“Spend as much time as possible on mountains, in small boats, or otherwise out in the weather; if you never get wet, cold, exhausted or scared, you won’t properly appreciate being dry, warm, rested and safe.” ~ Peter Jay

"I’m an adventuring river rat at heart. Put me on a floating piece of driftwood and I’m happy." ~ Christina Glauner

"There’s folly and foolhardiness on one side and daring and calculation on the other." ~ C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Missouri Trek 1

Today the Pierre Kayak Club put in the first 10.5 miles of what could be an epic goal. The other two regular members have a plan to paddle as much of the Missouri as possible. So we began from the face of the dam today and went down to the first Farm Island boat ramp.
The boat ramp we launched from is in disrepair; a motor boat trailer could not get past the bottom half of the ramp, but it worked fine for us.
I noticed a goose and some goslings along the way... thankfully Scruff didn't notice them.
Though he restrained himself from chasing after the pelicans we saw.My fellow cohorts.
I believe the next leg is from the boat ramp we took out at down to what we call twin bridges, which is where Medicine Creek empties into the Missouri River. How far down do we plan to go? I have no idea, but there is alot of summer left... it isn't even June yet!

Also, I am sorry to report that I will not be attending the SDCA event at Lake Alvin this Saturday (31st). I am flying to NY for a college friend's wedding and then spending some extra time doing the tourist thing out there. I hope everyone has a good time on the water though!

Added: a few pictures that were taken by John Adler and uploaded to the Pierre Kayak Club Yahoo group site.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Perception Carolina 14.0

Today I finally managed to get myself out to Rapid City to demo the Perception Carolina 14.0.
I have been interested in this boat for some time. It seems to get great great reviews online, but finding one to demo was a bit trickier. Scheels doesn't like to let us demo boats and Dakota Adventures in Pierre can order Perceptions but they don't keep any in stock. I did find one place in SD that had the Carolina 14 in stock and would let me demo it. Global Market in Rapid City.

Barb with Global Market let me take the boat over to the pond in Memorial Park (by the Civic Center) to try it out.

I'll admit that it initially seemed very tipsy, but that was more my being used to the Hurricane Santee 140T's 31" beam. The Carolina 14's width is 24.5''. I quickly got used to it and it is a joy to paddle. It seemed to track well and I felt it was faster than soloing my Hurricane despite weighing more (probably due to better weight distribution). It turned very quickly too. I really liked the seat adjustments... the one disappointment I have with my Hurricane is that the seat adjustments (incline and height) have a tendency to slip.

Overall I though it was a great boat. Dakota Adventures in Pierre quoted me $900 to order one for me, but Global Market would not match it so if I decide to order it (I am leaning that way) I'll be getting it here in Pierre.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Second Pierre Kayak Club Paddle

The Pierre Kayak Club got out on the river this afternoon and it was a great time. We increased our turnout from 3 paddlers in April to 6 paddlers today. Two of the newbies were borrowing or paddling tandem; hopefully the experience has them interested in getting their own boats and paddling more. We went on one of my favorite trips, around La Framboise Island. A slide show of the pictures I took is below.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Sunday and Monday

On Sunday I went out paddling. Nothing new in terms of location; I just did a circumnavigation of La Framboise Island. I did put a little twist to it and paddled down stream along the west river bank instead of along the island. Sorry no google earth map; the batteries died in my gps during the trip. Here is a slide show of the pictures I took though.


On Monday I just went for a quick paddle around Dump Island. The evening was windless. I have a couple of coworkers that like to go wakeboarding; they have a description for the river on days like yesterday: "like glass" or "like butter". The river was smooth is usually what I say. Some pictures:

Thursday, May 1, 2008

La Framboise Redux

On Tuesday, I reverted to a favorite paddle of mine: around La Framboise Island. I put-in on the causeway and headed downstream.
The ducks were active that day.
And I wasn't the only one to notice!


The water level through the small channel was as high as I have ever seen it. I placed a flag on the map where a small inlet is on the aerial photo. I have never been able to identify it with certainty until Tuesday. There is not much water in it so it's usefulness to paddlers is slim, except for photo opportunities.
And the small dam like structure at the end of the channel.

Farm Island

Hey everyone! This past Sunday I decided to explore the opposite side of Farm Island than what the Pierre Kayak Club explored in early April. I put-in at one of my favorite spots, the boat ramp at the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail on Farm Island. I like this spot because it is seldom used. I think I have seen one person fishing off the ramp and one other kayaker use it. I have never seen a motorized boat use it (probably just jinxed it too). It is on the far left side of the map btw.
The Saturday before wind gusts were in the 40s, I believe. It wasn't so bad on Sunday; gusts were in the 20s!

Below is a picturesque (somewhat anyway) picnic shelter on Farm Island.
I thought this tree looked kind of neat and stood out from the rest of the scene.
A picture as we return to the boat ramp where we began the paddle.
I believe the trip ended up at around 6.5 miles total.

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