Memorial Day

Since it was a holiday and we all had the day off, Chuck, Pat, and I decided to go for a paddle. The weather was not as good as we hoped with clouds hanging around most of the day and more wind than we had hoped for. Once we got down to the causeway we decided to go upstream against the current and a 15 mile per hour breeze. Between the two it made for a tougher paddle. In fact, if you stoped paddling for more than just a few seconds you wuld get pushed back downstream. After going a ways upstream Chuck had to turn around to get back to Pierre. Pat and I continued upstream stopping at what used to be an island along the Fort Pierre side of the river. The distance upstream was about 2.4 miles and took about an hour. After stopping for a little while we headed back. And, of course, the breeze didn't SEEM to be as strong once it was at our backs. But, the paddling was much easier and the 2.1 miles back took only half an hour. I think the distance was less becasue we took a little more direct route and probably because we never got pushed backwards.

With this 4.5 miles I am now over 80 miles for the year. Pat, of course, now has over 100 miles.

Pat waiting for Chuck to launch.

Chuck.

The island at the turnaround.

West Bend

As we continued to camp we went down to West Bend for the weekend. When we arrived on Friday night the wind was really blowing and kicking up some big waves. The river is 2 miles wide at this area and the waves can really build, much like it can up on Lake Oahe. Saturday was part of the free fishing weekend and it looked like everyone with a boat showed up at West Bend. One time we went around and counted over 100 empty boat trailers. And they kept coming. Good thing there is a lot of water for them to spread out on. Fortunately, Saturday was a calmer day than what it had been like Friday night and it warmed up - the low was around 32 the night before. I was able to park near the campground and only had to carry my boat 50 yards to a good put in. Careful to not get run over by any outgoing or incoming boats I snuck past the opening to the marina and headed north (downstream). Since I have a geocache about 2 miles from my starting point I decided to go check on it. Before getting to it I spotted something slip into the water, maybe a beaver, but he was too elusive to tell for sure. A few turtles were sitting on some large logs and also slipped away under the water before I could get their pictures.

After checking on the cache I continued another mile downstream. After paddling about 3.2 miles I decided to head back. But, by making it a straight line back I was able to cut that distance down to 2.9 miles and with pushing it a little I made the return trip in just over 40 minutes. Because of the route taken it looks like I crossed a line between Hughes and Lyman County.

Another Farm Island Paddle

After supper Pat came out to the campground so we could go for a paddle. Originally we had planned to start by the polo grounds and go around the islan, but the weather forecast was not too promising. So. we decided to avoid the main channel and just start at the campground and stay between there and the island. As we headed downstream the paddling was easy so we decided to just continue down to the end of the island. There was a slight breeze in our faces so we figured it would make a quicker paddle back. That theory held for a while, but after starting the return trip the tail wind died down and then switched around to be another headwind. It looked like another storm was headed our way so about the time we decided to get back to the near shore the wind started to pick up even more. After getting back near the shore it REALLY picked up and made the last half mile of the paddle tough. And, as usual, the wind died back down about the time we were done. The pictures that follow show how much the weather can change in an hour and a half. From sunny and bright, to cloudy. All told we put another 5.7 miles on our boats.

Farm Island Campground

After camping at Okobojo and Cow Creek we came back to Farm Island to camp for the week. On Monday evening there was a short storm that went through. Aterwards, I went out for a short paddle from the campground over to the island, upstream to the causeway, back down, and back to the campground. On the way down while along the island I caught glimpse of a raccoon along the water. I tried to get a couple pictures of him, but he was pretty well hidden among the branches and a bit too far away to get a good shot. And, as usual the pelicans were around, but alwys took over before getting close enough to get an good shots of them either. Since it was a late start, I was only on the water just long enough to paddle 2 miles.

The storm that passed through the campground.

After the storm. It has moved east away from the campground.

Looking toward the island. There is a raccoon in this picture.

Zoomed in on the same picture you can just see him looking at me.

Lake Oahe

Cathy and I spent Friday night camped along one of the points at Okobojo Point and the wind blew and the whitecaps were bad out on Lake Oahe. Fortunately, on Saturday afternoon the wind went down and Pat came out so we could paddle out on the bigger water. The water levels of Lake Oahe have been down, but have comeback up to "normal" this fall. That submerged a lot of small trees that used to be out of the water. Starting from the point just outside the motor home we headed straight west out across the opening where Okobojo Creek empties into Lake Oahe. This is about a 3/4 mile crossing at that point. From there we continued across 2 more openings and finally stopped at a point about 3 miles away and just past Dry Creek. There, we got out of our boats and I went and placed a geocache for others to find. We kept an eye on the weather and it looked like it cold turn bad, even getting sprinkled on a few times. So, we hustled back and finsihed by covering about 5.8 miles. Not long after we got back and Pat headed back to Pierre the front came through and the wind blew and the rain came down hard. Timing is EVERYTHING.

With this, I am now up to 26 straight months of paddling and can add Lake Oahe and Sully County onto my list of paddling destinations.

Getting ready to launch.

Heading out across Okobojo Creek.

Turn around point.

Storm approaching from the west.

Big Sioux River Cruise

Pictures will go in first this time:

This is what we woke up to Saturday morning. This is Eric's tent which was next to our motor home.

Part of the group ready to launch from the pow wow grounds.

Ryan.

Eric.

Not sure what Ryan is pointing to. Must be one of those Lewis and Clark moments.

The dam at Flandreau.

The pictures from here on down were taken as people
went past the campground east of Flandreau.