I took both dogs out for the potty walk while Jennifer slept in. I sat outside with Rob having coffee.
Jen came out and joined us, we all chatted for a bit, and then started getting ready for our paddle boarding adventure. The plan was to take two vehicles. We would leave our pickup at the take out point on the middle fork of the Flathead River, go up into Glacier Nat'l Park in Jen's and put in at a place called Apgar. It was over an hours drive up to the take out place, Blankenship Bridge, and when we got there the river was actually little rapids. Jen and I (in her vehicle) said no way, not on stand up paddle boards with the dogs! We joined Rob who was talking to a man with a 6 month old McCaw on his arm. She was beautiful. Any way, we all decided the river was way to fast for the boards and the dogs. We had totally been led astray. Rob and I did decide that we might rent kayaks later and do the river in them, but I am real new to SUP and even Jen who has been doing it along time didn't think she could manage rapids, especially since the boards have plastic fins which would be hitting the rocks and would probably chip or even shatter.
So, the alternate plan was to go up another hour to Bowman Lake. Jen wasn't real crazy about all the driving, especially since she had already spent 3 days in her car, but everyone said Bowman lake was beautiful and she was willing to give it a try.
We stopped in at a place called Home Ranch Bottoms. It was a tavern, gifts (not much) and restrooms. We thought we stop, check it out give ourselves and the dogs a break and chance to stretch and run.
We didn't stay very long. We were told their was a bakery up the road so we went on to find that!
The Bakery was an awesome place. Bakery, fruit/produce stand, little cabins and a little restaurant
Rob was being cute with the cowboy sign!
So,we continued on, driving on paved then dirt then pave then dirt. It was super bumpy and Rob was sitting in the back with Bella.
When we finally got there it was amazingly beautiful.
We inflated the boards. That in itself is not so easy. It is a hand pump which is fine, but the boards are supposed to be inflated to 15 psi. After 11 I can no longer compress the plunger, so, Rob and I have to switch and he finishes my board while I continue pumping his until it gets to the end. We are going to have to get some sort of electric pump or I will never be able to fully inflate my board. Well, maybe I'll develop some really strong, muscular arms and abs and be able to do it just fine.
We paddled down the left side. Bella wasn't totally digging it. She never really sat down and relaxed. Anyway, down the left side until we finally saw a beach off in the distance. At least it looked like a beach and we were hoping it was a beach.
I was doing just fine and then all of a sudden I got back on my heels, tried to recover, but couldn't and went off the end of the board landing on my butt in the water. OH MY GOD! It was cold. I didn't have the leash on the board because we were going to be in the lake and were not worried about the board getting away from us. However, as you are falling you have a tendency to push the board away. I went all the way under the water and when I came up I immediately had two thoughts....Is Bella in the water? and do I still have my glasses? Luckily, both were ok. Bella was still on the board and my glasses were still on my face but, my visor was gone.
Luckily, Rob was real close when I fell so her got to my board and got Bella on his board with him. Meanwhile, I'm gasping at the cold water and trying to get to my board. I was having some trouble getting there and breathing. I finally made it and just laid on my stomach soaking up the sun. Rob went and got my visor, which was floating. I said "Ok, I'm using the leash for now on. I could have pulled the board to me with the leash If I had had it on.
Anyway, I recovered and we made it to the beach where we let the dogs on land without life vests, and enjoyed a little lunch.
That peak over Rob's shoulder is called Rainbow Peak. I hope you can see the amazing colored rings that are running through the rock on it. It was really pretty, and the whole lake was a beautiful aqua. The water was really clear and along the edged, where it wasn't so deep we could see the bottom
The wind was coming up, actually we had had a wind to our backs the whole time we were paddling and were realizing that it is going to be more difficult to get back.
We crossed over to the other side of the lake and were hitting little ripples caused by the wind as we were doing so. We hugged the shore line going back, trying to stay out of the wind for easier paddling. The water was really clear and we went over this amazing tree that had recently fallen into the lake. The sun was hitting it under the water and the branches looked so awesome. Of course pictures of something like that never do it justice, but you can at least get an idea.
At one point, as the shoreline was turning off to the left we decided to just go straight for our takeout point and cross into the wind. It wasn't to bad. We had paddled out for an hour and 10 min and it took us an hour thirty-five to get back.
It was still sunny at the take out so we let the boards sit in the sun to dry out before deflating them and putting them away.
It was soooo fun and so beautiful.
We got everything put away and headed back. We stopped in at the bakery because it was still open. They had live music which was fun, a fiddle and a guitar. We thought about staying there for dinner because it was pizza night, but you
Can see how crowded it is and it was going to be a 30-40 min wait for pizzas. It was starting to get late and the sun was going down. There were a lot of deer that we saw along the road coming out and we were afraid there would be more as it was getting dark so we decided just to go. We would just have to have our new pastries for dinner!!!!
There was a devastating fire in 1988 and another in 2007 or 2008. It made for some very interesting scenery along the way. This is such an amazingly interesting and beautiful area.
We made it home safely. We took the dogs out for a quick walk. Then Bella and Rob and I went to bed. Jen ended up taking Leila out for a long walk before they went to bed.
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