Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park is the largest lake in the lower 48 not accessible by road. In a crowded Park it is isolated with very few people.
My wife, Nanette Laughrey, Steve Guerra and I paddled to Shoshone Lake and back on July 13-15. Nanette and I were paddling our 17 1/2 foot Clipper Canadian and Steve his lovely 15 ft Curtis, both decidedly long flat water boats.
We put on about 8 am at the Lewis Lake launch site and crossed the Lake to the mouth of Lewis River in under an hour. There is a loon hatchery right at the mouth so we skirted it to the river left.
This section of the Lewis River is about 3 miles long; two of which are flat and beautiful. The last mile becomes too swift to paddle so we had to pull/line the boats up to Shoshone Lake.
The river is never too deep to walk and never fast enough to be dangerous. The bottom is constantly sand, small rocks and flat stone. In a few sections we were able to line from shore but down trees and the shape required that we were in the river and walking the boats for maybe 90% of it. It took more than two hours and I was quite tired. The day was sunny and the water relatively warm so weather was not an issue. Certainly younger people could do it faster. Nanette found the trail on river left and was able to use it part of the way.
Our campsite on Shoshone was less than a mile from the outlet on the lake along the south shore.
Our campsite, Moose Creek Beach, was lovely with no carry up and sites 20 feet from the water. We arrived about 2 pm with the wind becoming a factor only during the last 20 minutes.
The next day we didn’t get going toward the geyser basin until about 11 and that was way too late. By the time we paddled out of our bay Shoshone was fully white capped, both too difficult and too dangerous to attempt the crossing to the basin.
We returned to camp and fished for lake trout.
Steve figured out that there was a drop off above 30 yards out and the fish were hanging there. He caught several. As is my pattern, I caught none. We had delicious, fresh lake trout for supper.
The next morning the weather was cloudy and broken, so being concerned about wind on Lewis Lake started back early. The mile that had taken us two hours to walk was a lovely, swift 20 minute paddle going downstream with no obstruction and just a couple of pushes through gravel bars. When we got to the mouth Lewis Lake was glassy smooth so we paddled straight to the dock across about a mile 2/3 quite far from shore. It made the distance less but did give rise to some apprehension because of the distance from shore.
Just as we completed loading the gear and boats the sky opened up to driving raid and wind.
It is a stunningly beautiful paddle, both on the river and the lake. The walk up Lewis was difficult but very doable even for me at age 77.
It is not at all dangerous, just long and tiring.
The major factor is the possibility of wind. Both Lewis and Shoshone Lakes are big, high elevation and cold and when the wind rises, as it does almost every afternoon, they can be quite dangerous.
For my money, the whole game is a very early start, both on the put in day and for the paddle to the geysers.
We enjoyed it immensely and was wonderful to be in the Yellowstone back country. We would certainly do it again. You are required to have the boats inspected in the Park and get an assigned campsite and fishing permit from the Yellowstone Backcountry Office. The people in the Backcountry Office were friendly, efficient and helpful.
I ‘d be happy to have corrections from others who have paddled it or be happy to respond to any inquiries about this trip.
Chris Kelly