“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

Friday, March 6, 2009

March

Well, I wanted to get out paddling on Wednesday when the temperature broke 50 degrees and the wind was miniscule, but neither John nor Chuck were game. I couldn't make it out on Thursday due to a seminar at work. But as of Thursday, today was supposed to reach the mid 40s, so John and I planned to take time off to go paddling. As the morning progressed and the temperature held around 32 degrees I was getting worried. But John and I, being the hardy South Dakotan's that we are, chose to go out anyway. Besides, this weekend is only going to be worse weatherwise. We met at 2:30 at the causeway and as we prepared to launch, John checked the temperature and it had DROPPED 2 DEGREES.! I think the temperature was 29 - 30 degrees while we were on the water. But John got his 24th straight month in and we both experienced something new... ice forming on our paddles, paddle leashes, and other gear! We ended up paddling for about an 1 hour, 20 minutes and covered about 3.5 miles. Some pictures below.

4 comments:

  1. Pat, you are a hardy guy! Did you know that the SDCA has planned a paddle along your route in June and that you and John will be the cruise leaders? Jarett Bies will be in touch with you to set all this up. This cruise was slipped into the paddling calendar at the planning meeting last week. We just assumed that you would be ready to lead us along the route. You have come out here so often, we figured that it was time for a bunch of us to go out to the Missouri in your neck of the woods. I'm looking forward to it.

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  2. Yeah, I had let Jarett know I was willing to lead a cruise. I have an idea of a route already too. Start at the Oahe Downstream beach, paddle to the causeway, paddle over to the Bad River (maybe partially up too), then paddle around La Framboise Island and back to the causeway (opposite side). About 12.5 miles total.

    A map of the route

    The first stop at the causeway will make a nice stopping point to rest for anyone who needs it.

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  3. I wonder how many people are confused by the fact that pictures of me are often found on Pat's site and pictures of him are on mine.

    For those that make it out to Pierre this year - we can take you to another good paddling location - in and around Farm Island. Even on windy days it is calm inside the island. When you paddle in there you get to see remnants of some of the old buildings on the island, most dating back some 70 years.

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