Travels with Walter: The Priests

Walter and I just got back from a quick but very restful and fun trip to Priest Lake. I packed for a possible stay at the upper lake but decided to wait until I got up there to actually figure out what I was going to do. I arrived at Beaver Creek around 11:00 am and decided I was too tired to do anything. I only had one full day off last week and worked this past Tuesday at my on-call job so I have been a bit tired. I put the tent up and Walter and I immediately crawled in and took a snooze. All the rest of the day I either went on short little walks with Wally around the lake shore or I read (The 19th Wife). I stayed outside reading until the moths were flying around my head lamp. At some point in the night the coyotes started howling and it sounded like one was very close, possibly on the road right behind the campground. The wind was blowing really hard all day and I could hear the waves on the lake. The campground, often a RV, ATV, generator, 10,000 children circus was very quiet.

The next morning I was packed up, fed, and on the water by 9:00am for a paddle to the upper lake. To reach the upper lake from where I was, I had to paddle across the bay and either go around a big breakwater fence or portage over the sand spit to get to the thoroughfare, the river that connects the lakes. At 9:05 the wind started in again and by the time I got to the breakwater there were white caps. I broadsided the canoe on the beach and several waves rolled over the top and dumped a bunch of water in. There was a guy who had paddled over in a row boat and he was using his oar to put sand in the boat for ballast. He did not have a life jacket with him.

The thoroughfare had calm water but the upper lake was a bit breezy. We stopped at Geisingers and hung out and talked to some nice folks who had just spent a couple nights up there. They said that that the wind the day before was pretty bad. We hung out at Geisingers for a few hours just sitting on the beach, walking around, and swimming. Then we paddled up the lake a bit but the wind was picking up so we headed back to the thoroughfare.

I have to say that I was absolutely shocked at the number of motor boats. In a 30 minute period there were at least 25 that came into the lake. There were jet skis, a big ass jet boat with the big engine thing on the back, a couple of house boats and people water skiing and tubing which I thought was illegal on the lake. There was a blue oil exhaust haze hanging over the thoroughfare. Really a shame. I passed at least 15 more motor boats on my way out, most of them not clear on what "no wake" means. Too bad. I think the lake should be off limits to motors but everyone we went past seemed to find Walter's presence in the back of the canoe rather amusing.

Because of the wind I toyed with thought of carrying my stuff up the portage trail and walking the 3/4 mile to the boat launch at Beaver Creek. It would have taken me two trips up the 1/4 mile portage trail. But I figured this was a good way to see what the boat and Walter could handle. The water is pretty shallow along the shore and I figured that if I had to I could walk the boat back to Beaver Creek but that was not necessary. The waves were between 2 and 3 feet with white caps but the boat and Walter did great. I promised Walter and Happy Meal if he did not fall or jump out of the boat. He got his burger even though he is vegan.