50 Mile Lake Louise Kayak Trip
I help lead a boy scout group. Last December we got together to decide our high adventure activity. We made a list of ideas. I was really hoping that the young men would choose kayaking out of Whittier, Alaska. But one of the leaders proposed kayaking on Lake Louise. He described beaches, coves and beautiful weather. Before I knew it, the young men reached a consensus and decided on the Lake Louise kayak trip.
I have to admit I was skeptical. But I was proven wrong. This last week (June 28th through July 2) we completed the trip. Yes, there were beaches. Yes, there were coves. No, the weather wasn’t great (the weather in Alaska is always a gamble). So here’s how the trip went down.
Kayaks and a Chase Boat
The people. We had four young men ages 14 to 17 and four adult leaders. The kayaks. We had three two-person kayaks and one one-person kayak. And a chase boat. We had one chase boat to carry the gear and to scoop up anyone that capsized their kayaks (we didn’t have anyone capsize a kayak, but trained for it at Goose Lake before the trip). We could have done canoes; but I recommend doing kayaks. I think they’re much more stable and fun. The spray skirts keep out the water and rain; plus the kayaks cut through the waves just fine. I also recommend having a chase boat. The boat can help with navigation, and relieve much of the load on a kayak. A little side note—the chase boat was able to follow us around for five days on a little over seven gallons of gas.
The Lakes and the Weather
You’ll see on the map that the trip actually involves a series of three lakes. The first is Lake Louise, the second is Susitna Lake and the third is Tyone Lake. We did all three lakes. Lake Louise is the largest of the three. We didn’t spend much time on it and went straight from the boat launch to our first camp just to the east of the channel to Susitna Lake. We launched at about 1pm and hit some windy weather and had to make our way through some waves. We then worked our way through the channel and spent most of our time around the middle island in Susitna Lake. Lake Susitna has a lot of little coves to explore and the water was much better.
But watch out for shallow water. Our chase boat hit a few low places and banged up the prop. We also went from one end of Lake Tyone to the other. We didn’t do much exploring on Lake Tyone because we mostly focused on getting our miles in. It’s worth seeing though.
As for the weather, we didn’t get a lucky break. The weather blows over the lakes which meant pockets of sunshine, lots of cloud cover, and a daily shower. It rained for half of one day during the longest portion of our kayaking trip. The spray skirts and good rain gear kept us dry. We were hoping to get a few of those hot interior summer days, but didn’t get lucky.
The Camp Sights and Fishing
Yes, there are beaches in interior Alaska. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. We camped at two spots and stayed at a cabin. We called the first spot camp sushi, the second spot camp wasabi, and the third spot camp sashimi—all in honor of our leader who served a mission in Japan and loves Japanese food. The beaches are wide enough to set up a tent. They aren’t Hawaii beaches, but good enough to enjoy. If the weather is nice, you can swim in the lakes. I took a bath in one of the lakes and the water was cold. I imagine it’s much better on sunny days. We didn’t have any problems with crowds.
We spent most of our time kayaking, eating, and sleeping. We did a little fishing and caught some grayling and whitefish. The chase boat did some trolling, but didn’t catch any lake trout. We looked for some streams along the west shore of Lake Susitna, but didn’t find any.
Fifty Miles and Navigation
Here’s how the trip went down (the average speed includes our stops along the way, so we were probably going closer to 4mph to 6mph. You can see on the map our actual course according to our gps.
Tuesday: Miles: 5.6; avg Speed: 3mph
Wednesday: Miles: 9.7; avg Speed: 3mph
Thursday: Miles: 17.1; avg Speed: 3mph
Friday: Miles: 11.7; avg Speed: 3mph
Saturday: Miles: 8.9; avg Speed: 4mph
The Verdict
Overall it was a great trip. It’s definitely a workout, but a lot of fun. It’s also probably a lot safer than kayaking in the ocean or a glacial lake. I highly recommend it as a high adventure for a group of young men older than 14 years old.
