Bowman Lake (S24: Part 15)

A time in which I wondered if 48°F water is too cold to swim for an old pool rat.

As I mentioned last week, we hoped camping was available at Bowman Lake. When we stopped at the Polebridge Ranger Station to get our SUP boards inspected, we mentioned that we were a little worried there wouldn't be availability. The ranger smiled and said that only a handful of days are ever full. So, for all of you planning to visit Glacier National Park, you likely can get day-of camping at Bowman Lake!

We made lunch and relaxed at the campsite for a bit because we wanted to wait for some people to leave. Bowman Lake itself was busy on the 4th of July because of day-use. Many people were on the water, but others were hiking on some of the more popular trails. Apparently, Bowman Lake is a well-known trailhead.

Later in the afternoon, we pumped up our boards and paddled out onto the water. It was lovely going out, but ultimately, the wind picked up, creating a challenging paddle back to shore. That was not a fun part of the day.

As I posted back in July, when we got back to shore, we saw three 20-year-olds who had finished hiking and were swimming in the water. They all climbed out, but then one of them ran right back in. Her friends asked what she was doing, and she said, “When am I ever going to be in this lake again?” Adam was already cooling off in the lake, so her excellent life advice made me wonder when I would ever be in Bowman Lake again. Bowman Lake was 48°F that day, but a post-SUP dip was totally worth it. Cold… but worth it. Look at these views from the shore.

Numa Peak (8,993 ft) on the left, Rainbow Peak (9,888 ft) on the right, and Chapman Peak (9,377 ft) in the center).

To the northeast of Rainbow Peak is Rainbow Glacier. Google Maps has a great satellite view.

We went back to the water for sunset.

Absolutely still.

We watched these two ducks swim for some time. The water had many shallow spots throughout so they kept diving under water for snacks.

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And then we went back again at sunrise. We missed most of the color because it is hard to get up at sunrise at the tail end of a very busy summer vacation.

Even though we missed the color… how gorgeous is this?!

Once I lost the color in the clouds, it became a high contrast black and white image.

We went back to the van to make breakfast, and then we went out for another paddle. The wind had picked up already, so we didn't go too far from shore. We did see a six-point buck on one of the trails alongside a family kayaking near us. As they paddled away towards the mountains, I wished I had my camera and telephoto lens. They would have been framed by giants with a water reflection. But I am certainly not willing to take such expensive equipment onto a paddleboard.

We packed up the van and headed back to Highway 2 because that, sadly, was the end of our trip to Glacier National Park.

But that wasn’t the last day of our vacation.

Cheers.

Previous links to my summer vacation newsletter, parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14.