Bear Trap Canyon and the Return of the Smoke

Besides checking out the hills of historical Montana, we also spent some time kayaking the beautiful lakes. We launched our Sea Eagle kayak on the north end of Ennis Lake on an unusually calm morning. It was a quick paddle to get to a little island on the edge of the lake. This picture also shows the smoky outlines of the Rocky Mountains behind the lake. After two days of relatively clear weather, the smoke has caught up with us.

Kayaking around big oval lakes is a little boring, so we are heading under the bridge at the edge of the lake. That short bridge also keeps the big boats from following us to our destination for the day.

We are paddling down Bear Trap Canyon. We've already been warned to get out of this canyon before the afternoon winds pick up and turn this into a wind tunnel. But this morning, the water is as smooth as glass, mirroring the canyon walls on both sides.

There are a few other boaters in the canyon, trying to catch the trout that this area is famous for.

With the steep canyon walls, we can certainly see where it got its name. But we didn't see any bears trapped in Bear Trap Canyon. In fact, the only furry wildlife we saw was this chipmunk. He was standing in the sunlight, nibbling on grass seed like his winter survival depended on it. The first snow isn't far away for this part of Montana.

We always wonder how much longer a balanced rock can stand in place. The falcon-head-shaped rock looming over the left bank looked like it could tip into the water at any time.

We got to the end of our paddle trip when we reached the large orange balls across the water. We appreciate the warning signs that let boaters know the dam is ahead.

We took the kayak out of the water, and walked up the canyon to see the dam for ourselves. The Madison River is more shallow on this side of the dam, probably because the amount of water flowing through the ten-foot tube on the left.

We headed back down the canyon in the kayak. We are happy to see the blue skies here, and even more happy to see that the winds aren't kicking up yet. We still have glass-like water perfectly mirroring the canyon walls. We realize our photos look very much like ink-blot pictures. Does anyone see a bow-tie in the picture below?

Even though we enjoyed some blue skies in the canyon this morning, by evening the smoke had blown in from the north. Remember the clear mountains we had seen from the RV Park when we first arrived?

Standing in that same spot, we took a picture this day. You can see the same trees in the foreground, but the nearby mountains are completely shrouded in smoke. Just like in Helena, we got the first two days in Ennis with little smoke. But once again we have been smoked out!