I don't know how to put photos in where they belong so you will get a bunch of them at the end. sorry.
August 6-9 Yellowstone Park Trip
Lewis Lake to Shoshone Lake via canoe
24 persons 9 Adults, 15 Kids, 3 camps on Shoshone Lake
Here is my second attempt at this entry. The first one is in cyber space somewhere but is untraceable to me.
Day 1
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 we left from Idaho Falls, ID. In Rexburg Idaho we picked up 12 canoes from the BYU-Idaho Outdoor Recreation Center. With two trailers in tow we headed for Jackson Hole, WY. We traveled through two terrible rain storms. Thankfully our gear was under the camper shell or in the enclosed trailer. We arrived at the park about 4:50pm at the south entrance of Yellowstone. That was 15 minutes later than we planned and that made it so we could not get the boats inspected that evening. The first change in our itinerary was complete. We headed back out of the park to Flagg Ranch where the camping was free and $75 cheaper than in the park itself. We had brought extra gear with us so we didn’t have to unpack everything for the canoe trip. It was a good thing, because it rained like crazy all night long. Cole found a pretty big frog on the river bank and thought that was pretty cool. Dinner was good, hamburgers and chips but we all got wet. Some of the kids and I felt duty bound to get a fire going for our spirits. With wet wood everywhere we ended up chopping a log, getting to the less-soaked center and finally getting some flames. We then put wood around the flames to dry out other pieces of wood. It was successful! This lifted our spirits and we were ready for bed. I slept on a cot in the back of my truck, Cole was in the back seat of the crew cab and Briggs was in his single man tent on the ground. He likes it challenging. This is when we found a leak in his rainfly (which I recoated with seam sealer and water-proofing spray tonight) so we had to put a tarp over it. That did the trick and he slept well.
Day 2
I arose first about 5:45am and began setting up for breakfast. Shortly after that Brigham awoke and as we stood talking about the night before and the rain that night we saw 4 river otters swimming in the channel at our feet. They were fishing and frolicking. It was cool to see them. We packed up, ate breakfast and hit the road to meet the inspector at 8:00am. She was a little late so we were there awaiting her arrival. If you have not had the pleasure of having a boat “inspected” for National Park use, you are not missing anything. (Except aggravation, and money for permits)They wasted all the time they could walking around the boats telling us over and over that we needed more permits. We agreed and bought them as quickly as we could. At 9:00am we were packing our canoes and ready to hit the water. The weather had been terrible the two days prior, but now it was not raining and the wind was only a breeze. As we hit the water, we all took about 30 minutes to get used to the crafts and get a rhythm with our canoe partners. I had the pleasure of having my 12 year old 65 lb. son Cole with me. He proved to be a trooper, but our strokes were not equal so there was some course correction going on in the rear of the canoe. We crossed the lake and hugged the other shore as we headed for the river channel we would use to access Shoshone Lake. It was about 6 miles to the inlet. Once there, we waited for everyone and took a short rest. Then we headed up the channel which resembled more of a lake than a river. As we paddled upstream the beauty of the forest, lodge pole pines, grassy banks and fallen trees below in the water began to captivate me. We had a pace, and a destination so Cole and I went onto auto pilot and just kept on rowing. About the time our arms were ready to give out, we realized the current was getting too strong to paddle against. Although some spots were shallow, many of the runs near the bank were fairly deep (waist) so I had Cole ride in the canoe as I pulled it up with a rope. Wading upstream, pulling a canoe loaded with gear and my buddy was an arduous task. The slick river bottom, the force of the current and the weight of the boat all made it quite an adventure. At one point I was wading and stubbed my non-protected toe on a rock and then slipped on the next step. This sent me down face first, totally submerged in the river. I popped back up quickly with the sudden chill of the water in my 2000 parts and looked around. Some of the boys had seen my blunder and were laughing. I came up fighting mad, but within seconds was laughing with them and continuing upstream. Now I wade rivers and creeks fishing all the time, but this mile and a half to two miles was more work than I was used to. One of my thighs was feeling it as we rounded the bend to Shoshone Lake! It was breathtaking. It is a huge lake. Our campsite 8S1 was only ¾ of a mile up the coast line. We headed there after wishing the other groups luck on their extra 4 miles up the opposite coast to their campsites.
Once we arrived at our site, we unloaded the gear, and went to setting up our tents. Of course it had begun to rain by this time. With gratitude we set up a rain fly that Royce brought with him. This proved to be one of the most important pieces of gear we had with us. It was hung and served as a place to stand and sit under while the rain poured down many times during the trip. It made cooking much more pleasant, and provided shade in the few sunny moments we had. That evening we attempted to do some fishing. I took a depth finder for the huge lake and realized it was a different ball game than I am used to. The fish were all about 90-95 feet down. Obviously my fly fishing gear was useless for the lake trout so my Son broke out his spinning gear. We didn’t have any luck that night but one of the other boys caught an 18” lake trout that he ate for supper. There are no fires allowed in this area, which is a huge turn-off for me. We hung out around the lantern, under the rain fly until we were all exhausted. I think that was about 8:30. Off to bed. I have a hard fast rule while camping to always use ear plugs. After stripping down, I realized I did not have them in the tent. I could not find them in my dry bags and ended up going to sleep without them. I was glad I did! About 4:00am I was ripped from my sleep with a chorus of wolves howling! It was not the “yip” of coyotes, but a ravenous howl. It was impossible to know how many were howling at once because of the echo of the bay. It went on for about 4-5 minutes and then stopped as quickly as it had begun. I was left to my own thoughts in the dark, silence. Your mind can go weird places in times like this. From, “where did I hang the bear spray?” to “where is the .357?”. Of course logic tells you that isn’t necessary, but how a mind can wonder!
Day 3
We awoke to a beautiful, glass lake. We ate biscuits and gravy to start a great day. We planned on canoeing to Geyser Basin at the other end of the lake. To put this into perspective that is nearly an 8 mile trip each way. We were feeling good, the weather looked beautiful and we headed out. Our spirits were high and we made pretty good time. Half way there we met up with our other scouts at the other camps. We gained a few more people and headed onward toward the geysers. Just a few minutes into the second leg of the journey it began to rain. It continued to rain nearly all the way there. Fortunately the wind wasn’t too bad. As we rounded the corner of the bay where you unload, the rain really picked up. We beached, turned our canoes over to avoid filling up with rain water and went for a hike. The cool part of visiting this basin is that there are no boardwalks or restrictions to where you can go or what you can see. It is cool to be very close to hot pots, geysers, and boiling pots. Of course it’s important to be careful, but it feels much more like I imagine it would have when mountain men first entered this territory. It was a cool feeling to see nature’s powerful forces up close. It’s like visiting Old Faithful (on a smaller scale) without the other two thousand people around. After a couple of hours we ate lunch and jumped back into the canoes for more “fun”. It was considerably more windy and rainy so it was much tougher rowing. As we approached the “narrows” where we needed to cross the lake we became concerned with our safety. After evaluating the sky we decided to hurry across. With waves and cross winds it was precarious and the kids got serious about paddling pretty quick. We all made it and kept to the south shore the rest of the way back. (that is the direction of the waves so it was safer) As we pulled up to our camp about 3:00 we were exhausted. I guess 16 miles will do that to you.
Later that evening we rowed out to fish for a little while. Although we did not catch any fish we did see a deer cross lake outlet. Earlier my Son Brigham caught a 20” lake trout. After a great spaghetti dinner the rain stopped and allowed us some time to play cards. We played all the classic games you would expect, “BS and Screw your Neighbor”. I joined my boys and slept pretty well.
Day 4
We awoke about 6:15am and began packing up. As the tents were soaked we opted to eat as they dried off a bit. After a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and sausage we packed up our camp. About 9:00 we were joined by the others in our party and we took off toward Lewis Lake. We found that heading downstream in the river was equally as fun as going up was exhausting. We made really good time heading downstream. We did see about six deer with two bucks in the group. One two point and one mature four point. It was a very beautiful float. As we hit the mouth of Lewis Lake we saw that the lake was like glass. It is pretty unheard of in the afternoon, so we felt pretty blessed to have such nice weather. This allowed us to cut some corners and save some time heading across the lake. As we approached the shore where the boat launch was, we gave it one last blast of energy. We (myself and my 12 year old, 67 lb. Son) crossed that last half mile in record time! As we reached the shore we all had a great sense of accomplishment!
On the way home we were lucky and saw a grizzly bear near the south entrance of the park! It was really cool. Then we stopped in Jackson Hole, WY to have some well-deserved pizza! We returned our rented canoes and cruised home.
As I reflect upon this trip I think of the things I would have done differently and things I would have kept the same. For the most part I think it went very well. Earlier in the year the fish are much closer to the shore. They are in more shallow water and easier to access. We were there when the mosquitos were pretty much gone. It was cool enough that they were not a major problem. It was an awesome trip in all. The kids did hard things, gained some confidence and I had a unique opportunity to spend quality time with my boys in formidable situations. It is great to see how they react and perform under pressure and tense situations. Even as an adult, I felt a great sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction at conquering a challenge. In a world of easy pleasures, mobile devices, innumerable distractions this was a wonderful respite from the daily stresses I normally face. Physical challenges with an element of fear are what help make boys men, and this certainly tested their grit.
I would recommend something more appropriate for bailing than a shoe. 
