Bad River Paddle

In between blizzards we had nice weather on Saturday. High temperatures were in the upper 40's and the wind was maybe 10-15 mph. So, Pat and I decided to go for an afternoon paddle. Becauase I had some other things to get done we didn't get on the water until 3:30. The ramp along the casueway was crowded with fisherman launching and landing their boats. Where were these guys in January and February??? We launched from an area next to the ramp and headed over to Fort Pierre to check out the Bad River.I have only gone part way up it once before but ran into ice in December. Pat has gone farther before until the water got too shallow to paddle.

As we went up the river we found no ice remaining. We did spot a number of hawks, a couple muskrats, and a heron that kept just a head of us for a while until it finally flew away. We were able to go about 2 and a half miles upstream to a ways beyond the second railroad bridge. The wind picked up slightly and was a little rough on the Missouri on the return trip. Total time on the water was a bit over 2 and a half hours and we paddled about 7.5 miles. The pictures that follow are several of Pat and of the heron after he took off one of the times.