Today, Sunday, October 27, was a beautiful day for a cruise
on the Big Sioux River. David and
Mary Finck and Larry Braaten led a fleet of 16 kayaks from the put-in just
above the Grandview Bridge to the Klondike Rapids, a distance of about 8 miles.
We gathered at the public access area along the Big Sioux
River at the Grandview Bridge at 1:00 p.m. and arranged a shuttle of drivers
downstream to the public access area just above the Klondike rapids.
By 2:00 p.m., we were underway for our cruise downstream
under sunny skies with little wind and a temperature of about 60 degrees. A day like this is such a blessing at
this time of the year. I believe
that most of us were eager to seize the day before the inevitable descent into
winter.
This stretch of river between the Grandview and the Klondike
bridges is free of strainers or rapids; it is really a tranquil paddle along a
varied landscape. The water was
deep enough for easy navigation, with only occasional shallows encountered when
losing the channel. Depth ranged
from too deep to touch bottom with my long double-blade paddle to only a few
inches across an occasional sandbar.
There were some high cut banks that rose more than a hundred
feet and some old trees in the waterway from floods of the past.
We stopped along the way, as all of Dave Finck’s cruises do,
for a stretch and a stroll up and down the hard packed sand shoreline. Sixteen
colorful kayaks pulled up on the beach of a river present an attractive sight
to me.
These cruises are one way to make and keep friendships among
the paddling community.
Cruising along in discussion groupings of two or three
kayaks, standing around chatting at our rest stops, and assisting each other in
launching and recovering kayaks from the river build shared experiences.
As we moved downstream, we passed the remains of an old
railroad bridge that once crossed the river between Grandview and
Klondike. Only the concrete
support on one bank and some rotting pilings on the other bank remain of those
days when the railroad played a more important role in area commerce.
We paddled through a landscape in transition from a colorful
summer to the drab monochromatic winter brown. I was surprised to see so many trees that had yet to lose
their leaves. I suspect that will
all change over the next week or two.
The water was cold, but all of us were able to paddle
without heavy clothing. The sun was wonderful. By the time we had pulled out at Klondike, however, a chill
was developing and a jacket would have been comfortable.
In the lower section of this cruise, extending about half a mile above the Klondike rapids, the river gets wider and deeper as it backs up from the rapids. There were even some wavelets on the surface during this section from a light wind that came up.
There are take-out possibilities on both the Iowa and South
Dakota sides just before the rapids, and we checked both sides out during our
shuttle arrangements. Neither side
offered an easy exit from the river, but we felt that the South Dakota side
provided the better of bad choices.
The river was about two or two and a half feet deep along the bank as we
got off the river, so it was a deep-water exit. Dave Finck was wearing
waterproof boots, and he arrived at the take-out first to take charge of
assisting paddlers in landing their boats.
As each boat approached the bank, two people helped
stabilize the kayak while one or two others offered assistance in getting
out. With this assistance, all of
us were able to get out without tipping over and falling into the river.
River cruises are a social occasion, and they are really not
very feasible for the solo paddler.
The shuttle is important, and it is also unwise to paddle alone on
moving water.
We spent about three hours on the cruise this afternoon. It was an enjoying and satisfying time
getting outside in the sunshine in our kayaks and stretching our paddling
muscles. The fall landscape was beautiful, and there is a sense of squeezing in
another cruise before the kayak racks come off the vehicles and the boats go
deep into the garage for several months.
A complete set of the photographs that I took on this cruise
is available on my Flicker page at the following URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayheath/sets/72157637027727365/
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