Log for Thursday, July 10, 2003

St. Mary Lake, Glacier National Park

I met my brother, David at 7 a.m. and we headed up the 5.2-mile Otokomi trail. Beginning next to the Rising Sun Motor Inn, the trail climbs rather steeply 1,900 feet to the lake. We hiked along Rose Creek the entire way and saw very nice falls after about an hour and a half of hiking. We hiked through several nice meadows with waist-high wildflowers. Realizing that this was prime bear territory we both carried our pepper spray containers. As we rose in elevation the mosquitoes got worse and worse to the point where we couldn't stop to rest for a second or they would swarm. We moved on. A father and son were coming back down from the trail but they hadn't been to the lake. A bit later we met three people (2 men and a woman) who had camped at the backcountry campsite overnight. They looked miserable and were all horribly mosquito-bitten. They told us that the trail continued to climb still further, and that there was a big climb at the very end right before you reached the lake. They said the lake was full of trout, but that the mosquitoes were terrible, in fact, so thick you couldn't breathe.

We continued up and the mosquito situation worsened. Occasionally a cool breeze would alleviate the agony but as the trail got steeper and the mosquitoes worse David and I decided to head back down. We had gone 3.7 miles, and had been out for two hours.

I was very glad I had brought my trekking poles because they really helped on this trail. I hesitated when purchasing them but now I was happy that I had done so. I gave my brother one for the descent. The hike down was very pleasant hiking. As we descended the mosquitoes desisted and we were comfortable again. The hike once again became quite pleasant. We were careful to make lots of noise as we hiked so as to warn any bears of our presence. We did not see any bears or even any signs of bears on the hike.

We got back to Rising Sun around 11:00 a.m. On our way back we passed many people heading up and told them all about the mosquito situation. To my surprise many of the hikers looked ill-prepared for such a hike and some weren't even carrying water. I was glad I had worn my long pants instead of shorts on the hike.

David went back to rest at the Rising Sun Motor Inn where he was staying. I went back to my campsite and cooked lunch. After lunch I took my kayak over to St. Mary Lake to kayak. It was around 1 p.m. The temperature was about 75 degrees and the sun was shining. There was very little wind on the lake so the kayaking was beautiful. I launched just to the left of the boat ramp in a rather rocky area. I kayaked east for a bit then went back to the launch site and headed west. I went past the tour boat area and paddled over to the little island called Goose Island. This much photographed island in St. Mary Lake is pleasant to kayak around but I was not able to land as it is very rocky. The water was a nice turquoise color.

I landed and left the kayak near the launch area. I then drove up and got David and Joel so they could kayak. I taught them how to kayak and they really took to it.