The guys with the repaired canoe took the image at right near where the Lewis River enters Lewis Lake.
The southwest wind was wipping pretty well in my face as I approached the Narrows. There I encountered a fellow on a SOT who cautioned me about the crossing--"it's rough out there". He seemed to be advising me not to cross. I'd read stories about how rough this Lake could get, but really, I was paddling a sea kayak which had no problems slicing through the wind waves and whitecaps.
But I did have a problem. I couldn't find the campsite. I'd paddled to where it should be, based on the map, but didn't see it. So, I continued along the shore, figuring I'd come to it. What I came to was site 8R2, which logically should be right next to my permitted site. So, I continued westward along the northern shore. The sites are well separated on this end of the Lake, and I think it was at least a mile to the next site, 8R4. Great! I'd established that (a) I was going the wrong direction, and (b) I wasn't seeing all the sites. I worked back the way I had come and eventually found my site.
I tied together the several lengths of rope I had, tied a hefty stick on one end of the line, and about threw my shoulder out pitching the stick over the limb. As the limb was sailing over the bar, it occurred to me I better grab the loose end of the rope before the stick carried the whole rope over the bar. That was a good idea, but in the excitement I kind of lost track of the physics of the situation. I caught the loose end of the rope, which arrested the flight of the stick, which became the weight on the end of a pendulum. After I caught the rope, I turned back toward the bar and the stick swinging towards me on the rope smacked me across the jaw. I don't know whether the shock or the pain was greater.
I was quite afraid of meeting a bear. There wasn't a lot of human traffic and the rangers had really hyped the danger of bear encounters. Nobody was at the three other sites I visited while wandering. If there was a bear encounter, it would just be me and the bear. I swore so loud after that stick hit my face that any bear in the neighborhood would have been more scared than me!
On Saturday morning, I packed the camp back into the boat. I decided to paddle 3 miles west to the end of the Lake and see if I could find the thermal features.
As I was packing, I heard the noise of a distant train across the Lake. Of course, there was no train, and I thought it must be the wind. Wrong. It was rain, and it rained hard for about a half hour.
Then a wind came up such as I had never experienced. It was the suddenness that shocked me. It was like somebody flipped a switch on a giant wind just 0 to 20+ in an instant. Waves took 30 seconds before they stood up, and within minutes I was churning head-on through serious wind waves. I recalled reading that afternoon winds came up quickly on Yellowstone lakes, but this was beyond my expectation for coming up quick, and it was morning.
The wind blew like that for about an hour and then slowly diminished. I was able to catch the sulfur sent of the hot springs on the wind, and that helped me find them. But then the wind quit. That was disappointing, because I was looking forward to the ride down the lake with the wind at my back.
There is a bubbling fumerol right at the water's edge.
A ranger later told me the features are more extensive and there is a well worn trail through the features. I never saw it. The ranger said if you stayed on the trail there was little danger of being boiled alive.
When I came out onto Lewis Lake the wind was howling again. Naturally, it was not a helpful wind, basically SW and coming at me from about my 1:00 - 2:00. Waves were a foot and higher, but that just added interest to the paddle. Still, it was a relief to return to the launch and finish the trip.
