This blog is designed to highlight the paddling opportunities within South Dakota, mainly within a 50-mile radius of Sioux Falls. While Sioux Falls is far from the adventure of coastal regions, there is a certain satisfaction in utilizing the available waterways to observe weather, water conditions, and the landscape along the shoreline. In addition, there is a wealth of animal life on the waters of small South Dakota lakes, rivers, and creeks, including geese, ducks, pelicans, great blue heron, egrets, hawks, owls, perching birds, deer, raccoons, and beaver. Eagles, fox, and coyote are also sometimes spotted.

The sites described are places where I have kayaked over the past few years, mostly in South Dakota but sometimes including locations in Iowa and Minnesota. One of the best sources of information on the accessibility of small lakes is the South Dakota Atlas and Gazetteer, the large map book of South Dakota. Lakes with a public access are generally identified by a boat symbol marking the location of a launching site on public land.

You will notice the menu of paddling locations on the right side of the blog. Each of the postings is linked to one of the areas, and my intention is to provide a continuing review of the places where I paddle. Perhaps these narratives will help readers select waterways of interest to them. Please feel free to offer a comment regarding any of my postings; I would welcome the dialog.

I also maintain a companion blog that describes hiking opportunities within the Sioux Falls area. You can access that blog at: http://hikingsiouxfalls.blogspot.com

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Kayaks Adrift on the Big Sioux

Kayaks Lost on the Big Sioux

This afternoon, Sunday, June 29, a father and son were in two kayaks on the Big Sioux River heading south past the Klondike toward Canton. They came across a big tree that was positioned as a sweeper across the river; while trying to get past it, they both got caught up in the branches and capsized their kayaks. They made it out by working their way across the fallen tree to the shore. Their kayaks, though, were swept downstream and were not recovered. So, sometime around 1:00 p.m. today, two orange Dagger kayaks, one 9 feet long and the other 11 ½ feet, were lost and last seen floating down the river between the Klondike and Canton. Jeff has contacted the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, but he has also asked if the word might be put out regarding these kayaks. He is hopeful that someone will find them and want to get in touch with the owner. If any of our readers catch sight of these kayaks or hears about them, Jeff has asked that he be contacted at 338-0147.

1 comment:

Patrick Wellner said...

Glad to here that the paddlers, themselves. are alright though.