Got to the put-in at 2:00pm. My "little" brother, Dan (6'-8", age 22) just returned from a 5-month working/touring trip in Europe. He hadn't been paddling since July in Finland, so he was missing his boat, and I helped him cure his withdrawal symptoms.
We loaded up all our drybags with emergency sleeping bag, cooking gear, and spare clothes, and packed the boats 250 yards down a steep hill to the putin. Launching a loaded boat from a dock 2.5' above the water's surface in waves proved tricky. In hindsight, I'd probably launch from shore next time, although the new experience was good.
Moving across the waves at 2:30 and paddled out from Wolf Point across Stone Quarry Bay. We had originally planned to cross to Finley Point (4.5 miles) but Dan's arms were too out of shape for that proposition. We paddled just north of King's Point, which is actually an island, but a riprap jetty has been built to connect the point to the rest of the Rocky Point peninsula. We were greeted by 4 rafts totaling close to 2000 canvasback ducks! We tried to thread between the rafts, two to the east, and two to the west, and disturb them as little as possible, but 2-300 still took to the air in their mad flapping/running/skimming fashion. We ducked under the low bridge in the jetty and saw another raft of 3-400 ducks. Wow!
Out past the flashing lights and flags guarding the shallows and rocks in The Narrows from drunken speedboaters. You'd have to be insane to run into one of them in a kayak; of course, you'd have to try pretty hard to hit one with a motorboat too! Around the south end of Little Bull Island, seeing a few more ducks. The fetch is close to 4 miles here, so there are some good rolling wind waves but nothing large enough to surf on. We cross to the southeast corner of Big Bull Island in search of a beach to land and cook lunch on. Signs every 30-40' all along shore proclaim that this is Private Land, No Trespassing, Keep Out! Dan's arms are tiring, and he needs to get out and stretch and replenish some calories. We paddle to a beach on an undisclosed island, not sure of our legality, but we stay below the high water marks. Set up the stove in a gravelly spot and cook some good spaghetti with roasted garlic. French bread, hot apple cider, and a bottle of scotch ale homebrew make a great meal. I scrounge around the beach and pick up spent firework casings and a pop bottle Not sure if the fireworks are from legal occupants of the island or otherwise, or if they've floated here, but whether or not I've legally landed, I'll still leave the place cleaner than I found it.
We rest 45 minutes and absorb the panoramic view of the Mission Range and the south shore of the lake. We can just see Polson, 4 miles distant in the haze off the lake.
I want to paddle on to Finley Point, 1.5 miles distant, but Dan feels he's just got enough to make it back to the take-out. I don't want to piss off my paddling partner, now that he's finally back in the country, so I relent. Load up the boats and off around the north end of Big Bull. We paddle through the narrow channel between the islands and around the south end of Little Bull. We can make out the bridge to King's Point, and Dan protests that he's getting tired quickly. The waves are picking up slightly, and I'm just starting to have fun. I show him how to paddle with his upper arm straight and to turn his torso more. He's still paddling with a push/pull, and not listening, as he's probably more comfortable with how his instincts tell him to stroke.
Back through Stone Quarry. This time 85% of the ducks are west of us, and we stay away from them. The remaining ducks quack and paddle right in front of our course. We stop to let them by, but they seem unconcerned with our presence. We continue paddling and they take off anyway. After a short arc around the perimeter of the bay, they land amidst the larger raft. Ducks are packed so tightly together, swimming, that random ducks jump up and seemingly run across the backs of their companions to take off, and fly to a less crowded spot in the raft.
We make it back to the dock around 6:00pm. All in all, an enjoyable day, and I didn't wear him out so bad that he'll still paddle with me again!
Shawn W. Baker
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