The plan for day 2 was to head for the backcountry. Research prior to the trip suggested that going by canoe from the String Lake Trail head, up String Lake, and on to Leigh Lake was the way to go. This required some logistics and considerable worry on my part, as we are not experienced canoe paddlers by any means, and what if we capsized with all of our stuff! Suffice it to say, I didn’t sleep well the night prior, in anticipation of what would be a monumental couple of days. After the first night at Leigh Lake, we had planned to canoe on up the lake and then backpack in to Bearpaw Lake. This did not occur, for reasons I will explain shortly.
There were administrative affairs to attend to in the morning - such as waiting a half hour in a line to get our permits from the welcome center. Then there was the wait at the local fly fishing shop, to obtain our fishing licenses, and then lastly there was waiting to get our canoe loaded up on the car. I would advise anyone heading out into a national park on a holiday weekend as we did to get a very early start. We were at the put in for String Lake by 9:30am, so we beat most of the traffic. Exiting on the following day we saw long lines of cars at the entry gate. Here's a map of where we were:
String Lake is easily one of the most beautiful mountain lakes in the world. The backdrop of the Teton peaks and the crystal clear, shallow water with giant fish swimming around - it's a sight to behold. The trip was relatively short, and soon we had reached the portage to Leigh Lake. The canoe rental outfits will loan you a set of wheels to load up the canoe with so you can make an easier portage. This was critical for us, as we had approximately 70-80 lbs of gear in that canoe for our two nights in the woods and could not have hoisted the canoe without assistance of additional people. A couple of pics of String Lake and the portage to Leigh Lake:
Soon we were paddling out onto Leigh Lake, which was far more scary to me as the water was very deep, and a capsize here would really ruin our trip. The lake was calm however, and we were able to easily find out campsite, Leigh Lake 13.
That’s when our war with the mosquitos and horse flies really got going. This was not a mere annoyance, these suckers were out for blood and nothing was going to stop them. Except DEET. After I got tired of swatting, I finally bit the bullet and went for a dip in the frigid water. It was very refreshing and I wasn’t alone in that thinking. All across the lake, kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards carried sun burned adventurers on that gorgeous afternoon.
We had our first close run in with wildlife that afternoon, though it would not be the last. As Aaron napped in the hammock, a giant mule deer wandered up a couple of feet away to check it out and nibble on some bushes around the campsite. We named her Dierdre, and she came and went multiple times throughout the evening. Sweet little thing, here is some footage:
Having prepared dinner, I went to filter some fresh water with our new water purifier for later that evening. In doing so at home, I had no issue. However after filling one nalgene completely to the top, the purifier pump broke. This would be trouble for us the following day, not having a clean source of water to drink. The alternative would have been boiling a bunch of water before we went to bed, and then allowing it to cool over night. I suppose had other events not transpired, we may have pushed on to Bearpaw the following day as planned despite the issue with the water filter, but other issues arose that gave us pause in continuing our journey.
Now would be a good time to tell you that these campsites have huge metal bear boxes permanently fixed in the area and the rangers stress the importance of always having your food locked up in the beer box when you are not consuming it because they will smell it and come after it if you don’t. We followed these rules closely and went to bed that night after a brief thunderstorm feeling somewhat safe (or as safe as you can ever really feel when you’re in the backcountry and no one is within 2 or 3 miles of where you are).
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