Exploring the Swan River

What better way to explore a river than to rent kayaks! With Flathead Lake close at hand, there were a lot of places to rent from so we just stopped by the one closest to our campground. 

Mark, owner of the kayaks, gave us two options – a lazy river paddle or Flathead Lake. The river won. He took us to the drop off, gave us 1 minute of instructions, asked if we needed help shoving off the shore (no) and then took off.  Good thing we had been in kayaks before!

Off we went and were immediately greeted by 2 Trumpeter Swans flying up the river, right at us.  What a great way to start our river journey.

The river was absolutely calm.  The only way we knew there was a current was to stop paddling, at which point the river would move us slowing around sideways while moving us down the river. 

Along the way, we interrupted two different Herons.  One gave us quite the lecture while rustling his wings at us.  They are so cool to watch – from take off to landing in a tall tree.

With the help of two locals, an Eagle’s nest was found. It was so hidden; we would not have noticed it otherwise. Unfortunately mom, dad, and the kids were not home. The nest was still cool to peer at.

About ½ way down the river, we started spotting turtles sunning themselves on deadfall in the water.  They were all sizes.  So the hunt began for turtles.  In all, we saw about 20.  The last one of the day, just before the take out, was a big one that could have cared less if we were there.  He (we assume he) dove off the log only to come back on a stare Dave down. Brave sole!

Kayaks in our future? It may be an “ooh shiny” buy (our code phrase for “is it really needed?”). Decision delayed until we get to Tucson.