Stopover at Flathead Lake in Montana

We are headed to Glacier National Park in Montana but we thought arriving at the park on a weekend would lessen our chances of getting a good campsite.  Weekends are always more crowded in the parks.  So we decided to spend a couple days at Flathead Lake to wait it out.  There are many state parks around the lake but we settled on Big Arm State Park because it is the closest to Wild Horse Island, the biggest island on the lake, and Big Arm is only about 75 miles from Glacier National Park.  The island is supposed have wild horses and other wildlife like bighorn sheep. We had thoughts of getting over to the island and seeing some animals.  Montana State Parks have different prices for Montana residents and non-residents.  However, as a non-resident you can purchase a non-resident pass for $35 and get the resident prices for all Montana State parks for one year.  For us it worked out to be a better deal to get the pass so that is what we did.  Many sites in the campground are right on the lake.  They have a mix of flush toilets and vault toilets and they also have showers for $3.00.  There were yurts for rent in the campground as well, it was actually very nice.

Every evening we would take a walk on Meadowlark Lane, a very peaceful street right next to the campground with houses right on the lake.  We saw a deer one evening and there were always lots of birds.  Most of the houses had boats on trailers, jet skis and camping trailers parked outside.  I am not sure if these are just summer homes or if there are any fulltime residents.  These horses looked like they had a pretty sweet life in this serene environment.  Every time we walked by it seemed like they were eating.

Some things we learned while at Flathead Lake:  1) We need leveling blocks 2) It will take time for our bodies to adapt to the colder temperatures of the north 3) Kayaking is way harder than it looks 4) Never underestimate the evilness of the sun.

The first camp site we chose at Big Arm State Park was right on the lake and the ground slopes down toward the lake.  No matter how the van was parked in the small space, it was tilted.  Some RV refrigerators will not even work if they are not level but our refrigerator does not have that restriction so we never really thought we would have a problem with leveling the van.  One day living in a tilted van proved otherwise.  When opening cabinets or the refrigerator things would go flying.  Also when we were in bed we just kept rolling toward one side.  There are things called leveling blocks that are used in this situation for trailers and RVs.  Basically they are plastic blocks that you put under your tires to lift one side or another to get the vehicle level.  I even saw people using some wooden 2 x 4s stacked up.  So we need leveling blocks but I am not exactly sure how they will fit into the limited space in the back of the van.  We were able to move to a different campsite that has a more level parking spot the next day and it was still on the water so that worked out.

It is summer in Montana, people are walking around in shorts and flip flops and enjoying boating, water skiing, fishing, canoeing and kayaking on the lake. Even though the highs are in the 60s at Flathead Lake, sitting on the shore in our camp chairs in the shade with the breeze off the lake was nearly unbearable.  I was all bundled up in multiple sweatshirts and a jacket with hood and still felt cold.  It stays light until 10 pm up here but I could not stay outside long enough to enjoy the sunset because I was freezing. It is shocking how our bodies cannot handle the lower temperatures at all.  Living in Phoenix for over 20 years our bodies are optimized for the heat.  Someone once told me that after living in the heat for a while your capillaries are much closer to the surface of the skin.  This is a cooling mechanism for the body, but also makes you much more sensitive to lower temperatures.  Hopefully, we will adapt at some point.

We expected there would be some sort of shuttle boat over to Wild Horse Island so we could go over spend some time walking around the island but no such luck.  It seems you have to rent a watercraft and get yourself over there.  Flathead Lake is all about water sports.  Not something that we have ever pursued in the past but we thought we should give it a try.  We decided to rent a tandem kayak and paddle over.  It is supposed to be about two miles and take about an hour to paddle over.  We had no idea what we were getting into.  The kid that helped us did not really give us any information, just gave us life jackets put the kayak in the water told us to get in and have fun.  I was in front, Tim in the back and we start paddling.  I had read that we are supposed to stay in sync and both paddle on the same side at the same time so we knew that, but our main problem was we could not stay straight.  The kayak kept turning in one direction or the other.  While we were floundering not far from the shore, the dad of the boat rental business yells out to us from the shore and says you can hook the straps of the back rests up.  It turned out the back rests were not even up or attached.  So each of us would try to get the straps attached on our own backrest while the other paddled and we were getting nowhere.  I was just thinking we have to get away from the boat rental place because we looked like idiots.  Eventually we got going but progress was slow.  It was like we were paddling against the wind and the waves from the power boats out there.  We kept paddling and paddling and the island did not look any closer.  I honestly thought we would never get there, that we were just paddling in place.  Our shoulders and arms were getting tired.  Exhausted, eventually we got close to the island.  We were not sure where we were allowed to land and ended up going ashore on some private land but it looked like the houses were not occupied so hopefully no one saw us.  Since we only had the boat for five hours and it took us two hours to get there all we had time to do was rest, have a couple energy bars and then head back.  No wild horse sightings.  We did make it back in the timeframe with 5 minutes to spare so that is good but kayaking is way harder than it looks!

Living in the Valley of the Sun for over 20 years and being an avid hiker, you think I would know all there is to know about the evils of the sun.  Apparently not.  When hiking, my legs never really get much sun, I think it is because they are vertical.  I have to worry more about my face, chest and arms as far as sunscreen.  In the tandem kayak you sit on top of the kayak with your legs straight out, horizontal to the sun.  Neither one of us thought to put sunscreen on our legs which ended up getting burnt to a crisp.  Tim already had a biker tan on his legs but that is really only from the top of the leg of the bike shorts to the knee.  In the kayak his shorts rode up higher on his thighs and they turned totally red.  I had capris on and from my knees down to my ankles are red and blistered.  Unbelievable!