Farm Island

Good news! I nearly had Chuck on the water this evening. I mentioned to him at noon that I was going to paddle Farm Island again and he sounded excited to get out. Sadly, he had something come up at work and could not make it, but I think he will be paddling within a week.

You know it is windy when you come across a wind surfer:




I also explored a little bit of the finger inlets into the island, the campground, and surfed some wind generated waves.

Paddling OVER a bridge.

Big Sioux / Skunk Creek / Big Sioux

I was in Sioux Falls over the weekend for the Dakota Irish Fair on Saturday and to do some paddling on Sunday. After waking up, showering, and packing my tent, etc., I met Ryan Snuggerud at Perkins on Cliff Avenue for breakfast and to discuss where to paddle. We settled on making the run from Lien Park to the Big Sioux Recreation Area. During the paddle, we easily maintained a speed of 5.5 - 6 mph.  It took roughly 2 hours to cover the 11.2 miles. There were plenty of downed trees in the river, but none were too difficult to get around.



View Lien Park to BSR Rec. Area in a larger map

From 2011-07-24

At 1 PM, I met a group of paddlers led by Dave and Mary Fink (and included Roger Debates). We put in on  Skunk Creek at Legacy Park and took out of the Big Sioux River at 26th St. Another easy paddle. We passed a few paddlers and a group of folks tubing down the river. There were a few ripples, but much less debris than in the morning. The only incident that I know of is that Dave Fink managed to take a swim while we were still on Skunk Creek. I am not sure if it was in one of the ripples or not though. It wasn't long before his boat was emptied of water and we were headed downstream again. Roger and I covered about 9.6 miles, including a couple of short jaunts back upstream in about 2 hours.

View Legacy Park to 26th St. in a larger map

Farm Island

Today, the governor opened the river up from the Farm Island causeway downstream. Obviously, I had to go check out what the area was like with high water. I paddled from the boat ramp down to the fingers/inlets into the interior of the island. I went up one of the inlets, noting the Lewis and Clark monument and old building. I then paddled back to the boat ramp and into the campground area. I ended the paddle in the boat ramp parking lot! Covered 4.9 miles.