to
fall off his horse or his paddle board
and lose his hat.  :-)

 

Off we went around the bend toward
the portage to Leigh Lake.

Leigh Lake feeds into String lake via the short
rock filled rapids with the bridge over it.

The portage is on the right.

We felt pretty smug as we pulled out our carts
to pull our kayaks the 1/4 mile up the portage path
while everyone else struggled to carry theirs by the
handles or canoes over their heads.

Strap em’ on and off we go.

Here’s a not so smart guy riding his kayak
down the stepped ramp into Leigh Lake.  When he hit
the water, of course, it splashed up into his kayak
which he then had to bail.   I admit it – we warned
them, they didn’t listen, we laughed.

These folks were getting out just as David
was getting into Leigh.   You can see the ramp
from the Leigh Lake side.

Leigh Lake is at the very foot of the
mountains and is a spectacular paddle

on another gorgeous day.

Just look how close we were to their feet.

We paddled around the shore line for a bit

Put this on my bucket list.
What a terrific kayak camping site.
And a great place to be for sunrise,
sunset and dark night skies.

We went around the bend to get a straight on
shot of the canyon.

And then it was time to head back
as the afternoon winds picked up

We toted both the boats up the
portage steps and David stopped to walk over
and get a look at the stream connecting the two lakes.
It’s clear from this why we had to portage.

Happy as clams to be pulling not carrying our kayaks.

Back into String Lake, Duckie and I went
by some swimmers on a big rock.
You can walk out the lake is so shallow.

He jumped off and went for a swim.

He was getting a pretty big lead.

But here’s where we finally caught up with him.

Admiring the lilies.

They really are lovely.

We hadn’t seen them when we put in on String Lake
too focused on getting to Leigh I guess.

 

A couple last shots of String Lake
and it was time to get the boat backs on
the car.

Guess who took this one!

Actually he took this one too since
I had forgotten to put my freshly charged
camera batteries in the case and
my batteries died at the end of Leigh Lake.

YUP stopped again by the gang moving across the road

from the river to the glacial moraine.

Just before we got to the campground we stopped
along side the Gros Ventre River
which borders the campground

and
sure enough…..

MOOSE

Mom and teen??

Another case of fabulous zoom lens.
Here’s where they actually were from
where we were standing.
Can you see them?  Brown dots on the
middle of the far shore?
Nellie, how do you put those arrows on
your blog pictures????

What a DAY – life is
DEFINITELY GRAND!!!!!