SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED ARE A FEW PIECES OF GEAR AND A RUGGED LANDSCAPE TO ESCAPE and sometimes all you need is a sea kayak on the open water. Some of the most beautiful places on Earth are best seen from the quiet solitude of a kayak.
Cari Morgan is a freelance writer and founder of Evoke PR. She currently lives and plays in the Sierra Foothills.
Wyoming’s Wilderness Never Fails to SurpriseIt only took ten minutes. Just out of Jackson, a moose and her calf graze at their breakfast, barely registering our presence as the van sped past toward Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, A.K.A. "American's Serengeti." The game, it seems, is afoot. Let the wild life begin.
Cynthia Barnes has trekked to Timbuktu and Tibet, writing for National Geographic, Slate, Endless Vacation and other newspapers and magazines. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and former resident of Bangkok, she now names Wyoming as her new favorite place.
There is perhaps no better way to experience the breathtaking scenery, abundant wildlife and geothermal wonders of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks than from the cockpit of a one- or two-person sea kayak. Even with no prior experience, this low-impact, non-technical, self-propelled craft requires only mild exertion and is perfectly suitable for first-time paddlers. The techniques are relatively simple and easy to learn and the sea kayak offers a welcome reprieve for hikers with weary knees. Sea kayaks also allow visitors to reach areas that would be otherwise inaccessible and serves as an excellent and unobtrusive platform for wildlife viewing.
We rose about a half hour before first light. As we put on our warm layers and lifejackets, the first light creeps over the hills. We push off one by one in our blue kayaks, there are only three of us on this excursion to the lily pad pond. We paddle across the calm bay to a little inlet. As we creep along in the clear channel, a flock of Merganser ducks squawks by us. Very slowly and quietly we enter into the lily pad pond.
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The pond is misty and full of huge green pads loaded with yellow flowers. The center of which contains swirls of orange and black. We hear an eagle over head. Ever so gently, we glide across the pond scanning the water’s edge and look into the woods for wildlife.
Our paddle across Jackson Lake on the first day of an early season trip this year was one to remember, an epic tale of man verses the forces of nature. The morning kicked off with classic blue skies, sunshine and a calm lake. However, while we were beached on a little island for a picnic, the clouds grew and billowed over the peak of Mt. Moran. Zac and I gave each other a look as if to indicate, “Look at that weather, we’d better start rolling,” so we did. The sky above continued to shine, but the clouds were darkening as they grew closer. We had half a mile before reaching camp on Grassy Island at the southern tip of Jackson Lake. I thought we could make it, but the weather had other plans. The wind picked up and within seconds it started to hail; it took all the energy we had to remain accurately pointed in our kayaks. We were all flailing about, and now the storm was nearly on top of us. We still had to get to camp, which I then noticed was conveniently located in the eye of the storm. Zac came rushing over and started helping each guest as we hauled the boats out of the water and on to our JRig (also known as, “Fatty,” the support boat for our operational equipment here in Wyoming). I remember struggling to communicate with folks in the water, paddling and talking while keeping an eye out behind me. All I saw was the silhouette of Zac lifting gear out of someone’s kayak and onto the rig. It was bright and shiny a half mile behind us, yet furious ahead and the lighting was remarkable. Once we were all safe on the JRig, we were able to motor to camp.
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Ali McNabb is one of our adventurous Wyoming guides, a BBQ-loving gal originally from Austin, Texas. In addition to kayaking, she also enjoys bike riding, hiking and reading in her down time. McNabb worked previously at Trek American and has traveled abroad extensively in between seasons, mainly in Mexico, but also throughout South America, Turkey and Ethiopia.
1. How long have you been a guide?
I have been a guide for 5 years and been lucky in my guiding experience to have traveled throughout most of North America, exploring the most amazing National Parks and Provincial Parks imaginable.
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Of course I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” (Haven’t you?) Living at the gates of Yosemite National Park and owner of a National Parks Pass nearly every year of my adult life, I feel it almost sacrilegious to miss this television event. Read the rest of this entry »
It is somehow fitting that my first transcendental wilderness experiences occurred at our country’s first national park – Yellowstone. Between my junior and senior years at college, a friend and I headed west for a two-month long road trip that took us to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Badlands National Parks, as well as such unforgettable places as Devil’s Tower National Monument, the Oregon and California coastlines, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Mojave Desert.
I grew up in a small Ohio industrial town, where our rivers and streams were murky chocolate brown-red-gray in color, and nobody I knew dared eat the catfish caught there. We were discouraged from swimming in our streams. The Cuyahoga River, not far from my hometown, caught on fire in the summer of 1969. Clearly I grew up with a distorted concept of wilderness. At night, our town was typically shrouded under an eerie pinkish-orange glow, whether from the steel mills or shopping mall parking lots, I don’t know.
Book before March 31, 2009, and receive $250 off a Yellowstone & Grand Teton Explorer trip
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