Off Topic - Backpacking to Deer Haven

I spent this past weekend backpacking with boy scouts in the Badlands. As many of you already know, I volunteer with my old boy scout troop. Another adult and I took three scouts backpacking in the Badlands. We found a route on the Backpacker magazine website. It began from the Conata picnic area and went up to spot called Deer Haven. Pretty much a group of trees and grass accessible only by scrambling up one of the crumbling dirt formations common to the Badlands. The route is actually a 22 mile loop that I would like to complete next summer either with the scouts or on my own. Having limited time, we just went up to Deer Haven over the weekend.

We arrived Friday evening, packed about 3/4 of a mile in and setup camp. On Saturday morning, we packed up again and headed to Deer Haven. We did have a few miscues on the way. The first was when I was paying more attention to the location of Deer Haven than the route (on my gps). We ended up adding about a mile paralleling the route but on the wrong side of a formation. The second miscue was my gps refusing to give a direction; this was resolved when my gps lost signal and immediately gt it back. Once we made it to the top, we took some to rest. The original plan was to camp at Deer Haven, but we wanted a shorter hike in the morning so we could get back to Pierre sooner so we planned to hike back down. Once we were off deer haven and a half mile away, I noticed that the tent on my pack was missing! So, one of the scouts and I hiked back (without packs) to retrieve the tent. Luckily, we did find it.

Bad River Redux

I had planned to go paddling on Saturday since the constant wind and rain were forecast to end. Well, the wind ended and I was thinking of paddling in the rain but decided to watch the Notre Dame game instead... and what a game! John and I did get out paddling today (Sunday) though. We weren't sure where to go, but decided to give the Bad River another shot and see how the recent rain effected it. Not too much new to report. We put on the causeway and paddled across the Missouri River to the mouth of the Bad River and then continued upstream the Bad River. We did not make it as far as we did in September, but we did cover 8 miles and John hit 31 straight months paddling. I am only at 10 (January through October). And some pictures...

BSR - Lake Alvin to Klondike

I took Friday off and drove down to Sioux City for a Young Dubliners show. The show rocked. After staying the night at a motel in Vermillion, Indy (my dog) and I headed up to Sioux Falls for a Scheels fix and then to join up with the SDCA crew for a cruise on the Big Sioux River.

We met at the BSR access near Lake Alvin and paddled to the access upstream of the dam at Klondike, IA. As a note, some time in the future, the dam will be made passable with riprap, etc. Should be a lot of fun once that happens. The trip was quite enjoyable. All the participants spread out a fair bit. Indy was getting a little bored during the first half of the trip, so I let him swim/walk along the boat a couple of times. Kind of a trolling motor! He really seemed to enjoy it; plus it took a lot of energy out of him. He behaved very well for the remainder of the trip; laid nicely on the deck/skirt. Nothing else too exciting to post; we did not see much for wildlife. plenty of cattle in on spot and a few small birds. I spent a bit of time chatting with Jay Heath along the way and he should have some good pictures of Indy and me. My gps read about 8.1 miles. Some pictures below; they did not turn out the best as it is a bit difficult to deal with a dog and a camera while paddling. Should be better once I start taking Indy out in my tandem.

And my favorite picture of Indy and me from Jay's Flickr photostream...

Bad River Expedition

On Sunday, John and I paddled up the Bad River reaching further than I have ever been. Further yet than where Chuck and I made it to in June. The day was windy, but the bends and high banks of the Bad River kept most of the wind off of us. We ended up covering about 8.2 miles.Also, I went out for a short paddle on Saturday evening. A few sunset pictures from it.

Oahe Dam Tailrace

Yesterday, I put in at a spot just downstream of the swim beach at the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area. I paddled with Indy to the entrance to the Tailrace and waited for John and Gary to catch up; they departed from the same spot later than I did. It was a beautiful day; not too warm but not cold either. Wind was calm. We paddled up to the tailrace structure and John went into the pipe a considerable distance. We ran into a little problem on our way back though. There is a point/pennisula between our departure spot and the tailrace. The water is always very fast there but in past years we have been able to go wide and get back upstream. The point combined with the dam running water made it near impossible to get wide enough. Garyended up pulling up on the point. John did make it, but he had to cross over to the opposite side of the river and stay over for a consiferable distance upstream beyond the point. I tried the same, but tried to cut back too soon and ended up pulling out on the point with Gary. I think I could have made it if I didn't have Indy and possibly had a longer boat. Or if I would have just stayed to the opposite shore. It was still fun though. Because of losing ground and fighting back near the point, my gps read something like 6 miles. I think (from google earth) it was more like 5 miles.

Exploring Farm Island

I convinced John to go paddling yesterday. It was a beautiful day; temperature in the mid to upper 80s, light wind, and few clouds. We went into the interior of Farm Island. I also took along Indy, my new dog from the humane society. He is an australian shepard/blue heeler mix and is about 7 months old. He did alright on the water. As well as Scruffy did the first few times he went out. We ended up putting in about 4.9 miles.The last picture is from Saturday, when I took Indy out for only about a mile near the American Legion cabin.

Paddling with Troop 27

Last night, I helped take some Boy Scouts out canoeing. We paddled from the Oahe Marina down to the causeway. When we arrived at the marina, there were a few rain drops and some clouds in the distance. We thought we could make it to the causeway before any storms hit. We were right... timing is everything though. Maybe 10 minutes after arriving and while we were loading the canoes back on the trailer, it began to rain. After finishing loading, we convened to the nearby amphitheater to partake in cake and ice cream to celebrate the scoutmaster's birthday. Then the full storm hit. Torrential downpour, wicked wind, and even a little hail swept through. As with most SD storms it was short lived though. As with most excursions, I think the storm will make even this short trip memorable. Also, my gps read 5.88 miles, but that also inludes me doubling back to check on some scouts that fell behind. Slideshow of pictures below: