Ally is excited this morning. We’re at Slide Lake bright and early for
today’s paddlefest. The water is like
glass without ripples from wind. Slide
Lake is about 10 miles east of our campground and was formed in 1925 when about
50 million cubic yards of rock and debris, about a mile long, 2,000 feet wide,
and in places 200’ deep, slid down Sheep Mountain after heavy rains and a
possible earthquake. The slide blocked
the Gros Ventre River and created Slide Lake.
Two years later the river broke through the earthen dam and nearly wiped
out the town of Kelly right next to our campground. The lake is now secured by a man made
dam. We’re hoping that Ally will get to
spend some time doing her favorite water sport, SUP, stand up paddle boarding. There’s no doubt in her mind that this is
the sport for her. White water
kayaking...not so much! There’s no
rolling involved here. You fall off and
you just crawl back on. The boards and
kayaks are on the edge of the water and she’s ready to go. She just has to wait for an instructor to hit
the water.
Ally, in the red PFD (personal flotation device), and two
instructors head out. So far, she is the
only one here and that’s great.
It pays to be the “early bird”. Now, it’s Ally and 3 instructors.
She and one of the instructors, whose specialty is SUP, head
off for some one on one instruction. You can see the Gros Ventre Slide in the
background. Not only do these SUP folks paddle flat water
but they also do white water. Now, that
takes some courage. This area has lots
of both flat water and white water. It’s
an SUP playground for the adventurous.
Don’t tell Ally about the white water...yet!
Let’s work on that technique.
Okay, now try this.
Now, you’ve got it.
Now, follow me...
...let’s paddle.
The instructor has been with Ally for almost an hour. I’m sure glad we got here early. Folks are starting to show up for the
paddlefest so she’ll lose her private instructor now. She’s learned a lot in that hour and she’s
learned that the early bird gets the worm!
That’s Ron in that orange kayak in the far left of this
photo. We had ordered two kayaks from
REI earlier this spring. Mine came in
just fine but Ron’s came in damaged twice.
We’ll be picking his up in Bozeman, MT in a couple of weeks. Supposedly the third kayak has arrived there
safe and sound. Last summer, in
Glacier, he had the opportunity to briefly try the kayak he ended up
ordering. There are all sorts of kayaks
here today so he decided to try a few different ones to see if what he ordered
is right for him. He’s found out he
really doesn’t like the closed cockpit like mine and now he’s in one exactly
like the one he ordered except that his will be of a very lightweight
material. Its cockpit is large and will
be good for handling his fishing gear plus he doesn’t feel confined. The good news is he really likes it.
Looks like that little guy might want to help Ron out of
that kayak too. Ron’s trying not to get
his feet wet. Good luck!
By mid-morning there was lots of activity. Paddle boarding is becoming very popular and
everyone wanted to try one at least once.
Ally will tell you it’s really good for your core.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, and watermelon (sliced by Chef Ally)
for lunch.
Ally volunteered to help them at lunch time and she had a
grand time serving up the goodies. Her
help was greatly appreciated and I think she was proud to give back after all
her private instruction.
The organizers were lucky to have such a perfect morning for
the event. A week ago it was cold and
stormy all weekend.
After lunch Ally tried the inflatable SUPs. She has her eye on one of these for the
future. The really good ones feel just a
solid as the hard boards but they sure are easier to transport. We just have to inflate them but with all
our hot air it shouldn’t be a problem.
The afternoon wind has started to blow and paddling is
getting tough as Ally is finding out.
I’m always saying we have to get moving early to beat the wind when we
bike ride. That’s true for kayaking and
paddle boarding as well.
After trying a couple of the inflatable boards she has
decided she likes this Boardworks one the best.
She’ll have to earn some money this winter if she wants to travel with
one like this next summer. It’s been a
really fun day. It’s time to head back
to camp to rest up for our next adventure.
The wind kept blowing through the night and this morning it’s
a bit windy but we’re riding our bikes anyway.
We’ll be leaving here in 3 days for Montana so we can’t waste any
time. We’ve headed from the campground
to Jenny Lake and we’ve ridden the new bike trail along the main route between
Jackson and Yellowstone to Moose where we’ve turned to ride the trail along the
scenic drive of the park. We haven’t
ridden this section before. It’s nice
and level but the wind is brutal. The
gusts are almost knocking me over but neither of us has hit the dirt yet. Now we face the big hill that we didn’t do the
first time we rode in the park this summer.
She rode the hill a few days ago, on a short ride in the park, with me
encouraging her from behind. This time
I’m staying back to take a photo of her and she has to do a little “self talk”
to keep peddling up that hill. It gets
really tough when you make that turn ahead.
You think you’re just about through and all of a sudden you see there’s
more climb to be done. That’s when you
have to dig in. That little light dot
ahead (Ally) is almost at the turn. Will
she make it?
She did, and was waiting for me at the top. She was one proud gal, as well she should be!
We’ve done 22 miles in this wind, the toughest I’ve ever
experienced when riding. We have 2 miles
to go on our way to meet Pop at Dornan’s, our favorite hangout in the
park. We’re glad we’re headed down the
big hill now. We’re tired and hungry! I think we’ll deserve a nice Moose Tracks ice
cream cone after our meal. Yum! When I ride down the big hill I usually
cruise down about 27 mph with no peddling.
Today, I peddled and couldn’t go any faster than 13 mph downhill. Now, that’s a headwind for you. Great job, Ally. This was one tough ride!
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