The ultimate family paddling trip

By Tom Bol

updated 2:21 p.m. ET July 17, 2007

Since moving down from Alaska a few years ago, I have longed for a place with the same glacier-sculpted landscape, where grizzlies lounge in pristine creeks, munching on salmon. In all the lower 48, I’ve only found one place that comes close: Glacier National Park in Montana.

The park straddles the Rocky Mountains as they stretch north into Alberta and British Columbia, forming a fortress of jagged walls, alpine faces and flying buttresses that jut right off the tawny rolling plains to the east. Combined with Waterton Lakes National Park across the border in Canada, more than 1 million acres are preserved as park land. In 1995 UNESCO designated the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park a World Heritage Site due to its scenic value and resources. The park is home to wolves, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mountain lions, and mule deer. In addition, it hosts some great paddling suitable for all levels.

“Dad, will we see grizzly bears like we did in Alaska?” my son Skyler asks as we load my pickup in Colorado before the trip. “I want to see one really bad.” Skyler was born in Alaska, but by the time he was two we were living in Colorado. The only grizzlies he can remember seeing were in the zoo.

“Maybe, son,” I reply, hoping that any encounter we have is one separated by the truck windshield, or at least a couple hundred yards of open water. We had a friend get whacked in head by a sow with cubs in Alaska, and while seeing bears is always a thrill, I’m wary of their deceivingly cuddly appearances.

Our first destination in the park is Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine. Nestled below towering Mt. Grinnell in the Many Glacier area of the park, Swiftcurrent is small, scenic and perfect for a short paddle. Beginning at the boat ramp, we aim to circumnavigate the lake in our canoe, but just as we get going, another camper shows us a lunker rainbow trout he just wrestled out of the lake, easily 20 inches long.

This sight turns our leisurely family canoe trip into a focused trophy-fishing expedition. We see lots of rising fish in the crystalline water, but can’t seem to hook anything. At the far end of Swiftcurrent is a short portage trail to Lake Josephine. We decide to make the portage and try our luck there after fishing for an hour in Swiftcurrent without a single bite. “Watch out for the grizzlies,” says a tourist on the trail. “We saw a sow and two cubs yesterday, and the rangers have closed the trail further up.” “Cool!” Skyler says.

Not so much, I’m thinking. Suddenly, I’m finding it hard to relax. Every little forest noise increases my heart rate, but we arrive at Lake Josephine with nary a bear in sight.

Tom Bol / Canoe & Kayak magazine Paddling on any of the lakes in Glacier National Park is a breathtaking experience.

Lake Josephine is long and narrow, lined by hillsides of spruce and meadows of purple lupine, orange paintbrush and white-tipped beargrass. It is even more enclosed by sublime peaks, and is the color of a granny smith apple. A family of mergansers paddles parallel to us as we scan the hillsides for grizzlies. A cool breeze blows down valley off the Grinnell Glacier, raising a slight chop on the water. At the far end of the lake there is another portage trail. It leads to Grinnell Lake, which is alpine-hemmed and turquoise-in-color like Josephine, but more so. However, we decide to take the leisurely option and float down the stream connecting Lake Josephine to Swiftcurrent Lake.

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.

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