tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83858657222756354292024-01-29T02:10:39.372-06:00Pirates of the MissouriMy kayaking escapades on the Missouri River in South Dakota and beyond.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-34341256501615176532014-09-02T07:30:00.002-05:002014-09-02T07:30:55.272-05:00Hwy 212 to Little Bend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Roger Debates, Matt Story, and David Mays met at my house on Friday evening for our next section of the Missouri River. Our plan was to go from the highway 212 bridge to the Oahe Dam over two days. On Saturday morning, we met a friend of mine from the running club, Art Smith, at the west shore boat ramp. He rode up to highway 212 with us and drove Roger's truck and trailer back to west shore. This way we didn't have to shuttle ourselves after two long days on the water.</div>
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The day started out great. The water was glass early on and as the day progressed it got a little choppy, but nothing for us to worry about. I think we only took three short breaks during the day. We had two large crossings to shave distance on Oahe and one smaller crossing across a bay on the west shoreline.</div>
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As we came around the end of the little bend peninsula, we were met with fierce headwinds and 4-5 foot waves. Our progress was severely impeded; our speed at times dropped below 1 mph. We had been averaging around 4 mph for our moving average earlier.</div>
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As the sun was getting close to setting, we started to get nervous about our progress. We ducked into a small bay to try to get our bearings and even considered camping there. Matt even had to do a roll when the waves knocked him over there. But, we pushed on, hoping to camp near a road.</div>
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We did not make it to the little bend campground, but did get to the boat ramp. Which turned out to have better wind protection anyway.</div>
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We camped in a small grove of trees and were feeling pretty good by the time we had dry clothes on and had some hot food in us. Freeze dried meals never tasted so good. We decided to wait until morning to see if we should continue on or bail on the 30 miles to the dam.</div>
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By Sunday morning, the wind had not died down. So, I texted few friends in Pierre looking for a ride to retrieve Roger's truck. Luckily, Jesse Roebuck responded positively. While we waited for him, we made up some freeze dried eggs and bacon, added some spam to it, and wrapped the mixture in tortillas. Delicious!</div>
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The wind did die down some by mid day, but that would not have given us enough time to cover 30 miles. So, we will have to cover it on our next trip before moving north on Oahe.</div>
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We decided that had the SD Kayak Challenge held a race up here (this was the original idea for a route), the drop rate would have been astronomical. Rec. boats would not have fared well in the waves we faced.<br />
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I also got to experiment with my new spot gen3 device/unit. It worked great. Here are the points it recorded in tracking mode (every 10 minutes).</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=206219590391571936780.000502034b43f5457907a&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=44.889931,-100.49881&spn=0.340524,0.583649&z=10&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=206219590391571936780.000502034b43f5457907a&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=44.889931,-100.49881&spn=0.340524,0.583649&z=10&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">hwy 212 to Little Bend</a> in a larger map</small></center>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-64938547917595489552014-08-10T09:54:00.001-05:002014-08-10T09:57:14.397-05:00Fort To Field 50 Paddle BattleBack on July 19, I took part in the newest ultra distance kayak race on the Missouri River in South Dakota, <a href="http://www.forttofield50.com/">Fort To Field 50 Paddle Battler</a>. Jarett Bies, co-founder of the <a href="http://www.sdkayakchallenge.org/">SD Kayak Challenge</a> and founder of the Yankton Riverboat Days Kayak Run created it as a race to show off the river between the Fort Randall Dam and Springfield, SD.<br />
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Racers assembled at the Randall Creek Recreation Area on Friday afternoon to drop off boats and other gear before heading down to the Springfield Recreation Area to drop off vehicles and catch the shuttle back. We had racers from all over, South Dakota to Netherlands! Recreation paddlers and seasoned veteran racers like Joe Zellner. Boats ranged from 8' to 20'+. Racers and support crew either camped or stayed in motels in Pickstown. The Wagner Chamber of Commerce provided our supper on Friday night, burgers, brats, and what not.<br />
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The race was an on water start initiated by the firing of a cannon. The cannon was also fired a couple of times earlier to warn racers of how much time remained before the start. What a great alarm clock! The weather was beautiful for the race. Relatively calm winds for SoDak and the temps probably reached the 90s for a high. I gave a big surge at the start to try to hang with some of the elite paddlers and it gave me a brief opportunity to have the lead. :-)<br />
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The race went fine for me. I did not get out of the boat at all and kept JB Halter in sight past CP1 which is about 18 miles from the start. As I passed the third and last check point at Running Water, I heard that only 6 paddlers were a head of me. But, when I reached the finish in Springfield, I was asked if I saw Zach Wipf. Apparently, he got mixed up and missed the chute to Springfield. He must have paddled along the Nebraska shore all the way to Lake Lewis and Clark. He had been in 2nd place all day, but finished in the 20s. It shows the importance of studying the river in this area. So, I managed to finish 6th overall, 7 hours and 29 minutes.<br />
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The remainder of the afternoon and evening were spent helping racers out, enjoying a delicous post race meal and refreshments provided to us, and BSing about the race and racing in general. Overall winner, Joe Zellner was great for sharing advice and tips. A group of us then went to get a second supper at a local bar and grill before heading to our campsite for the night.<br />
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Overall, it was a great race that I will try to fit into my schedule every year.<br />
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<a href="http://forttofield50.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ForttoField50_2014results_july28.pdf">Results can be found here.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-15037648675814699562014-08-10T09:27:00.000-05:002014-08-10T09:27:35.397-05:00Guest Author(s)As has been apparent this year, I am a bit burnt out on blogging. I have three trips worth posting that I have not been motivated to post anything about.<br />
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<li>A SDKC training paddle from the start to CP 3 in early May.</li>
<li>2014 SD Kayak Challenge</li>
<li>The inaugural Fort To Field 50 Paddle Battle.</li>
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Whether or I ever put a post up for any of these is yet to be seen, but I just extended an invitation to fellow Pierre paddler, Matt Hicks to join the blog as an author. Others may be welcome too as time moves along.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-24623433957297057932013-09-03T22:14:00.001-05:002013-09-03T22:15:16.528-05:00Dam To Dam Labor Day PaddleThis past weekend Roger Debates, Matt Story, and I set out to complete the last 70 mile of the Missouri River between the Oahe Dam and Sioux City that we have not covered yet. We would be joined by David Mays and Rebecca Cruse with logistical support from Steven Joseph. The course would be from the Ft Randall Dam to the Gavin's Point Dam.<br />
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We met at Steven Joseph's house in Utica, SD on Friday night and camped in his yard. On Saturday morning, we began our shuttle which included dropping my pickup and my kayak off in Springfield. Rebecca needed to be back in Pierre by Sunday afternoon, so the plan was for her and I to paddle a tandem kayak borrowed from Katie Engle on Saturday and on Sunday morning we would swap boats at the Springfield boat ramp and Rebecca would return to Utica, SD with my pickup to retrieve her car.<br />
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Once at the Ft Randall Dam boat ramp, we unloaded our boats and began loading the remaining gear into them. Steven road along with us and would return to Utica with Matt's truck with Roger's trailer.<br />
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The river flow is quick below Ft Randall. It is a section of the MNRR; extending to Running Water, SD. We were maintaining 6-7 mph early in the trip. We took three breaks throughout the day, at sandbars near Sunshine Bottoms and Verdel and at the Running Water boat ramp. During the second break, it was very warm out and our motivation was low. So, we took a little break to cool off in the river. It felt great and seemed to re-energize everyone.<br />
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We reached our planned campsite, a sandbar just upstream of Springfield by sunset. We covered about 44 miles on Saturday. Bugs were bad, so after preparing and eating our suppers we didn't stay up too long before calling it a night. During the night we got hit by a T-storm. Since we set out tents up on a sandbar, the stakes were just about useless. We were the only things holding our tents down. Thankfully, we weathered the storm just fine, as did the boats.<br />
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After a quick breakfast in the morning, we loaded our gear back into the kayaks and headed for Springfield. Once we had the overnight gear and the tandem loaded into my pickup (and my boat unloaded), we headed back out towards Gavin's Point and Rebecca took my pickup back to Utica to retrieve her car. We covered 3.5 miles to Springfield on Sunday morning.<br />
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As expected, we lost the current as we made our way into Lewis and Clark Lake. We also gained a slight tailwind. The benefits of the tailwind were short lived though. As we progressed, the recreational motorboat traffic began to increase. The tailwind wasn't even a thought while we fought through boat wake coming from every direction. I believe we took two breaks on L & C Lake, one was just downstream of the Lewis and Clark Boy Scout Camp and the other was on a rocky beach about 5 miles from the dam.<br />
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Steven met us at the marina boat ramp at the face of the dam and we loaded up to head back to Utica. We straightened gear out and showered before heading into Yankton to reward ourselves with supper at JoDean's (a large buffet). We covered about 21 miles from Springfield to the Gavin's Point Dam and totaled about 68.5 miles over the weekend.<br />
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It was a great trip and I believe everyone enjoyed it. Pictures can be seen at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/roger.debates/media_set?set=a.10153207685650131&type=1">https://www.facebook.com/roger.debates/media_set?set=a.10153207685650131&type=1</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-86326397427947813172013-07-29T19:43:00.000-05:002013-07-31T06:33:49.366-05:00MR340<div>
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Last week I participated in the MR340, the longest non-stop canoe and kayak race in the world, with a few friends. Team SoDak was made up of Steven Dahlmeier and Cecil Caulkins running support crew for Kati Albers, David Mays, and me and Donna Savage running support crew for Doc Savage.</div>
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The checkpoints and a couple of other important boat ramps were as follows:</div>
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START Kaw Point (RM 367)<br />
CP1 Lexington (RM 317)<br />
CP2 Waverly (RM 294)<br />
CP3 Miami (RM 262)<br />
Dalton (RM 239)<br />
CP4 Glasgow (RM 226)<br />
CP5 Katfish Katy's (RM 180)<br />
CP6 Jefferson City (RM 144)<br />
CP7 Hermann (RM 98)<br />
Washington (RM 68)<br />
CP8 Klondike (RM 56)<br />
FINISH St Charles (RM 29)</div>
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The race began at 7 AM on Tuesday to the firing of muskets and a cannon; 8 AM for the tandem and team boats. When I paddled into Miami on Tuesday night, I decided to take a 30 minute break and eat some real food, fried chicken. I was already finding out that the food sold at the checkpoints sounded better than the tortillas and peanut butter I had brought.<br />
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I pushed on from Miami with a couple of local paddlers and Dave and Kati tried to get some sleep at Miami. Part way to Glasgow, I was struggling to keep up, so around 4:30 AM (Wednesday) I pulled off at the Dalton access for some sleep. I covered 128 miles on the first day. Doc pushed all the way to Glasgow on the first day. The local paddlers were Charles and Bob; they will come up again.</div>
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I left Dalton around 6:30 AM. When I arrived at Glasgow, Charles and Bob's boats were there. I waited for Steven to arrive so I could resupply then I was off for Katfish Katy's. At Katfish Katy's, I had an awesome bbq pork sandwich and coleslaw. Delicious. From there it was on to Jeff City. I ended up paddling with Charles and Bob again when night came too. This is also when lack of sleep hit me. My depth perception was gone. I kept thinking the trees on shore were in the river until I saw a boat go through them. We arrived at Jeff City at midnight. I think Charles and Bob pushed on to camp on a sandbar between Jeff City and Herrman. I later found out that David's tent was near me too. Kati slept at Katfish Katy's. Doc, I think, pushed to Herrman on day 2. I covered 95 miles on day 2.</div>
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I had planned to get on the water by 5 AM, but I didn't wake up until then. Instead, I departed around 6:30 AM which was fine. A paddler I quickly caught up to said that her brother, further ahead, had texted that the fog was bad at 5 AM. I ate more real food at Hermann and kept pushing. At Klondike, I had Cecil pour some Coke into an empty Gatorade bottle, so I had a source of caffeine on me. The first half of the final stretch went fine. I had some trouble navigating a couple of times. There was a wing dike that I got stuck behind that seemed to stretch halfway across the river. After that, a few other paddlers showed up and I finished with them before 4 AM on Friday. My time was 68:48. My last day was 115 miles. And, somehow, I finished before Charles and Bob.</div>
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By the end of the race, my hands were blistered up pretty good. My feet were sore from wearing the five fingers all week and ruddering. My side was sore from my paddling rotation. And, my back had a large rash from my wet shirts riding up on me. It was the single toughest event of my life, but totally worth enduring.</div>
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What I would do differently: use gurney goo to prevent blisters, petroleum jelly to prevent chafing, carry a spotlight. My 100 lumens headlamp was not as adequate as I could of hoped. It worked, but something with more range would be better. I would push all the way to Glasgow on day 1 and Hermann on day 2. Also, spend less time at checkpoints.</div>
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I should also note we had near perfect weather for the race. Highs in the 80s and lows in the lower 60s or upper 50s. Also, a little wind (headwind though) and no storms. A little rain for Dave and Kati at the finish. </div>
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Online pictures/videos:</div>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/71371006">http://vimeo.com/71371006</a> => from the MR340 FB group<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/dahlmeier/media_set?set=a.600038617116.1073741825.147501054&type=1">https://www.facebook.com/dahlmeier/media_set?set=a.600038617116.1073741825.147501054&type=1</a> => from Steven Dahlmeier</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-86551696077917145342013-07-01T18:03:00.001-05:002013-07-01T18:04:29.313-05:00Platte Creek Rec Area To North Point Rec AreaThis past weekend, Katie Albers, David Mays, Roger Debates, Matt Story, and I finished off Lake Francis Case, paddling 31 miles from Platte Creek Recreation Area to North Point Recreation Area (adjacent to the Fort Randall Dam). Wind was out of the north at 21 mph with gusts up to 26 mph. We had 2 to 3 foot waves at times, including during a couple of open water crossings to shave distance when the wind was a side wind. Only one swimmer on the day. We did a great job working together to get Kati back into her boat in the middle of the river amongst the waves. It was also a great weekend for camping. Roger Debates and I used our hammocks instead of setting up our tents.<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kati and Matt. Picture courtesy of Roger Debates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kati, Matt, and me. Picture courtesy of Roger Debates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7pYxJJ6h7VwylERvbKyvG904arO-F0HwWJmoRSdpP58mTNNYRPBOHVcBEv8tDPEuEvmNRzffRFImH-lwdj-GmbJhpvTXGYJ58KfrSy0jW5MerRKpfviWFrw5NeihCX9OhbZnq2mhGdboq/s720/.facebook_-1942552305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7pYxJJ6h7VwylERvbKyvG904arO-F0HwWJmoRSdpP58mTNNYRPBOHVcBEv8tDPEuEvmNRzffRFImH-lwdj-GmbJhpvTXGYJ58KfrSy0jW5MerRKpfviWFrw5NeihCX9OhbZnq2mhGdboq/s640/.facebook_-1942552305.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt, me, Kati, and David. Picture courtesy of Roger Debates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaTRj6sjKkGodNog8nCn1QFnJWuJ0KhBAtzvqGxyaeHtKOz78y_WwVM4ISiGuJUuW-YJnwABVdQYvsIfLHjsZNZeRfYqeoON9xyPI5kdwLCD1lPq548R5k31AgRWmW8WGNgNfr9zvuruCa/s1600/IMGP5946.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaTRj6sjKkGodNog8nCn1QFnJWuJ0KhBAtzvqGxyaeHtKOz78y_WwVM4ISiGuJUuW-YJnwABVdQYvsIfLHjsZNZeRfYqeoON9xyPI5kdwLCD1lPq548R5k31AgRWmW8WGNgNfr9zvuruCa/s640/IMGP5946.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Debates</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sJInty1LB2Uh2LivgfIJA8yRPpQyF28u1FJg95NlI5rdogecPxsrT0OJcWl4UJnMyV9GXM_zVnBwd8AnvnsH-aRr_t362QQvSnrwjYukSE1_dpwUz8H6ldicRRSBK-PNz4LcQwmernHp/s800/IMGP5947.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sJInty1LB2Uh2LivgfIJA8yRPpQyF28u1FJg95NlI5rdogecPxsrT0OJcWl4UJnMyV9GXM_zVnBwd8AnvnsH-aRr_t362QQvSnrwjYukSE1_dpwUz8H6ldicRRSBK-PNz4LcQwmernHp/s640/IMGP5947.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt Story</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kati</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kati</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-66752065037736351182013-06-26T06:32:00.003-05:002013-06-26T06:32:55.565-05:00Oahe Marina to Antelope Creek to Farm IslandI took Team Nautical But Nice on a 20+ mile training cruise on May 12. We started off with breakfast at Oahe Marina, then began the cruise. We kayaked down to Antelope Creek, then back up to the Farm Island boat ramp in Hipple Lake. We covered 22.4 miles.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-25807281090115488712013-06-26T05:51:00.002-05:002013-06-26T05:51:55.464-05:00Lake Francis Case - Dude Ranch to Snake Creek to Platte Creek<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, I am going to try to catch up on a few blog posts. If you have been following the Pirates of the Missouri Facebook page, I have been posting my trips there over the past couple of months.</span><br />
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Doc Savage, Nancy Smidt, Matt Story, Steve Story, Roger Debates, Kati Albers, and David Mays joined me for a training cruise for the SDKC and MR340 over the April 28/29. We met at the Snake Creek Recreation Area on Friday, April 27. We camped there Friday and Saturday night. We shuttled to Oacoma/Dude Ranch on Saturday and Platte Creek Rec Area on Sunday. Saturday ended up being 12.5 hours on the water for 38.1 miles. Sunday was 9.4 miles.<div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-72461625452054188652013-05-13T07:07:00.001-05:002013-05-13T07:07:40.463-05:00Facebook page<div><p dir=ltr>On the right, you will notice a link to a Pirates of the Missouri Facebook page. Go like it to keep up with my kayaking and other outdoor endeavors. I have been posting there instead of here lately. Thanks!</p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-58874853029649159002012-11-18T09:22:00.001-06:002012-11-18T09:31:07.562-06:00Breaking In A New BoatLast weekend, while Matt, Cory, and I were hiking and camping in a blizzard, Roger Debates was up in the twin cities getting a new boat from Midwest Mountaineering. He ended up with a CD Storm GT. Well, this past week he decided he needed to break it in on the Missouri River. He found a spot on aerial photos that we could put in at just upstream of Chamberlain and the plan was to take out at the Dude Ranch access downstream of Oacoma, The trip would be about 10 miles. Obviously, Matt and I were up for helping Roger break in the new boat.<br />
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Saturday was beautiful. 60+ degrees and light wind. We met in Oacoma and BSed a little while waiting to see if anyone took us up on the invite we left on the SDCKA Facebook page. Roger's boat was still pristine despite having been paddled nearly a mile on an east river lake. We then headed to the Dude Ranch to drop off my pickup.<br />
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First, we went upstream from Chamberlain to look for a put in. We easily found the spot Roger had picked out off of Google Maps. But, the water was low, creating a mud flat we would have to cross. Next, we went upstream from Oacoma looking for better access. We found one spot, where we had seen people fishing at on our cruise to Chamberlain. But, it also had a mud flat between us and the river. We scouted it a little and after getting a bit muddy and Roger losing a shoe (I was able to dig it out for him) we decided to just put in at the Cedar Shores boat ramp. Luckily, this was the most adventurous event of the day.<br />
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We launched from Cedar Shores and made our way downstream. It was a perfect day to be on the water. We stopped near the railroad bridge to strip off some of our unnecessary layers. As we approached the Dude Ranch, there were numerous geese that would get spooked and fly up, but only land a little ways ahead. This probably happened at least 3 or 4 times.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Y-2Ka6SFT6bjouUZs06MuuIXodP1DfaNxGU_tUdZQgXMsQJc8iZde-7nPVBsfjmLV8gxtokY2nFlk8udzbODrVNIijcxh8JZWi5q8UGkJJJgacTA_P-_MEbomdcEFz6v0IPuA4qt99mo/s1600/IMGP5706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Y-2Ka6SFT6bjouUZs06MuuIXodP1DfaNxGU_tUdZQgXMsQJc8iZde-7nPVBsfjmLV8gxtokY2nFlk8udzbODrVNIijcxh8JZWi5q8UGkJJJgacTA_P-_MEbomdcEFz6v0IPuA4qt99mo/s640/IMGP5706.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Best pic of the day.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfr5b4i3HmHIVyZY8xGSKHqXnCqMKmMveS_s6Mqoxi2dhx3K6G7Kw3LuAtvunVN6u-ruKe96_SiTgiS8_ql-6ot7ZHHuV-w36f95fhl-y5tUI81rTTie5vZeMtT89yD1xzVLs6clAqGc6/s1600/IMGP5716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfr5b4i3HmHIVyZY8xGSKHqXnCqMKmMveS_s6Mqoxi2dhx3K6G7Kw3LuAtvunVN6u-ruKe96_SiTgiS8_ql-6ot7ZHHuV-w36f95fhl-y5tUI81rTTie5vZeMtT89yD1xzVLs6clAqGc6/s640/IMGP5716.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My truck looks good with TWO storms above it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KdUIAFkx3kBZ7e_JeP-VHrgIk2DbcV67N6gqJIX-YBt2raC8KcsLsmDKH5vDIj6ZJwn79c5sm2-nJAYF8w0hgTtPBO7Y5GQJsGe46-1IbsOYzsvjFJxkDgfCTUEzdOavNXAJbifUVtbJ/s1600/IMGP5717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KdUIAFkx3kBZ7e_JeP-VHrgIk2DbcV67N6gqJIX-YBt2raC8KcsLsmDKH5vDIj6ZJwn79c5sm2-nJAYF8w0hgTtPBO7Y5GQJsGe46-1IbsOYzsvjFJxkDgfCTUEzdOavNXAJbifUVtbJ/s640/IMGP5717.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making good use of my bed/truck extender.</td></tr>
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We ended up covering 6.5 miles and succeeded in breaking in Roger's boat. He ended up with a few new scratches and plenty of mud on the boat!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-39277515080486304232012-11-12T07:17:00.000-06:002012-11-12T07:17:56.785-06:00Blizzard In The BadlandsCory Diedrich, Matt Story, and I have been planning this past weekend for over a year, so we weren't about to let a little blizzard stop us. We have been talking about exploring the south unit of the Badlands National Park for over a year since we read a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/26/travel/alone-in-the-badlands.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm">New York Times article</a> about it. We emailed the National Park Service, called adjacent landowners, and studied aerial photos and topographic maps. Information about the area was rare, but we had two possibilities for routes into the Palmer Creek Unit.<div>
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On Friday, we met in Vivian, SD where we left my pickup and loaded my gear into Matt's pickup and headed towards the main entrance and visitor center of the Badlands National Park. We camped in the main campground the first night, so we could stop at the visitor center on Saturday morning. We gained a little more information by asking questions in-person and face-to-face. The way we would get in was a dirt road that went east from the White River (South Unit) Visitor Center. We also decided that with the approaching blizzard, we would go down and check it out and return to Sage Creek before it hit.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivSoM1oqRovTeOy8FW9SVYlC_gWDHSFJUYPqoQEBPE7IjriB3Xuvc-YNyW_dPj5L5BMVKfkqAsLbZ06tU-7d7Ei4EOo34ZnNzsGbWuXCeuzUR4BoC0LEHw3feL-UXkPj5BiT53xOcWKjy/s1600/map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivSoM1oqRovTeOy8FW9SVYlC_gWDHSFJUYPqoQEBPE7IjriB3Xuvc-YNyW_dPj5L5BMVKfkqAsLbZ06tU-7d7Ei4EOo34ZnNzsGbWuXCeuzUR4BoC0LEHw3feL-UXkPj5BiT53xOcWKjy/s640/map.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The red line is what we drove (8.0 miles) into the Palmer Creek Unit and the yellow line is what we hiked (4.4 miles).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYsh4JaL4Mw2g591crvf8Qr1MqiIQSHFhqjzGYN6dP1DlrOsIyoJa2_4jgLzyl2hkav9kvbNuY4SwY1qgarCe2N68rmPuahJfhSe45Yh8yX9x_9m_-O3Vmznkkui-XKeXx6kfciLNi4RO/s1600/IMGP5598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYsh4JaL4Mw2g591crvf8Qr1MqiIQSHFhqjzGYN6dP1DlrOsIyoJa2_4jgLzyl2hkav9kvbNuY4SwY1qgarCe2N68rmPuahJfhSe45Yh8yX9x_9m_-O3Vmznkkui-XKeXx6kfciLNi4RO/s640/IMGP5598.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much of the Badlands South Unit spent time in the 40s and 50s as a aerial gunnery range.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIwtPSZ-E_N-BF2GyF5QVLP44nZwTZkx4Kzt5lUMPEWsntYshrslnM1vWs6e4amLSloY99ncBoHyyBBsy0vHwZHJclsGY7FBWJ1VewXdm3fbCCMThW7wq01g3KWVfKaNE5cDWSHfYjbgd7/s1600/IMGP5621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIwtPSZ-E_N-BF2GyF5QVLP44nZwTZkx4Kzt5lUMPEWsntYshrslnM1vWs6e4amLSloY99ncBoHyyBBsy0vHwZHJclsGY7FBWJ1VewXdm3fbCCMThW7wq01g3KWVfKaNE5cDWSHfYjbgd7/s640/IMGP5621.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfft_9uh-hRxH9XnllWGyON7g2JAyEUUSRgBe5oLNEBJNL8DuShEaFwJkcEdLW8qC-tu9K1Mrr3BYoe9uPzGOg5ZzJA95OZ3Mqa7PXVl5WcEp0aRiKaOXGbCxpUu9Q9y8zjDleElkxhI_O/s1600/IMGP5639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfft_9uh-hRxH9XnllWGyON7g2JAyEUUSRgBe5oLNEBJNL8DuShEaFwJkcEdLW8qC-tu9K1Mrr3BYoe9uPzGOg5ZzJA95OZ3Mqa7PXVl5WcEp0aRiKaOXGbCxpUu9Q9y8zjDleElkxhI_O/s640/IMGP5639.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxu-0d_U9GInAbbiyRDS_qT6km02QewbedvEovLT07ZlffbshmiI1QxZkF6Yl1bJh97kAuV6SvK5BIRdUgiXx3LXDvzYGOn0Ik-gAqAUpfl6fwk2Fl3I9q_8odHiggaBj0xyWGWZ8ub2T/s1600/IMGP5642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxu-0d_U9GInAbbiyRDS_qT6km02QewbedvEovLT07ZlffbshmiI1QxZkF6Yl1bJh97kAuV6SvK5BIRdUgiXx3LXDvzYGOn0Ik-gAqAUpfl6fwk2Fl3I9q_8odHiggaBj0xyWGWZ8ub2T/s640/IMGP5642.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting to snow.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTeREeRRvMJ1rIUj8OOy3yGQfbCZMhgoDq2z0q8pIC8i2STf6hqSbf_lrV9rjE2RAdIPsK7xiDqvlTraHKAPlHq2xA52TDkZV8HhhZJbrnFI6hFHnJ3tEmKAGPG_5jv2_WdlQwG7GS8ff/s1600/IMGP5643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTeREeRRvMJ1rIUj8OOy3yGQfbCZMhgoDq2z0q8pIC8i2STf6hqSbf_lrV9rjE2RAdIPsK7xiDqvlTraHKAPlHq2xA52TDkZV8HhhZJbrnFI6hFHnJ3tEmKAGPG_5jv2_WdlQwG7GS8ff/s640/IMGP5643.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently, a high water crossing. We chose to take the low water crossing.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ZapBAI1A3wmw5Xe64T2FMwebZp5Cea5uPODqKLw9qxdJab2oAHjaSmaoiwnihVmXrRFxSG1DVIGVIK9gmTjul2i5bEuSWFf8JxrpUkRC6MfwbNVKFbZtHs1BXEf9NZZvZiR8KEnbOawK/s1600/IMGP5645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ZapBAI1A3wmw5Xe64T2FMwebZp5Cea5uPODqKLw9qxdJab2oAHjaSmaoiwnihVmXrRFxSG1DVIGVIK9gmTjul2i5bEuSWFf8JxrpUkRC6MfwbNVKFbZtHs1BXEf9NZZvZiR8KEnbOawK/s640/IMGP5645.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High water crossing again.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2yQIrMoMPwAqO6b_xQU_9f_4YQt2nsqcqhHHfYrET8_vfC9iUI8Tk2IH1_-NChBxt9R_mwwq7uCXDUF2anEToV8inibWhi7VEAKocdsnQTA0PAUr2TKJXpaLcoQJknJaWyiwe3L6JfvQ/s1600/IMGP5646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2yQIrMoMPwAqO6b_xQU_9f_4YQt2nsqcqhHHfYrET8_vfC9iUI8Tk2IH1_-NChBxt9R_mwwq7uCXDUF2anEToV8inibWhi7VEAKocdsnQTA0PAUr2TKJXpaLcoQJknJaWyiwe3L6JfvQ/s640/IMGP5646.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High water crossing again.</td></tr>
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The blizzard began to hit as we were hiking in the Palmer Creek Unit. Hiking back to the truck was made difficult by sleet/snow stinging our faces. We probably left a little later than we should have. The road back up to Scenic, SD was getting slick. Just past Scenic, we turned onto a gravel road that wasn't near as bad, but visibility was dropping significantly. Not too long later we arrived at the Sage Creek primitive campground and trail head. The campground was getting hit by the wind pretty hard, so we grabbed our packs and headed into the wilderness area. After about 0.2 miles we found lower ground also protected by trees. We setup camp and had some hot food (freeze dried meals) before diving into our sleeping bags.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZg5qpgb-DLYROatiE4JiFk2pKPazlX9BryasYDkCV1-KgFsQfbAmLzQumQS1zi2lxpklsggLasA4Ti8VOZ7khcV_31X52Gc6gI6XSaBFfLj0Wq-c3r1iNJJgpIkziVBOe-mKW-BWN7BM/s1600/IMGP5649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZg5qpgb-DLYROatiE4JiFk2pKPazlX9BryasYDkCV1-KgFsQfbAmLzQumQS1zi2lxpklsggLasA4Ti8VOZ7khcV_31X52Gc6gI6XSaBFfLj0Wq-c3r1iNJJgpIkziVBOe-mKW-BWN7BM/s640/IMGP5649.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campsite on Saturday night.</td></tr>
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During the night, the low temperature was -2 degrees and the low windchill was -8 degrees. We all stayed warm enough, but we spent about 14 hours in our sleeping bags before it was light and warm enough to crawl out. We made the decision on Sunday morning to do a little day hiking to warm up and then return to tear camp down and head for home. We could handle the overnight temps, but the time spent in the sleeping bags was unbearably boring.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnGyi3tDo_vmk-Vh-ckgLuuXuRkLZcvder0YmXrZZT7AoqiafA7Bn5UdgsDX53nzsY1uRgRuJdESgVwwYR6E51499CBvql2wL5ih30eiCdVcTFz5xeSNilf6rEwQvtJJR_mXY3QUgthrk/s1600/IMGP5664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZq9vPd8BLBocKcgLdF56XAL_uzh5Zmgf4R_7q76ydy4CXAM4hSTBGDYOPpVV-z7znzC3_i1PGhhq6eRIrqaTjbHFUOTjbHjBDHvlXt6JsEwFkt-6kx8IAmF-O3BrSgsx-Xvj0FRPJoBah/s1600/IMGP5658.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis1g2sMLfIuXXBtO1l_-qrNHc_vqNguv3CkfO7eI_-3WTjSjH1IJXwi1_Rc9vY-JV7lYPZwa_FIgAQ7_vIHiQ2pxUcyveDEhYaAom9bJJxxB4yYLyokKf4BLQj7aBAGHS1FaKBnCzxDxp2/s1600/IMGP5655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis1g2sMLfIuXXBtO1l_-qrNHc_vqNguv3CkfO7eI_-3WTjSjH1IJXwi1_Rc9vY-JV7lYPZwa_FIgAQ7_vIHiQ2pxUcyveDEhYaAom9bJJxxB4yYLyokKf4BLQj7aBAGHS1FaKBnCzxDxp2/s640/IMGP5655.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the Badlands formations in the background. We are, roughly, heading in the direction of Deer Haven.<br /><br /><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZq9vPd8BLBocKcgLdF56XAL_uzh5Zmgf4R_7q76ydy4CXAM4hSTBGDYOPpVV-z7znzC3_i1PGhhq6eRIrqaTjbHFUOTjbHjBDHvlXt6JsEwFkt-6kx8IAmF-O3BrSgsx-Xvj0FRPJoBah/s640/IMGP5658.JPG" width="640" /></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaa7xluE9GpfIHQEU3HlmYV_wH3RjK7gvJXZ5GSGYJD8JD_q7anyfucbJcqyZb78rjKutDIHQ6DGYYjhtWBFVR32Lk_3OwkDR8Uhl4OQTOUWY8FpFpFOhiwMkLUvp75e2N51SVFZUbi5i9/s1600/IMGP5656.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaa7xluE9GpfIHQEU3HlmYV_wH3RjK7gvJXZ5GSGYJD8JD_q7anyfucbJcqyZb78rjKutDIHQ6DGYYjhtWBFVR32Lk_3OwkDR8Uhl4OQTOUWY8FpFpFOhiwMkLUvp75e2N51SVFZUbi5i9/s640/IMGP5656.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnGyi3tDo_vmk-Vh-ckgLuuXuRkLZcvder0YmXrZZT7AoqiafA7Bn5UdgsDX53nzsY1uRgRuJdESgVwwYR6E51499CBvql2wL5ih30eiCdVcTFz5xeSNilf6rEwQvtJJR_mXY3QUgthrk/s640/IMGP5664.JPG" width="640" /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnA_B30dXPGOP1WWZMM40xOLT05PZigtFNSuOBNXLA02rOoUNUN9SPh36mVRIG_FdOiUTSS1422NqQenui5rjbWfI1njMwrLxaPT6GFJpbrmzVdVbpU-oyvDFbp74Qpuz6pYQgCJtrYoi/s1600/IMGP5668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnA_B30dXPGOP1WWZMM40xOLT05PZigtFNSuOBNXLA02rOoUNUN9SPh36mVRIG_FdOiUTSS1422NqQenui5rjbWfI1njMwrLxaPT6GFJpbrmzVdVbpU-oyvDFbp74Qpuz6pYQgCJtrYoi/s640/IMGP5668.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Antelope playing.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buffalo roaming.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our loop on Sunday. About 7.6 miles, including the distance from and to the trail head.</td></tr>
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We saw much wildlife during our hike on Sunday. Including, numerous bison, coyotes, deer, and antelope. There was one coyote that, afterwards, we debated whether it was a coyote or wolf. It seemed quite large and dark colored for a coyote and we have heard of some wolves reintroducing themselves into South Dakota. We also saw two large bucks; the second being VERY LARGE by all of our accounts. And, he is safe as long as he stays in the Sage Creek area.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-62010720691347972102012-09-27T06:33:00.003-05:002012-09-27T06:33:53.252-05:00SDCKA President's Cruise and Skunk Creek CleanupThis past weekend I traveled to the southeast part of the state to participate in a pair of SDCKA events. Saturday was the annual President's cruise and Sunday was a Skunk Creek cleanup. I met up with friends at President Jarett Bies's (that has a nice ring to it) home, northeast of Vermilion. Friends present were Matt Story, Willard Story, Cory Diedrich, Roger Debates, Kati Albers, Mark Henderson, and, obviously, Jarett and his wife, Laura.<br />
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We spent time catching up with each other sitting around a campfire late into the night before heading to bed. We also loaded gear and boats onto Cory's trailer. A few of us camped behind the house and a couple crashed in the spare bedrooms. When we got up in the morning, the temp was around 40 degrees. After some coffee, we headed to Myron Grove (the take-out) to drop off Matt;s truck (with Roger's trailer).<br />
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We then proceeded to Gavin's Point Dam. Most of the group for the day would be meeting at Riverside Park in Yankton, but our crew (Matt, Willard, Roger, Kati, and I) wanted a few extra miles. Cory dropped us off and Kati met us at the boat ramp near the entrance to the White Crane campground. There was not room for everyone in Cory's truck. Cory then headed back to Yankton to meet up with Jarett and Mark to shuttle trailers/trucks to Myron Grove.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing to launch from Gavin's Point Dam (Photo courtesy of Roger Debates).</td></tr>
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It proved to be a fast 4.7 miles down to Riverside Park. Also, fyi, Roger was paddling Jarett's Current Designs Sirroco. He is in the market for a longer boat than his Carolina and is eyeing a P&H Delphi.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riverside Park in Yankton
(Photo courtesy of Roger Debates).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">45+ paddlers prepare to depart Riverside Park in Yankton.</td></tr>
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We made it to Riverside Park before Mark, Jarett, and Cory were back from shuttling. Lisa Yager (NPS) and Tim Cowman (Missouri River Institute) were running the show when we arrived. There were about 40+ boats waiting around, mostly from DJ's rental service.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt Story (foreground) and Mark Henderson (background)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L to R: Kati Albers, Cory Diedrich, and Willard Story.</td></tr>
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The rest of the cruise was uneventful. Maybe a little long and tiring for those paddling rec boats, but more of a BS session for our crew. It is actually a nice change of pace from the recent cruises I have done with Matt and Roger. I had some nice discussions with all of my friends during the trip.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Up close and personal with Cory Diedrich :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Debates.</td></tr>
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We ended up covering a total of 21.6 miles during the cruise; 16.9 miles from Yankton to Myron Grove. It was a great cruise for less experienced paddlers to give them an idea what the kayak challenge was like. This was the first section of the race (start to check point 1).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Henderson and his shiny new (to him) boat.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our fearless leader, Jarett Bies.</td></tr>
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Roger and I spent Saturday night at Matt's place; the scout camp next to Newton Hills State Park. On Sunday, Roger and I headed into Sioux Falls to hit up Scheels. I also met up with my sister for coffee. We then met up with Matt, Cory, Steven Dahlmeier, Dave and Mary Fink, Ryan Snuggerud, Jay Heath, and others to cleanup a section of Skunk Creek. We spent about 3 hours pulling trash out between Legacy Park and Dunham Park.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Debates (Photo courtesy of Steven Dahlmeirer).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L to R: Ryan Snuggerud, Cory Diedrich, Patrick Wellner
(Photo courtesy of Steven Dahlmeirer).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foreground (L to R): Cory Diedrich and Matt Story. (Photo courtesy of Steven Dahlmeirer).</td></tr>
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Afterwards, Matt, Ryan, and I hit up Buffalo Wild Wings for a late lunch or early supper before I hit the road back to Pierre.<br />
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Overall, it was a great weekend spent with great friends.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-29384139770602079192012-08-06T12:43:00.002-05:002012-08-09T06:47:07.035-05:00West Bend to Chamberlain<div>
I met Roger and Matt at the North Shore campground on Friday, August 3rd, night. It is a primitive campground with no fees, located above the Big Bend Dam. It was getting plenty of use from fisherman with fifth wheel campers because the nice campground below the dam is closed for repairs from last year's flooding.<br />
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After some breakfast sandwiches, prepared by Roger, we loaded all three boats on my pickup. We dropped Matt's pickup off at the Good Soldier boat ramp and headed north to West Bend.<br />
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We had a stiff tailwind in the 20s mph with gusts into the 30s mph. We did some playing around surfing the waves. Matt even practiced his wet exit and re-entry! As we approached the dam, the waves went from 3' crashing waves to 5' or 6' rollers. We could easily lose sight of each other's boats and, sometimes, each other's heads. We managed to break 10 mph surfing the rollers! Matt hit a max speed of 10.8 mph, I hit 10.5 mph, and Roger hit 9.5 mph. We concluded day 1 with 21.1 miles and have now paddled the length of Lake Sharpe (in three trips).<br />
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We camped at the North Shore campground again on Saturday. I cooked us up some double cheeseburgers for supper. We had a fisherman stop by that was impressed with our day's feat in the wind too.<br />
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On Sunday, we again had breakfast sandwiches, courtesy of Roger. We dropped my pickup off at the American Creek marina in Chamberlain. We began day two on the water from the left tailrace of the Big Bend Dam. The wind shifted on us overnight. We faced winds in the teens mph with gusts in the low 20s all day. It was a fairly uneventful paddle. We covered 18.3 miles on day 2.<br />
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All still images are courtesy of Matt Story.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-39288258831285571102012-06-24T17:03:00.000-05:002012-06-24T17:03:40.463-05:00Safety Boating for Triathlon and Legacy Park to Downtown GreenwayYesterday morning I met up with other members of the South Dakota Canoe and Kayak Association to provide safety boats for the swim portion of the Wall Lake Triathlon. The triathletes were impressive. Nobody dropped from the race and only a handful needed to momentarily hang onto a kayak to catch their breath..<br />
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After the race, Willard Story, Cory Dietrich, Kati Albers, Roger Debates, and I went to Legacy Park to unload boats for a trial run of the upcoming Race To The Falls on August 25th. More information about the race should be available on July 2nd. While we shuttled vehicles, John and Jenn Geyer also joined the group.<br />
Skunk Creek was at 4.6+ on the USGS gage and Cory told me that it is good above 4.5. Without rain, it could get pretty dicey by the end of August. The BSR was definitely low in places yesterday, but Cory told me that the city plans on releasing some water from the diversion dam to help with the race. I think the BSR will be alright and I am already thinking of race strategies. For instance, I may start with my Seven 2 paddle on Skunk Creek where the rocks and shallow water could be more prevalent and switch to the wing when I get to the BSR. Now back to yesterday's trip.<br />
John and Jenn exited the river at the 26th St access, near their home. I foresee a new boat in their future, since Jenn struggles to keep up in her current boat. She did great in John's boat at the Niobrara, so who gets the new boat might be a tossup.<br />
We continued on passing paddlers that were part of a group sponsored by a local bar. Some of them might as well have been using inner tubes instead of kayaks for all the paddling they were doing though.<br />
It was a cool sight to pass from a wooded park area into downtown Sioux Falls on the river. I hope the river greenway area downtown gets lots of use, so the city continues to value the BSR, greenway, etc as the great assets that they are.<br />
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We ended up covering 11.7 miles. Map below.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-32947726198924656962012-06-17T18:11:00.004-05:002012-06-17T18:11:42.551-05:00Paddling With The Diedrich'sAbout a week ago I received an email from Cory Diedrich, inviting me to join him, his family, and his sister on a cruise on the Niobrara River for today. I was leaning heavily towards joining them until Saturday. I let Cory know that I should probably stay in Pierre for a combination of reasons that included the wind forecast for Valentine having 30+ mph gusts. The wind forecast was enough to dampen the Diedrich clan's plans. They decided to join me for a paddle in Pierre.<br />
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We decided to depart from the Oahe Marina just below the dam and end at Griffin Park in Pierre. I met them at Griffin Park, where we loaded my boat and gear into their van and trailer. We left my pickup and Cory's sister's (Dee's) pickup at Griffin Park and drove up to Oahe Marina.<br />
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We took a leisurely pace to enjoy the day on our way downstream. The high temp was in the mid 90s and the wind was from the southeast in the mid teens with 20 mph gusts, relatively calm for my trips. We made a few stops at sandbars along the way and noticed many buffalo/bison bones and teeth in the water just downstream of the stilling basin. When we reached the causeway boat ramp, we helped Cory's wife, Janey, and his sons, Sam and Aiden, over the causeway as a shorter option to our trip. Cory, Dee, and I continued on around the La Framboise island and back up to Griffin Park. Our total mileage was 11.3 miles.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-83591601201905722822012-05-28T07:39:00.001-05:002012-05-28T11:46:44.581-05:002012 South Dakota Kayak ChallengeYesterday, I participated in the 2012 <a href="http://www.sdkayakchallenge.org/">South Dakota Kayak Challenge</a>. After being cancelled due to flooding last year, the race rebounded mightily thanks to the efforts of Jarett Bies, Steven Dahlmeirer, and Cory Dietrich. When I checked the registration numbers on the last day for registration, we had 169 paddlers and 147 boats. Final registered totals were around there; I haven't seen an official tally.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camping at Riverside Park.</td></tr>
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We met at Riverside Park in Yankton, SD on Friday to check in and shuttle vehicles to Sioux City, IA. After riding a bus back, we had a safety meeting to go over the race, procedures, etc. This rounded out with drawings for free swag from Sun N' Fun. We also had a free supper provided by Meierhenry & Sargent L.L.P. Again, many thanks to the many sponsors and volunteers of the South Dakota Kayak Challenge.<br />
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Many paddlers, myself included, camped in Riverside Park on Friday night. We did have a thunderstorm come through, but it was well past by race time. A change from the 2010 race was a check in process at the starting line of the river to verify everyone had required equipment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tents just came down as we prepare for the race on Saturday morning.</td></tr>
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The weather at the start was winds from 14 mph to 21 mph and temperatures in the mid 50s. By the end of the race, we had winds from 18 mph to 24 mph and temperatures in the upper 80s. In 2010, we faced winds from the 20s mph to the low 30s mph. The start was much cooler this year than compared to 2010; also, overcast. Most paddlers were donning splash jackets to start the race.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lining up...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Second row of racers... (Picture courtesy of Jay Heath)</td></tr>
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Roger Debates, Matt Story, and myself lined ourselves up in the second row of racers. As the countdown to the start began, we began to creep our boats down to the water. We were able to do this, because the first row of racers were creeping out into the water. The only rule being that a portion of your boat has to be touching land.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IMPRESSIVE!
(Picture courtesy of Jay Heath) </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And, we're off!
(Picture courtesy of Jay Heath)</td></tr>
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As the starting volley was fired, the first row of racers surged out. Roger, Matt, and I (and other second row racers) slid our boats into the water. Matt and Roger took off without immediately securing their skirts. I was a bit behind, because I first secured my skirt. But, I quickly made up for it by passing them on my way through the mass of paddlers crossing to the south side of the river. Matt, like Ryan Snuggerud in 2010, said I flew past. He had planned on trying to stick with me, but held off of my initial pace. He would not fall too far back though.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gloomy morning.</td></tr>
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I cruised through check points 1, 3, and 4; shouting out my number and receiving cheers as I continued onward. Along Goat Island, between checkpoints 1 and 2, my left thigh developed a nasty cramp/charlie horse. I stopped at checkpoint 2 to stretch, eat a Clif bar, relieve myself, down some Gatorade, and change out the batteries in my GPS. Matt was coming in as I was leaving. From his dad, Willard Story, it sounds like he was 5 minutes behind me at check point 1 and, maybe, 10 minutes behind me at check point 2. It sounded like Roger was about the same time behind Matt.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Debates (left)
(Picture courtesy of Jay Heath) </td></tr>
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As you can guess from the previous paragraphs, I chose to paddle more solo this year compared to 2010. I did paddle briefly with a few other folks along the way. But, my goal was to minimize getting out of my boat this year. The only time I got out of the boat was at check point 2. Though, I nearly got out at check point 4 to use the facilities. I decided against it and pushed the last 16 miles to the finish.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4WiU2bHacK8wiBdnOfUe0VyiVC2M1Xls5UqL7BWEgNeWPbOGMYvaD9CrjKj9WGlAK0gHVMnxjn0Bo_YIl77syuJus0mcOBvOBWhv10AuJpe7Z3kaAZzJgpWBvaowuZRzhxEgKs0Hg648/s1600/fast+boats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4WiU2bHacK8wiBdnOfUe0VyiVC2M1Xls5UqL7BWEgNeWPbOGMYvaD9CrjKj9WGlAK0gHVMnxjn0Bo_YIl77syuJus0mcOBvOBWhv10AuJpe7Z3kaAZzJgpWBvaowuZRzhxEgKs0Hg648/s640/fast+boats.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> (Picture courtesy of Jay Heath)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9V08t2ilPZ1P9yGmg8Qd4x6sIJW3b2r6FU_L2aguNE7k1RqHdE9bv8SFxC6i5TBxZkqULA05wLUudHL5PNi8sv5o9QKFKYx77xrD-WroyEFmMUm9XZxCJ8b8jtca1gfUPaojJcvE0_Rq/s1600/C4+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9V08t2ilPZ1P9yGmg8Qd4x6sIJW3b2r6FU_L2aguNE7k1RqHdE9bv8SFxC6i5TBxZkqULA05wLUudHL5PNi8sv5o9QKFKYx77xrD-WroyEFmMUm9XZxCJ8b8jtca1gfUPaojJcvE0_Rq/s640/C4+01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> (Picture courtesy of Jay Heath)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvcOMBxizGkXFoCfQgGvYtEckRV5ga2eEXZoqzcf5BWu-0Abn_hFJlqZTLI9Jc1amNWFEiRUO6G_F1_Sx1qSe-NWAonMtd318xX52UYQT93l2ueH-d819FL4ImkyxytQvPY5I6dT7uwVz/s1600/justin+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvcOMBxizGkXFoCfQgGvYtEckRV5ga2eEXZoqzcf5BWu-0Abn_hFJlqZTLI9Jc1amNWFEiRUO6G_F1_Sx1qSe-NWAonMtd318xX52UYQT93l2ueH-d819FL4ImkyxytQvPY5I6dT7uwVz/s640/justin+01.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Justin Herreman and Paulette Kirby
(Picture courtesy of Jay Heath) </td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SUP
(Picture courtesy of Jay Heath)</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
I am not sure exactly where I finished yet. I'll post it when the official results are online. I think I was 5th or 8th in the Men's Solo Adventure Division. I finished at 6:58 PM; 11 hours, 58 minutes after starting. My GPS recorded 69.4 miles. It is always a good thing when your actual mileage is less than the river mileage; it means that you did a good job cutting the river bends and, in general, reading the river. The only mistake I feel I made was following a couple of boats on the north side of the river near the Clay County Rec. Area. In hindsight, I think the south side would have been the correct choice. Oh well, I still shaved off 1 hour, 55 minutes from my 2010 time. Probably a combination of less wind, better shape/conditioning, cruising through the check points, and a wing paddle versus a euro paddle.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdyC9vjfcJNe6G4XWvB0ozt18FCK0gJuwWeZmjgrdqIfKokbJkN_x2wVK3kNk_rxwCIEhLOVImjt8_BfCPVCMVBuOVotUEjKEh4710LCAANXiGRsgmqXTA6m9SkTkA_RRFLN-7YEYXAb0/s1600/IMGP0069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdyC9vjfcJNe6G4XWvB0ozt18FCK0gJuwWeZmjgrdqIfKokbJkN_x2wVK3kNk_rxwCIEhLOVImjt8_BfCPVCMVBuOVotUEjKEh4710LCAANXiGRsgmqXTA6m9SkTkA_RRFLN-7YEYXAb0/s640/IMGP0069.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unofficial Team Flyer!</td></tr>
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I've got plenty to think about this summer now. This coming week is mostly going to be consumed in recovering and tapering for the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon on this coming Sunday. But, I think I will try to do some more long kayaking trips this summer. I am very tempted to register for the MR340 in 2013. The two women in the competitive division are 340 veterans and both said that, with the wind, the SDKC was tougher. Apparently, the prevailing wind in Missouri is not a headwind and the wind velocities are not too terrible either (typically).<br />
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Some of the pictures are courtesy of Jay Heath, <a href="http://southdakotakayak.blogspot.com/">http://southdakotakayak.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-51544088184778313852012-04-30T05:37:00.003-05:002012-04-30T05:37:31.977-05:002012 Niobrara River TripThis past weekend I participated in the 3rd Annual <a href="http://sdcka.blogspot.com/">South Dakota Canoe and Kayak Association</a> <a href="http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/Boating/guides/canoetrails/pdf/NiobraraRiver.pdf">Niobrara River</a> Trip; this was my second year to participate. The trip is organized by Cory Diedrich. As last week came to an end, it looked like we would have rain for the trip to Valentine, NE/Smith Falls State Park and Friday night, but Saturday/Sunday was looking like low chances of rain with high temperatures in the 50s/60s; low temperatures in the 40s. The wind was forecast was for teens on Saturday and single digits on Sunday.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/523285_3003020684150_1521355566_32117178_1487454694_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/523285_3003020684150_1521355566_32117178_1487454694_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Road leading out of Smith Falls State Park. This is a huge improvement over Friday afternoon/evening. (Picture courtesy of Cory Diedrich.)</td></tr>
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Exciting news! On my way down, the salesman from Wegner Auto called to let me know that my new pickup showed up on the lot. It was all I could do not to turn around! When I turned down the "gravel" road to Smith Falls, <i>I was relieved that the powers that be had left it in similar condition as it was for <a href="http://www.piratesofthemissouri.com/2011/04/niobrara-river.html">last year's trip</a>.</i> Actually, a couple of the hills did seem to have been regraded/compacted. But, it was sloppy.
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It was still raining when I arrived at the campsite, but Cory had a plan! He had brought along a small dining fly that he had setup his tent underneath; we moved the fly over and I did the same. We BSed a bit as we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. The flotilla would consist of just kayaks, paddled by Cory Diedrich, Sam Diedrich, Roger Debates, Tom Coughlin, Steve Joseph, Kati Albers, Jen Geyer, Willard Story, Matt Story, and me. The rain had stopped and started a couple of times while people were arriving. By the time everyone's tents were up, the rain had ceased for the night.<br />
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On Saturday morning, we got up and loaded Cory and Sam's boats onto Roger's trailer. We headed into Valentine for breakfast at a local cafe; Cory and Sam rode with me. After breakfast, we headed to Cornell Bridge to begin the cruise. Luckily, we had no surprises launching this year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3grVIjWBxHhyphenhyphen5OW_3n_Ve34zzAZFlB0U9BmmVayTdYhSO-NAFYuafiqJr8jj-gKSN47JLwqOSbRUzj_1mmfRBCs-w2Jn1spT2EXO3IEn3rMLgQhJavh4JmzMDGiObN13b21x-0dIp7ByF/s1600/IMGP5486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3grVIjWBxHhyphenhyphen5OW_3n_Ve34zzAZFlB0U9BmmVayTdYhSO-NAFYuafiqJr8jj-gKSN47JLwqOSbRUzj_1mmfRBCs-w2Jn1spT2EXO3IEn3rMLgQhJavh4JmzMDGiObN13b21x-0dIp7ByF/s640/IMGP5486.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Launching. (L to R: Matt Story, Sam Diedrich, Kati Albers, Willard Story)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhopuXgfthA35aO60hA_KgUmx-kt6Gk0Hn56iIinSbHGeo3zN4pNXQldHlZGUKAwB9v9tMddKJ893UL6jOdU8sUJd_Em664FBpfaCN6KHD09oskUGa0aimxKlLJmNi2se3VmJDeGZWh6aeo/s1600/IMGP5493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhopuXgfthA35aO60hA_KgUmx-kt6Gk0Hn56iIinSbHGeo3zN4pNXQldHlZGUKAwB9v9tMddKJ893UL6jOdU8sUJd_Em664FBpfaCN6KHD09oskUGa0aimxKlLJmNi2se3VmJDeGZWh6aeo/s640/IMGP5493.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willard Story.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilibQe9Y2624J0mS6X6rqxG-1AX1roupqZvrudDIV384bfM4rxZf8QKQo5I-VTobRXY6fItakn-bHNQS7RoZcE6gc-ndf9njV28rhtlYLLDNkqMxL4GgiWI3pwM3qYP1GE4xzuYF1y5pOn/s1600/IMGP5494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilibQe9Y2624J0mS6X6rqxG-1AX1roupqZvrudDIV384bfM4rxZf8QKQo5I-VTobRXY6fItakn-bHNQS7RoZcE6gc-ndf9njV28rhtlYLLDNkqMxL4GgiWI3pwM3qYP1GE4xzuYF1y5pOn/s640/IMGP5494.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cory Diedrich.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ycMkI-1u0j3gbD0GfPW_QEByB3E1F2bcT5FPoTjYbMRhJbuppC8BKBtHmysHXYWTb3RidJt-0e-areuCcPVWWPUjuRdzRc5hRtJB7cB36WetisBbdzcYyvRXdyKUB8VBI-uDK5Eg4t3N/s1600/IMGP5489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ycMkI-1u0j3gbD0GfPW_QEByB3E1F2bcT5FPoTjYbMRhJbuppC8BKBtHmysHXYWTb3RidJt-0e-areuCcPVWWPUjuRdzRc5hRtJB7cB36WetisBbdzcYyvRXdyKUB8VBI-uDK5Eg4t3N/s640/IMGP5489.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some canoeists launching for the fun day at Smith Falls State Park.</td></tr>
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We arrived back at Smith Falls State Park by early/mid afternoon. We covered 11.4 miles by my gps, but I paddled upstream earlier to check on Steve when he had trouble around a strainer; He spilled out of the boat, but we were in a shallow side channel. Matt was at the scene to assist him and everything turned out fine.<br />
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As we took it easy for the afternoon/evening, we met the newest member of the National Park Service working the Niobrara National Wild and Scenic River. I don't recall his name, but he is an avid whitewater canoeist. We also found out that he enjoyed surfing/playing in a wave at the rapid at Rock Ford. Cory got his card and I think we plan on getting him involved with SDCKA and/or <a href="http://blackhillspaddlers.org/">Black Hills Paddlers</a>. For supper, Cory whipped up some delicious cajun chicken tortellini. It was excellent.<br />
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We got up on Sunday, tore down camp, and had a little breakfast. I made a pot of coffee (both days actually) and we used up the eggs I brought. I wanted to get them all used because the carton was soaked from melting ice in my cooler and I wasn't sure if it would hold up on the way home. We combined the eggs with some bagels that Cory had brought.<br />
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After shuttling the vehicles down to Rocky Ford with Cory's pickup, we began the second day's cruise. Fyi, it has been sprinkling off and on since breakfast. The Sunday half of the cruise is a little choppier/rougher and we were joking about the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID6kSg4oeLU">recent American Express commercial</a> as we paddled through the ripples.<br />
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During the past week, I had decided that I was going to run the Fritz's Island rapid/drop when we came to it. Most people take a channel on the left side of the island and avoid the drop; last year, Matt ran it, but I was nervous about the length of my boat catching. Then I took my boat through the Palisades last summer...<br />
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The run was easy; Roger, Matt, Tom, and I ran dropped it (everyone else went around). Roger went just to the right of center, Matt took it at the center, and I was just to the left of center. I did not see where Tom dropped it, but we all had clean runs.<br />
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Here is what the NPS website has to say about Fritz's Island rapid: <i>Fritz's Island Rapid or Fritz's Ledge is usually runable above 900 cfs, with a straight, 2' drop over ledge and a powerful current. </i>And from the Nebraska Game and Parks: <i>One mile farther is Fritz Island. Go left </i><i>around the island. Going to the right will </i><i>take you over a rock ledge where it is easy </i><i>to capsize. </i>Fyi, the flow was around 1100 cfs for us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/41673.jpeg?no_cache=27810000" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/41673.jpeg?no_cache=27810000" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fritz's Island Rapid in August 2008 at around 600 cfs. (Picture courtesy of American Whitewater)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nps.gov/niob/planyourvisit/images/BI-Canoers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="http://www.nps.gov/niob/planyourvisit/images/BI-Canoers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fritz's Island Rapid (Picture courtesy of NPS)</td></tr>
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Immediately after the drop, we took a break at Stair Step Falls. We had some fun with group pictures and joking about the recent American Express commercial.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyl_49F3HbeH5-_qAVK7cOdE2TdKY1ccw2ySr1NVK5AmNNhsJxhD8mRcqGHCVryke5n0naqHOtAwpAFo2VvNfPsQkL7mnS7LK6Su74rVazfxdW92IRWmqU6MAHSjSK-qpHOceTu7B5pQLk/s1600/IMGP5508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyl_49F3HbeH5-_qAVK7cOdE2TdKY1ccw2ySr1NVK5AmNNhsJxhD8mRcqGHCVryke5n0naqHOtAwpAFo2VvNfPsQkL7mnS7LK6Su74rVazfxdW92IRWmqU6MAHSjSK-qpHOceTu7B5pQLk/s640/IMGP5508.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Coughlin <i>"going through the rapids"</i>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aHTMH85PTTjFLN3soCZnx7gKtTNAQaBApTCZw9bBRPZiP_L1JOb_KwLUU0iuThOC-2i1zFDq16OOgvHu8Tt6kluDWOG0X9wjeDXv5SucjgFiPGxUIFIiDWUw6jmxeJOBjFH72rhwJJ58/s1600/IMGP5507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aHTMH85PTTjFLN3soCZnx7gKtTNAQaBApTCZw9bBRPZiP_L1JOb_KwLUU0iuThOC-2i1zFDq16OOgvHu8Tt6kluDWOG0X9wjeDXv5SucjgFiPGxUIFIiDWUw6jmxeJOBjFH72rhwJJ58/s640/IMGP5507.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Debates <i>"going through the rapids"</i>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/559567_3003183048209_1521355566_32117350_499097739_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/559567_3003183048209_1521355566_32117350_499097739_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L to R: Sam Diedrich, Matt Story, Tom Coughlin, Jenn Geyer, Roger Debates, Kati Albers, Pat Wellner, Steve Joseph, and Willard Story. (Picture courtesy of Cory Diedrich.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We continued on. The next obstacle was Fritz's Chute (aka Fritz's Narrows). We did have a little trouble here. Somehow Kati's boat got turned in the rapid and took a wave broadside and was flipped. Cory and Roger were on the scene quickly. Around the bend following the rapid was a shallow spot where Kati was able to get herself and her boat out of the river. Roger also got out and helped pump the water out of the boat. Everything was good. Kati was still in good spirits afterwards. Maybe a little embarrassed at worst?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/41680.jpeg?no_cache=49630000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/41680.jpeg?no_cache=49630000" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fritz's Chute/Narrows rapid at ~600 cfs. The river was at 1100 cfs for us. (Picture courtesy of American Whitewater.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We continued on finishing the cruise. My gps read 11.2 miles for the day.Again, that includes a little bit of upstream paddling. After finishing and before loading our gear/boats, Matt and I wandered over and looked over the Rocky Ford Rapids for a bit. This is a class III rapid. We watched and discussed it. I think we have a very good idea where to hit it. There is a nice chute on right side of it. If we get a hold of a whitewater boat(s) and an experienced whitewater paddler, we might just have to try this sometime...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/41674.jpeg?no_cache=72160000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/41674.jpeg?no_cache=72160000" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocky Ford at ~600 cfs. (Picture couretesy of American Whitewater.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Cory led another great trip done a fun river this year. Here's hoping we get some more folks to join us next year!<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-26751318115168194562012-04-15T14:14:00.002-05:002012-04-15T15:40:57.764-05:00Fort George Rec. Area to West Bend Rec. AreaAfter tackling the Oahe Dam to Fort George Recreation Area section of the Missouri River in October, Roger Debates, Matt Story, and I have discussed doing more sections. This weekend marked our next leg of the river. We planned on meeting at the West Bend Recreation Area on Friday night, paddling from the Fort George Recreation Area down to West Bend on Saturday, camping again at West Bend on Saturday night, and paddling to the North Shore Recreation Area near the Big Bend Dam on Sunday.<br />
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When I left Pierre on Friday afternoon to meet Roger and Matt at West Bend, the forecast was for wind in the teens to 20 mph. The forecast for Sunday made the second leg of the weekend look iffy, but we figured to decide on that on Sunday morning.<br />
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The little bit of wind on Friday died down for the night and the sky was clear. We woke up this scene on Saturday morning:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEoYELsfe4g-QabxYsTC_6cmNNpaVmAl9dZTxQiRigIpIhDsfk2WWT8TDE9KEYMj1NUHy71LgchOvICmespbScOcjPP3KqJ0JX8w0BBs5CRejMYH8g4TZdCniElKgWkOXxWEBhIx3uJR_d/s1600/20120414062615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEoYELsfe4g-QabxYsTC_6cmNNpaVmAl9dZTxQiRigIpIhDsfk2WWT8TDE9KEYMj1NUHy71LgchOvICmespbScOcjPP3KqJ0JX8w0BBs5CRejMYH8g4TZdCniElKgWkOXxWEBhIx3uJR_d/s640/20120414062615.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
After loading our gear and boats on my pickup, we headed for Fort George. The scene as we prepared to launch was awesome; glassy water!<br />
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We departed Ft George a little after 8 AM. Thanks to the calm conditions the paddling was easy; though a little slow due to very little current.<br />
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Throughout the trip, we had to be aware of numerous stumps and trees in the river. I was a little surprised that last summer's flooding didn't wash them away.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMF0V0biv1PoVtBbKG1CXwtNCPioSWgksuM1KWiyOOtdiwZddmL-Awtnh1IJ-zg8ePve1ViBgJjNn098uMyBWrkYVKdO_BL5HRvxzYwUbOILd8fQywyik-N9ontPxqb_TYyGMphbAbyps_/s1600/IMGP5448.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMF0V0biv1PoVtBbKG1CXwtNCPioSWgksuM1KWiyOOtdiwZddmL-Awtnh1IJ-zg8ePve1ViBgJjNn098uMyBWrkYVKdO_BL5HRvxzYwUbOILd8fQywyik-N9ontPxqb_TYyGMphbAbyps_/s640/IMGP5448.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
From mile 20 to 25, the wind began to pick up and clouds filled the sky. After 25 miles or so, it truly became nasty. Looking at NOAA's history, it seems we were facing 22 mph wind with 35 mph gusts which grew to 28 mph wind with 39 mph gusts by the time we finished. The worst part was that we were facing a headwind as we pushed to get around a bend that would signal the homestretch to West Bend. The wind sweeping up the mile+ wide river was creating large waves. We also began to get sporadic sprinkles and rain, which became a torrential downpour by the end.<br />
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As we pushed around the bend, we got some help from the wind, but down the homestretch we received the wind from the side. The waves were trying to push us into shore. This side wave action gave all three of us some close calls, but, thankfully, no swimmers.<br />
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The homestretch is about a 4-6 mile section, depending on where/how you measure. Early into it, while battling the waves/wind and downpour, we began to hear thunder and see lightening. The trouble was finding a suitable place to get off the water. We took the time to pull out lights, since it was getting dark and fiddled with our GPSs. It appeared we just had 3-4 miles at that point. Since we hadn't heard any thunder or saw any lightening since pulling ashore, we decided to push for West Bend and keep near the shore.<br />
Even with headlamps, we had difficulty seeing our way through the downpour, so we paddled a little further out to avoid downed trees along the shoreline. We were continuing to battle waves crashing into our sides; trying to shove use into the shore.<br />
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Around 9:30 PM, we finally approached a light that turned out to be a cabin near our campsite. As we beached the kayaks and hopped out, a wave came crashing in and swamped both Roger's and my boats. We quickly lifted the boats from the beach to the grassy ledge before another wave crashed in. We carried the boats back to our campsite and secured everything. We then dove into our tents to change into dry clothes and climb into our sleeping bags. My GPS recorded that we had covered 36.5 miles on the day.<br />
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<center><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206219590391571936780.0004bdba41a14676c06d9&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=44.199846,-99.830672&spn=0.192016,0.409087&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206219590391571936780.0004bdba41a14676c06d9&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=44.199846,-99.830672&spn=0.192016,0.409087&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">4-14-2012</a> in a larger map</small></center><br />
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Despite the calm conditions for the first half of the trip, I maintain that the lack of current, headwind/sidewind, larger waves, and downpour made this trip more difficult than the 2010 South Dakota Kayak Challenge. The three of us are now ready for the 2012 South Dakota Kayak Challenge!<br />
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As can be guessed, we chose not to paddle on Sunday. We woke up to more rain and 37 mph wind with 51 mph gusts. This is what the river looked like this morning:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8NfCjS3uw4c?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The quote below my blog's title is quite fitting for this weekend: <i>“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.”</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-63711424989611858712011-12-30T07:22:00.000-06:002011-12-30T07:22:48.988-06:00SD Kayak Challenge in the Capital Journal<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.capjournal.com/news/registration-for-kayak-challenge-set-to-begin-missouri-river-race/article_23795b54-32a8-11e1-a080-0019bb2963f4.html">SD Kayak Challenge in the Capital Journal</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-90520041648760428252011-10-27T18:56:00.000-05:002011-10-27T18:56:16.682-05:00Oahe Dam to Ft GeorgeJust a quick update.<br />
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Last Saturday, I met some fellow paddlers at the seldom used boat ramp on the east side of the Oahe Dam. There was Chuck and Dave from Pierre. Diana, from Pickstown, was paddling with Chuck. Matt from Canton and Roger from Brookings.<br />
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Saturday morning I dropped my boat off with Chuck and helped him load his boat and mine onto his car. That's right, the Honda Fit carried an 18' tandem and 17' sea kayak simultaneously! I then went out to Oahe Downstream to reserve a campsite for Roger, Matt, and myself for Saturday night.<br />
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About 20 till noon, I headed out to Ft George Recreation Area to meet up with Roger and Matt. Dave, Chuck, and Diana would be meeting us at the Oahe Dam east boat ramp. Chuck and Diana also dropped Diana's vehicle off at the American Legion for an earlier take out. I think we began the cruise around 1 PM.<br />
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Earlier in the week, the Corps of Engineers found and removed many buffalo skulls, bones from a sand bar near the stilling basin. They missed at least one.<br />
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The forecast was for calm winds, but the wind started to pickup as we approached the Pierre city limits. Strangely, it calmed down after Chuck, Diana, and Dave got off the river at the causeway to La Framboise Island.<br />
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Not too much exciting to report. A small rainstorm passed us by during the cruise and brought with us a stiff tailwind that produced the biggest waves either Roger or Matt had been in. We also had the privilege of seeing a double rainbow.<br />
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My GPS had us covering 26.66 miles on the day as we finished with the sunset. After the the long paddle, we chose to have supper at Mad Mary's steakhouse rather than try to cook something at the campsite.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-18496390518246001292011-10-03T06:42:00.000-05:002011-10-03T06:42:53.434-05:00Return of the La Framboise Island Circumnavigation CruiseLast Monday, September 26, Chuck and I put in near the American Legion cabin and paddled to the causeway. We then portaged over the causeway and relaunched from the boat ramp. We paddled upstream, around Discovery Island, and then began our downstream excursion.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUzTj10AuvqhxBD23irgNgh0nG7pHdjmK73-2c8j_wmVTEeKLf0rBLTOO6T6PdgbHJ9b2pIsiHj7Ev_9Z6Phtc2pqnVaVCJqA_YeXvSmdLbt4KyMis01b4LVxtY2O5rRsmq2k7iGMbhAK/s1600/IMGP5147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUzTj10AuvqhxBD23irgNgh0nG7pHdjmK73-2c8j_wmVTEeKLf0rBLTOO6T6PdgbHJ9b2pIsiHj7Ev_9Z6Phtc2pqnVaVCJqA_YeXvSmdLbt4KyMis01b4LVxtY2O5rRsmq2k7iGMbhAK/s640/IMGP5147.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>We had to stay out in the main channel to keep from being pulled through the breach in the causeway.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPE646jkpfPfSqz7yOiumUgGVqc-tfu1_OrXkBJkKekGsYtY7xt8hOSDXqX33kwnnsUHhV5_RaFXcmplU7NjCsm71OFNW9xQyO7lVDOxtK5FOISdi_vbaceiLKecgC1_oC1Fhio6SWINGy/s1600/IMGP5154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPE646jkpfPfSqz7yOiumUgGVqc-tfu1_OrXkBJkKekGsYtY7xt8hOSDXqX33kwnnsUHhV5_RaFXcmplU7NjCsm71OFNW9xQyO7lVDOxtK5FOISdi_vbaceiLKecgC1_oC1Fhio6SWINGy/s640/IMGP5154.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>We took a short side trip to check out the Bad River boat ramp.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtdkLwFi3VDeVBbj5_dFyBK2PFRjy1RpfPzACO5j1PKkRvWrtQiVM_msxM7_JpOZ9zcaxQqxmABP54pXS9ZihSAgWgklY03q3c3lD8Qb0iMRMP_UmRDZc8732IQekQaVS4ETQTm3BUuldE/s1600/IMGP5190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtdkLwFi3VDeVBbj5_dFyBK2PFRjy1RpfPzACO5j1PKkRvWrtQiVM_msxM7_JpOZ9zcaxQqxmABP54pXS9ZihSAgWgklY03q3c3lD8Qb0iMRMP_UmRDZc8732IQekQaVS4ETQTm3BUuldE/s640/IMGP5190.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDDaCqFYadQ-eQYPsOHGyOMICiJ7zYrW0VtNp5S8J5qVk868XYoF6FOe_hLrRTfzxO_dlcfmoptBcRs93OY7hRD_kVHJ2cYVTA_3LPTULs3MLb6KC9ZFXAhgBPEcfLTaLxdbO8JEF1jwU/s1600/IMGP5193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDDaCqFYadQ-eQYPsOHGyOMICiJ7zYrW0VtNp5S8J5qVk868XYoF6FOe_hLrRTfzxO_dlcfmoptBcRs93OY7hRD_kVHJ2cYVTA_3LPTULs3MLb6KC9ZFXAhgBPEcfLTaLxdbO8JEF1jwU/s640/IMGP5193.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
We continued on and paddled through the chute/channel alongside La Framboise Island. The sun was setting as we came around the end of the island for the final stretch. If memory serves me correctly, we covered 6+ miles on the day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-74901108861585245772011-09-23T06:27:00.000-05:002011-09-23T06:27:29.076-05:00La Framboise IslandYesterday I launched from Griffin Park and continued downstream to the end of La Framboise Island. I then proceeded up the channel alongside the island. There was lots of debris on the shore. As I neared the upstream end of the channel, I noticed that much of the reeds on the adjacent sandbar were gone and showed no sign of returning. In fact, it looked like additional sand was deposited. At the upstream end, I pulled the kayak out and walked further up. Time was a limiting factor, so I didn't get too far. I hope to return and try to get further into the island at a later time.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDV8puS1uzIYrJwY054Bc1Gw4o7gpM0-dAzg4PU2IrUAFnPC1UM1VvNZuLjdwir7onqnkuetEB7NI3ZRopeRG8MSFOIm6S01iAWKd1BCy_fS1Pu-W-DJ1bi-U-3_8xk9EfQtoU1_E05arn/s1600/IMGP5121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDV8puS1uzIYrJwY054Bc1Gw4o7gpM0-dAzg4PU2IrUAFnPC1UM1VvNZuLjdwir7onqnkuetEB7NI3ZRopeRG8MSFOIm6S01iAWKd1BCy_fS1Pu-W-DJ1bi-U-3_8xk9EfQtoU1_E05arn/s640/IMGP5121.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-84278078655683065092011-09-05T07:38:00.000-05:002011-09-05T07:38:01.087-05:00New BoatIndy and I took my new (to me) boat out for a maiden voyage. It is a tan colored Mad River Explorer 16 canoe with wood gunwales and wood/wicker type seats. I even managed to do the canoehead type carry to haul the boat. I was impressed, with the thwart/yoke on my shoulders, the 70 lbs. canoe was very easy to haul... maybe easier than my 60 lbs. CD Storm GT sea kayak.<br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-18060597224797894322011-08-29T21:52:00.000-05:002011-08-29T21:52:20.416-05:00Paddling Forgotten WatersThe governor lifted the boating ban on the Missouri River near Pierre today. Obviously, I had to get on the water... water that I have not paddled since May. I parked on a side street near the American Legion cabin and carried my boat through a hole punched through the levee for storm water drainage.<br />
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</div><div>I paddled downstream along the Pierre shoreline to the end of La Framboise Island and then back upstream to the causeway. The only major damage through this area was to the causeway, which was significant (see videos). I ended up covering 6.2 miles.</div><div><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385865722275635429.post-15333496049037977802011-08-03T12:48:00.000-05:002011-08-03T12:48:48.261-05:00Into Farm Island...I won't go into great detail, but over the past week I have managed to paddle in and about Farm Island on a few occasions. The fingers/inlets into the island I have always enjoyed exploring are even more interesting when I can travel further up them and jump between them by paddling through tall grasses. I have also paddled through the main campground area a couple of times. Also, near the causeway, there is a small inlet that is now much larger. When exploring it, you now can hear water rushing over the causeway somewhere among the trees and you have to constantly fight the a strong current to keep from being pushed into trees/strainers. I am still far from done exploring the area; hopefully I will have more to share later this week.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206219590391571936780.0004a988e83c1ef01af26&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=44.33404,-100.250072&spn=0.029469,0.054932&z=14&output=embed" width="640"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206219590391571936780.0004a988e83c1ef01af26&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=44.33404,-100.250072&spn=0.029469,0.054932&z=14&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Farm Island August 2, 2011</a> in a larger map</small><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-eLvWc_zylCRMvUteDHIdQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV6blEwAx1BsViBOOe2D_IQx_f2lDJf5ywhnsraYXgMwnaNpDltSCicmdQghpTSnM1PnDJptfZWSxCQPCYokjXSrxw9S5NuHG3dTTVyUM5IGP5QKSb8K1lydE-NxquET34y8xCWDkh21TL/s640/IMGP4758.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/Pat.Wellner/20110730?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">2011-07-30</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/L2RI2cPp6qVmNIzCEecsuA?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEZ7LMCed6c0IwJmqzjNIafzXgyW17ifTKL7fJAuyIgTr093CKgyLVGzfon0R29DcwVQlvS-YRqxekSLcvt3otj6hLg4KVw9QHK8M7kCaYfMCFGWZpn8DuU1TJ079wYo2L6v6hLAmvvm1/s640/IMGP4762.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/Pat.Wellner/20110730?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">2011-07-30</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/G9NLcFG7NNbzWvIIcargJw?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvYrKFIdsDugzyDyoFivHHpJ1tjwwFZcXXEpmDdBt43cOLu9wrag4klLiX5aXl3wad4JZNYOsNQkqk15KYF2i7CGF4ye6pTsw4k71g_mLeId3MhwAz1AoiX7w1ljQquhIRXoG3EF2TMhyphenhyphen/s640/IMGP4771.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/Pat.Wellner/20110730?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">2011-07-30</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0