Glacier Park Family Paddle Trip

This stream turns out to be our secret fishing spot. No one else is around as we drift through thick stands of spruce and fir, listening to the lonely song of a loon nearby. Cree, my wife, tries casting near a deep eddy and instantly hooks a nice rainbow trout.

She continues to hook fish after fish. Obviously, being in a canoe is getting us to places other fishermen don’t go, because we are having great luck. The only crux of our paddle down the stream to Swiftcurrent Lake is a round of “bridge limbo.” Near the mouth of the creek a hiking bridge crosses the stream, forcing us to duck into the bottom of the canoe to sneak under the bridge.

After spending a few days in the Many Glacier portion of the park, we decide to paddle a bigger lake. St. Mary Lake, on the east side of Glacier National Park, is 10 miles of green transparent water capped by glacier-lined hanging valleys and Matterhorn-like peaks. It’s about as scenic as lakes get.

Unfortunately for us, the wind is blowing 30 knots when we arrive. No matter, Cree unloads the sea kayak, feathers her paddle to 45 degrees, loads up some gear so the kayak rides lower, and paddles out into the frothy whitecaps. My son and I sit on the rocky beach watching as Cree bobs in the spray. Tourists are practically getting blown over, but Cree likes paddling in rough conditions. Later in our trip we will encounter glassy water on St. Mary Lake, allowing us to paddle everywhere on the lake, including a trip to scenic Wild Goose Island. “Bear! Bear!” Skyler screams into my ear as we drive along St. Mary Lake. “It is right by the road...oh my gosh! Dad, take a picture!”

Sure enough, a blonde fuzzy grizzly is chomping away on some roots right by the road. The bear seems oblivious to the traffic backing up on the road, as he slowly meanders across a meadow. Skyler is so excited he is bouncing in the back seat. This is my kind of grizz encounter; the bear outside 100 feet away, my family barricaded in the truck, and the engine running. I smile at my son, and reach for my camera.