I forget exactly how the conversation went, but in summary, it was something like:
Eli: “Hey, what if we stand-up paddle 12 miles across Lewis Lake, up a river, across Shoshone Lake, and backcountry camp there. Then, we can paddle the whole way back the next day.”
Me: “What could possibly go wrong?”
James: “I’m in.”
And so we embarked on our first overnight paddle board trip from Lewis Lake, up the river to Shoshone Lake, backcountry camped overnight, and then paddled back the following day. The three of us love being active and this felt like a perfect way to challenge ourselves and see some of the lesser-explored parts of the country’s oldest national park.
The first thing I typically do when I’m planning a trip is conduct an obsessive amount of research about the best things to do, what to bring, the likely conditions, cost, etc. The issue we ran into with this trip is that it’s not a popular paddle boarding trip, so the information is limited. I chatted with a park ranger on the phone and she said rangers don’t really go to that area and so she doesn’t have information about the strength of the current or wind we’d be facing. We were able to learn–mostly from kayakers–that the winds would be brutal and that we would have to portage for at least part of the river.
Preparing for our SUP trip
The night before our trip we scored a campsite at Lewis Lake Campground. That was perfect because we were planning to get our boards inspected at the Lewis Lake ranger station that day before our trip and then launch our boards from the boat ramp right near the campsite. The campsites are first-come, first-served only, so we considered ourselves lucky to find an open site. As a backup, we had reserved a site all the way up at Mammoth Campground, which would have been a long 2-hour drive.
Board inspection
The day before we planned to embark, we got our boards inspected at the Lewis Lake ranger station. We have inflatable boards and were very grateful the ranger didn’t make us inflate our boards. We just rolled them out so they can take a close look at both sides. The process was very quick, only taking about a half hour to locate a ranger, fill out the paperwork, and lay out the boards.
We asked just about every ranger we met what they knew about the paddle, but for the most part, they couldn’t tell us very much. It turns out they don’t all go on obscure backcountry paddling trips.
The day of our paddle, we woke up early, packed up camp, scarfed breakfast, and toted everything down to the lake. We pumped up our boards, arranged and tied down our gear, and launched.
Top 5 gear items to have on an overnight paddle board trip
Aside from the standard camping essentials, there were some slightly less obvious gear items that I would add to the requirements list, especially for paddle boarding.
A full wetsuit. Even in the summer, the water in Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake is very cold. It was barely over 40 degrees F when we went in late June. We wore wetsuits, folded down to the waist. That way, we were protected if we tipped, but we weren’t at risk of overheating.
Booties with thick rubber bottoms are a must! There is about a mile along the river that we had to portage. There aren’t clear trails right along the river, and the rocks are rough – so we walked about a mile in the river, dragging out boards against the current.
A mosquito hood is another must. It’s really an essential for any backcountry camping trip, but I’m including it because it would have been a game changer if I had one. Only Eli brought one (genius), so us remaining two dummies spent an inordinate amount of time moving ridiculously fast about the campsite, or in our tent. James ended up eating breakfast on his paddle board on the water to avoid the mosquitos early on departure day.
A fanny pack with accessible snacks, and a drink holster or Camelbak. This sounds silly, but I didn’t have one and both of the boys did. I had to sit down and dig through my bag every time I wanted a snack or water. Water is the main thing – the sun is brutal and there is no escaping it, so staying hydrated is so important. The wind was strong enough that when I paused and bent over for a few seconds to pick up my water, I would begin to accelerate backward.
Bring a manual pump and a patch kit. We didn’t need the patch kit (thankfully), but we found our boards deflated by about 1-2 psi overnight, presumably because of temperature changes. That’s not a huge deal, but for peace of mind and because our boards were loaded gear, a couple of psi difference matters for stability on the water.
Stand-up paddle boarding from Lewis Lake to Shoshone Lake and back
Time and distance
We left from Lewis Lake campground at 8:45am on day 1. It took us about 6.5 hours to get from the Lewis Lake boat dock to our campsite on Shoshone Lake. On the way there, we followed the coastline loosely and the average of our gps mappings was about 11.5 miles. The way back took about 1.5 hours less than the way there, in part because we cut some distance, but also because we were riding the river down stream instead of walking our boards up. On the other hand, it was way harder to fight the wind on the way back across Lewis Lake than it was on the way in across Shoshone Lake.
The wind
The wind was rough on the way there, and brutal on the way back. There were moments on the way back where I was paddling furiously and my watch was registering 0 mph. Not cool. We initially planned to leave very early, but by the time we made breakfast, packed up camp, got down to the water, and packed up our boards, it was 8:30am.
The late start, both on the way there and on the way back, contributed to our struggle with the wind. The wind starts to pick up at about 11am, and is tough to paddle against by 12pm. By the afternoon there were white caps and I was so grateful that I had a kayak blade attachment for my paddle.
The river
There is a channel/river that connects Lewis Lake to Shoshone Lake. The first half is slow-moving, deep green, and crystal clear. It’s a dream to paddle through. The second half is about knee deep, faster moving and rocky. You can’t paddle against the current once the river gets shallower.
We ended up taking our fins off our boards and using a tow line to drag the boards up the last mile of the river. It was a slow-moving methodical trudge, but it wasn’t incredibly hard. By the time we reached Shoshone Lake, I could definitely feel it in my hip flexors and quads, but it wasn’t bad enough that I woke up sore the next day.
The way back down was super fun! We took our fins off our boards at the river mouth, hopped on, and floated downstream. This was a huge highlight of our whole Yellowstone trip for me. I hung my feet off either side of my board for some level of stability and converted my paddle handle to my kayak blade. The river really only goes about 4 mph, which was a really pleasant pace. We were able to cruise down and navigate the protruding rocks relatively easily.
Backcountry camping
We stayed at campsite 8Q3, which is on the south side of the lake. There are 9 campsites along the south side and it can be tough to score a reservation. We had submitted an application, hoping to get a reservation through the lottery system, but it turns out they never received our application so we didn’t get a site by advance reservation. The park also allows you to call no earlier than 3 days in advance to reserve any remaining (or cancelled) campsites. We were very lucky – there was one night free.
There was a ridiculous amount of mosquitos at our campsite. We wished we had face nets – I would go so far as to say it should be a requirement… pfd, safety whistle, inspection, mosquito hood. Obviously I’m kidding, but that’s how badly I wished I had one.
Would I do this again?
“[expletive] YES!” The only thing I would do differently–other than packing a mosquito hood–is to stay backcountry for more nights.
We are already daydreaming about our next multi-day SUP excursion. The possibilities are endless when you have an inflatable board. Have you ever done an overnight paddle board trip? Have any recommendations?