When the weather gets hot, I go to higher elevations and do shorter hikes or combine hiking and paddling. On this hot summer day I launched my kayak from the Lodgepole Lake Rec Site and then paddled around the lake, once in each direction. I then secured the boat and hiked single track trails nearby.
It was an early start, so there was only one boat on the lake, though the Rec Site was full. This is a smaller lake calling for multiple loops, or a paddle-hike combination.
There was a light wind on the lake. Much of the lake is shallow. Fishermen fly fish the the middle part of the lake. I went around the shoreline twice.
After paddling I explored a new (to me) trail from the campground down to Waterlily Pond, then along the Walloper Creek drainage, before climbing back to the lake.
I have hiked a trail around the lake before, but this time I tried a different route close to the lakeshore.
The 4 loops were just right for a summer outing. A few moments from the paddling and hiking the loops is shared here in a YouTube video:
