Loon Lake

On Labor Day, September 5, the couple who pastures their horses at the ranch invited me to spend an afternoon at one of their rental properties with them and another couple they know.  The rental property is on Loon Lake.  This lake is SE of Bigfork in Lake County near the Lake and Flathead county border.  There is somewhat of a public access via a 4H camp, but mostly the lake is ringed by private properties.

The lake is decent sized lake. A few people were out on the lake, but mostly it was quiet.

The couple who invited me had two cheap 'kayaks'.  I saw kayaks loosely as these kayaks were little more than Styrofoam shaped like a kayak.  The 'kayak' had a few holes in the bottom which let water in while still allowing the 'kayak' to float.  My butt got wet.  While that felt fine on a warm day like this one, that feature limits the 'kayak's' use to warm days.

I kayaked all around the lake.  One woman who used the other kayak said that she saw a black bear near the lake on the south side (left side of the following photo) but the bear was heading up the hillside.  The bear was gone by the time I reached that side of the lake.

View looking west

View looking east / NE with the Swan Mountain Range in the background

A large beaver house?

One end of the lake was covered in lily pads.

I was surprised at the number of yellow jackets walking on the lily pads.  They didn't want anything to do with me even when I disturbed some of the lily pads as I kayaked through the pads.