Oahe Dam to Ft George

Just a quick update.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Return of the La Framboise Island Circumnavigation Cruise

Last 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.

We had to stay out in the main channel to keep from being pulled through the breach in the causeway.

We took a short side trip to check out the Bad River boat ramp.

 
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.

La Framboise Island

Yesterday 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.

New Boat

Indy 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.

Paddling Forgotten Waters

The 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.

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.

Into 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.





View Farm Island August 2, 2011 in a larger map

From 2011-07-30

From 2011-07-30

From 2011-07-30

Farm Island

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

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




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

Paddling OVER a bridge.