“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

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Split Rock Creek/Big Sioux River

Yesterday I made the trek to Sioux Falls, Brandon actually, for the Split Rock Creek SDCA cruise. Earlier in the week, it was sounding like we would have to shorten the cruise because Split Rock Creek was running low. But once we got there the creek looked similar to last year (paddlable  with only a few portage spots). I should add I was considering not coming on this cruise, but I wanted to pickup a backpacking stove for next weekend so I used that as an excuse to travel to SF. I don't regret it; I got my backpacking stove at The Sportswarehouse for almost half what I probably would have paid at Scheels. Possibly a lower model but that is fine with me. It will do what I need it to do.
The trip came in at around 8.5 miles (I read 8.65 on the creek, but after I cleaned up the track data it looked like 8.4 so I will average :) ).
From 2008_10_04

I had a blast on the trip. Defiently an improvement from last year when I tried to take my tandem down it with a friend. That worked out in the end and was fun, but early on was rough going. Yesterday I only needed to get out once at the point where the Split Rock dumps into the Big Sioux... seemed to be completely silted in, though I may have just missed a channel too.
I believe we had 12 or 13 paddlers with one young woman having to depart early. I hope she continues to kayak and is able to complete the trip next year. It seems this blog is viewed by more SDCA members than I realized. It seems that if I plan another camping trip next year. I might have more interest. It also sounds like a few people are interested in joining John and I for one day of our paddling next weekend. I think the best fit for this would be from our put in at the Chief White Crane Rec Area to St Helena, NE. Our goal is to camp Saturday night around Bow Creek but St Helena is an emergency campsite (weather, etc.) and a good place for a break from paddling during the day.
And on to the slide show of my pictures:

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2 comments:

  1. Jay HeathOctober 5, 2008 at 1:41 PM

    It was fun to check out your photos of the cruise, Pat. You certainly captured some of the challenges we faced with shallow water paddling. It was another great adventure, and it was good to see and chat with you on the trip.

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  2. Jarett C. BiesOctober 21, 2008 at 6:33 PM

    Sorry I missed it, duty calls, Pat, I liked this and the one on your trip with Adler.

    Steven and I are working on this river race thing, you should take a lead role, if you want, you live on the river, I can do research, but you'd pry do better.

    Jarett

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