Meet the ‘Hiyaker’ King
From the Summer 2025 Issue
Robert Smith visits 70 alpine lakes… with a kayak on his back!
Smith pauses while scaling the ridge following a brief paddle on Little Harrison Lake. Photo by Jennifer Bloch.
Robert wasn’t certain yet that he was lost. He was certain that he was somewhere on the side of a mountain, post holing through the snow, with a boat on his back. He was looking for Pyramid Lake, high in the Selkirk Mountains, where he intended to go kayaking. But when he finally found the lake, it was 90 percent frozen. That didn’t deter Robert; he got his paddle in, strapped his boat to his back and headed out. He was tired from sinking to his knees to be pitched forward and sent sprawling headfirst into the snow, so he kicked his boat down the snowy slope and watched it pinball through the trees to the bottom. He was three weeks into his journey to kayak 70 lakes in just five months.
Boulder hopping up to Hunt Lake. Photo by Saylee Marmon.
Robert Smith was born and raised in Washington. His father instilled in him a strong environmental ethic and he read lots of books about the forefathers of conservation, like John Muir. He found his way to Sandpoint in 2013 after raising a family and retiring from a career in long-haul trucking that took him across the country many times.
While exploring his new surroundings paddling on Shepherd Lake, he encountered numerous dead turtles in the water and called Idaho Fish and Game to inquire. IDFG told him the turtles were dying from salmonella and asked if he was out on any other lakes that he report back if he found more.
Later, Robert was filtering through resources on other local adventures and read a Sandpoint Magazine article about Scott Bourassa (“Meeting the Goal,” Summer 2023), who hiked to all Boundary County lakes. Inspired to adventure by Bourassa’s story, and compelled by Idaho Fish and Game to pursue environmental stewardship, Robert locked in to the idea of kayaking as many lakes as he could.
First, he would need a boat. He found a lime green sit-on-top kayak that was about as long as he is tall. He fashioned some straps through the drain holes so he could carry it on his back. His first put-in was Shepherd Lake on May 13, 2023, where he found the dead turtles. Soon, he was hiking miles and miles in to alpine lakes in the surrounding mountains while carrying a kayak on his back; he was officially a ‘hiyaker.’
After hiking in to Hunt Lake—what AllTrails calls a moderately challenging route—Smith enjoys a celebratory paddle. Photo by Saylee Marmon.
To reach his goal of 70 lakes in five months he would have to knock off a new lake just about every other day. As he ticked off the easy ones like Shepherd, Antelope and Kelso the adventure got more demanding. “The hike into Hunt Lake was very treacherous,” Robert related as he explained the dangers of climbing through a boulder field with a boat on his back. “I got lost in the fog trying to find Cooks Lake. It was raining and the brush was over my head so I was soaked to the bone. Then I got lost on the way back to the truck!”
With all the adversity you would naturally wonder why he does this. “I love jumping in the truck in the morning with my cup of coffee and heading to a new destination.” He likes the different perspective he gets of the mountains from paddling around the lake. John Muir once said, “The mountains are calling, and I must go.” Robert hears this call and has responded in a way the wilderness sage would likely appreciate.
Robert had some solo trips but often had a partner. None of the dozen or so people who joined him over the course of five months were crazy enough to pack in their own boat. On the trail, Robert would encounter other “normal” hikers and was amused by their reactions. “Everybody had encouraging words for me and usually it was some variation of ‘Hell yeah,’ ‘Hell no,’ or ‘What the hell!?’” Robert’s response was, “If I can do it at 62 years old, you can do it.” He encourages everyone to get out into the wilds and challenge themselves and discover new things.
On October 23, 2023 Robert had one last lake to reach, number 70. Ahead of a snowstorm, Robert hiked in to Little Harrison Lake via the Beehive Lakes trail. He hiked about a mile up a steep trail, climbed over a ridge, scrambled down a boulder field, descended granite bedrock and launched his lime green kayak on his 70th lake. Paddling on a clear blue lake with the soaring granite peaks of the Seven Sisters around him must have been very satisfying.
Smith utilizes the tried-and-true circle on a map to record his hikes—only a few of which are pictured here.
The day I called Robert it was cold and windy and I was out for a walk at the Clark Fork Delta. Waves were crashing into the shore and piling up mounds of ice. It was a scene from the arctic and it looked like certain death to be caught out there. But Robert, the ‘Hiyaker,’ had plans to go kayaking that day on Lake Pend Oreille and was thinking he could find a calm piece of water in Pend d’Oreille Bay. He has plans to do more kayaking in Montana this summer. He says he’s always looking for an adventurous partner.
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