Kayaking with Derek - Lake Alvin, June 2011

What can be better than spending a couple of hours kayaking with your adult son on an area lake! My son, Derek, called last night and asked if I was up to a kayak cruise on Lake Alvin. This morning he arrived on a bicycle at our home by 9:00 a.m., and I had the kayaks all loaded up: my 13 foot dagger on top of the car, and the Folbot Aleut bagged up and on the rear seat of our Honda Civic hybrid.

When we arrived at the public access area on the northwestern end of the lake, the temperature was already near 90 degrees and there was only a whisper of wind; the lake was nearly mirror calm. There were a couple of fishing boats out on the lake, and from a distance we saw someone launching a kayak.

We headed northeast on the lake, keeping to the southeastern shore, trying in vain to find some shade under the tree cover.

As we moved to the northeastern end, just to the right of the fishing dock, we ran into a herd of cattle trying to cool off in the lake. This is not a sight that I have seen before on Lake Alvin, although part of the land on the eastern shoreline is private property. Derek was amused by the loud conversation among the cows as more of them crowded into the shallow water.

We continued into the spillway, just to check out the flow and the scene. There was a brown coating on sections of the lake today, sort of like algae, but brown rather than green. I think this was apparent because of the exceptional calm over the surface of the lake. A few people were visible on the swimming beach soaking up some rays.

Our return to the southern end took us past the public access dock and into Nine Mile Creek. We crossed under the bridge and stopped for a few minutes to observe the cliff swallows in their pouch shaped mud nests. I could see heads peeking out of the entrance hole of the nests and clouds of birds flying in the nesting area under the bridge.

As I normally do on a Lake Alvin cruise, we continued up the creek to the point where it narrows down into a rocky channel. There was plenty of depth to the water today. We did not see much in the way of animal life, except for a few jumping fish, an occasional turtle, and lots of perching birds. I guess that it was just too scorching outside for animals to hang about on the shoreline.

This was the first cruise of the year for the Folbot. It went together easily today and seemed eager to get back on the water after so many months resting in bags within the backyard shed.

It was altogether a fine day.

Folbot on Lake Lakota - June 2010

Shaking Out the Folbot

After sitting in the backyard storage shed for the past two years, I decided to load up my Aleut Folbot and see if it still floated; I wondered if perhaps the mice had gotten to it over the past two winters. Lake Lakota, in Newton Hills State Park, seemed like a good spot to assemble the boat and take a morning cruise, so I headed there about 9:00 a.m. today, a sunny day with no hint of rain. We have had day after day here in the Sioux Falls area of rain over the past couple of weeks, so I felt a pressing need to take advantage of a clear, sunny day with only a mild wind. Currently, the rivers and creeks are swollen with rain and running deep and fast in this area, and there are cautions issued by safety authorities about canoeing/kayaking on the Big Sioux River and Skunk Creek. Lakes are a better bet in these conditions.

The Folbot is stored in two bags, one for the framework and the other for the hull. I put one of the bags into the trunk and the other in the back seat. The trunk of my Honda Civic hybrid is smaller than most cars due to the placement of the large battery used for the engine assist function. Because of the two-year gap in my use of the craft, assembling it took a little longer – maybe 20 minutes. The parts seemed to fit together okay, and soon I was ready to head out into the lake.

I have a rudder for the Aleut, but attaching it seems to take as much time as assembling the boat, so I have stopped using it. Whenever using a kayak without a rudder, I am reminded of the extra control and ease of directional paddling offered by a rudder-controlled boat.

Lake Lakota has undergone quite a change since I last visited in March. The area is covered in green vegetation, but then so is much of the surface area of the lake. The lake is in two parts, much like the letter “L.” The major section is oriented north and south, and an arm extends off to the west. Water in the center portion of the lake is generally clear of aquatic vegetation, but there is extensive algae growth and heavy growth of aquatic plant life along the shores, out perhaps 10 to 15 feet on either side of both portions of the lake.

Cruising up into the little bays along the shoreline means coasting over heavy plant life extending from the bottom to just below the surface, often plants that exceed five or six feet in length. Navigating through this growth reminded me of ships following leads in ice-covered waters in the polar regions of the world. There are leads that allow a kayak to get in close to the shore through narrow passageways.

A kayak can also coast over the plant life as long as the paddler uses short and shallow dips of the paddle. Such passage seems more akin to poling than paddling. But, this sort of travel also takes a paddler to areas where others cannot easily visit. Motorboats would just not be able to negotiate such a passage through the surface plant growth. I like to spend a few moments in such nearly inaccessible places observing the landscape and looking for animal life.


On past visits to Lake Lakota, I have found many turtles sunning themselves on logs. Sometimes I have found frogs sitting on pads, especially within the western arm of the lake. In the early spring, there have usually been large numbers of nesting waterfowl on the lake, particularly in the bays and into the western arm. Today, I saw almost no wild life. There were no turtles or frogs visible, and no waterfowl either. The only wildlife I saw were shore birds and some fish. While the water plant life is extensive, the water is also deep. In the “holes” and “valleys” of the underwater plant jungle, I could clearly see many fish, both large fish and minnow types. The water along the shoreline and in the western arm was usually four to seven feet deep, measured by plunging my paddle into the lake. Still, the water was clear enough to see these fish at a couple of feet below the surface.


For me, the lake was crowded. By the time I launched, there were two fishing boats on the lake; and when I returned, there were several people on the swimming beach as well. It felt like a mob had descended upon the lake.

I have visited Lake Lakota both in the early spring and in the late fall. I think that those are the best times to paddle this body of water. While I like sneaking into bays that are largely inaccessible to most boaters, I don’t like paddling over the thick plant life and sitting in a bay covered with green algae. Also, there is little to see in such conditions. I will return to Lake Lakota after we have had the first hard frost and the water has cleared. Early spring and late fall seem to me the best time of year for Lake Lakota.

I was happy to see that my Folbot is still in good shape. I have had it for about 12 years and originally got it so that I could avoid the hassle of car-topping a canoe. Assembling the boat normally takes about 15 minutes, and then when I get home the hull has to dry thoroughly before folding it back into the bag. I like the rigid kayak better for cruising and for quick entry into the water. Still, there is time required to lash it to the rack on my car and move it about. Maybe the time for preparing and securing the boat for a cruise is about equal for the Folbot and my rigid kayak. Assembling the Folbot, however, generally has me in a sweat before even launching into the water.

Past narratives of my cruises on Lake Lakota can be accessed from the menu of area waterways along the right side of the blog.

Revisiting Oakwood Lakes

Oakwood Lakes – July 8, 2008

This morning began with calm winds and a clear sky with temperatures in the 70s: a perfect day for my annual trip 82 miles northwest to Oakwood State Park and a cruise on the West Oakwood collection of three connecting lakes. I set off from my eastside Sioux Falls home and headed north on I 29 to the Bruce intersection, just north of Brookings. As I drove on Brookings County Highway 6, following the signs to the park, I rocked along with the oldies radio station out of Pipestone, Minnesota. Traveling through the corn, I was reminded of the old adage: knee high by the 4th of July.


I decided to save gas and take my Folbot out for the first time since last September. With no kayak on top of the car, I figured that I would gain 10 mph and not have to worry about the boat blowing off when passed by an 18-wheeler.

As usual, there was very little action in the park on this weekday morning; there were a couple of boats that I saw during my time there, but they were distant and had no effect on my paddling nor did they intrude upon my tranquility: there was not even engine noise heard.

Unaccountably, I had a difficult time assembling my Folbot today. The most trying part of putting the boat together is connecting the bow and stern sections with an aluminum cylindrical sleeve; there are two such sleeves required, and I was surprised to find that I had lost one them on my last trip. Fortunately, I had a spare within my repair kit. But then, I couldn’t seem to get the sleeves over the two parts of the frame. I spent 20 minutes or so working on that problem and nearly gave up in frustration. I had begun to curse myself for not bringing my Dagger kayak instead. I would have been out on the water laughing in the waves if I had just not been so cheep about gas usage. Instead, I found myself sweating blood over the aluminum sleeves. Finally, though I got the frame fastened enough so that I thought it would hold together and cast off from the launching area.


I made the crossing from the state park dock and went west around Scout Island, then around Arlington Point into Johnson Lake. Arlington Point presents a shallow habitat where waterfowl gather. I saw several pelicans, an egret, a great blue heron, and ducks.


The north side of Johnson Lake is fringed with high cattails and tree cover just beyond the reeds. Elsewhere, the lake has nearly continuous tree growth along the shore.

There was a moderate wind out of the northwest creating wave action enough to splash over the bow when heading into it. After kayaking into the wind and waves along the southern shore of Johnson Lake, I was able to drift with the wind along the north and east shore listening to the breeze through the foliage, hearing a great variety of bird calls, and checking out the landscape of trees and shoreline. Sometimes, I was able to exchange glances with jumping fish.


On the return, I went up the main body of West Oakwood along the east side of Scout Island where I verified that this is no longer an island, but rather a long narrow peninsular dividing the northern parts of Johnson and West Oakwood Lakes.

As I observed last year, this is a really fine lake for paddling. The majority of shoreline in the three lakes seems to be undeveloped parkland. The lake is large (1200 acres), and there is a great variety of wildlife to see. This is really the primer lake for kayaking in the area. The only drawback for me is the 164-mile round trip distance from my home in Sioux Falls. People living in the Brookings area are lucky to have this set of lakes available so close to home. Incidentally, nearly adjoining West Oakwood Lakes is East Oakwood Lake, a large (1000 acres) body of water with charm of its own. East Oakwood, however, is wider with the potential for big waves. In fact, as I drove past it after my cruise, I observed white caps on the water. There is also a much less developed launching point. Still, on a calm day, I would like to try that waterway as well.

More on Oakwood Lakes can be found in an earlier entry accessible through the directory of area waterways on the right side of the blog.

Oakwood Lakes

Oakwood Lakes: West Oakwood



Oakwood Lakes has a well deserved reputation as a wonderful place to canoe or kayak in eastern South Dakota. This chain of eight connecting glacial lakes is broadly divided into East Oakwood and West Oakwood Lakes. East Oakwood has a public access area and is a broader single body of water. West Oakwood is the site of Oakwood Lakes State Park and offers the amenities that such a status provides. Today, I visited West Oakwood and set off from the boat ramp within the park. Oakwood Lakes State Park is 83 miles north and west of my eastside Sioux Falls home. The easiest way to get there is to go north on Interstate 29, past Brookings, to the Bruce exit. From there, you can continue on for a few miles and follow the signs to the park. Finding the park is easy; returning is another matter. Like so much of South Dakota, there are few landmarks and no signs that direct you back to the Interstate. In a fog, I guess, I drove back the wrong way and wound up in Estelline, about ten miles north. This is nothing unusual for me, I’m sorry to say. I really should have a compass in the car.



One of the towers of my Yakama kayak rack has become bent and requires replacement; the part had to be ordered. My boat on this trip was the trusty Folbot, a fabric covered collapsible 12 foot kayak. Instead of securing it to a roof rack, I just tossed the two bags in which the hull and framework are stored into the back seat of my Honda Civic. This is the first time I have used the Folbot this season. I am happy to say that the boat went together in about 15 minutes and worked quite well. The Honda Civic Hybrid, without the kayak on the roof, went back to its nearly 50 mpg rather than the 35 mpg that I tend to get otherwise.



West Oakwoods Lake has a surface area of about 1,200 acres, and the name is derived from the numerous oak trees within the area. In years past, this lake was called Lake Tetonkaha. The set of lakes that makes up West Oakwood is surrounded by significant tree growth. The main body of water is pretty long and wide, and today, even with a moderate south wind, the wave action was just short of whitecap conditions. Cruising south from the dock within the main part of the park, I was experiencing head winds and waves, especially in the crossing from the east to the west side. The weather was marvelous: moderate wind, cloudless skies, and a morning temperature of around 70 degrees. This was a Thursday, so I virtually had the lake to myself. I was out for about two hours and saw only one boat, and that was during the final few minutes.



I set out from the park and headed west across the main body toward Scout Island and then continued around a point of land with an extensive sand bar out into the lake. Continuing south along the western shore, I moved through a narrow slot into Turtle Lake. There is a sand bar that extends from both ends of the slot into this lake with very shallow water. Even with my kayak, I went aground a couple of times until I got into the narrow passageway through. I doubt that a motor boat could get into Turtle Lake now.



Turtle Lake was sheltered from the wind, with nearly calm conditions. The shoreline is heavily wooded, and I saw lots of waterfowl. I kept trying to get a photo of one of the several great blue herons that I saw, but these wily birds will suddenly leap out of a tall tree and fly off faster than I can get the camera out. The trees and other vegetation along the shoreline are interesting. A slow paddle around the circumference of the lake is a great time for observation and reflection. True to the name of this body, there are lots of turtles to be seen sitting on downed trees along the shoreline.



As I moved out of Turtle Lake and back into the main body of West Oakwood Lake, I was traveling with the wind through a following sea. I headed back north and into Johnson Lake, off to the west of the boat ramp and around the point of Scout Island. In the distance, I saw a big flock of pelicans; I like coming slowly up on a big flock of waterfowl to see how close I can get before they fly off. I had my camera ready to capture the closest photo that I could get. After securing my photos at the western end of Johnson Lake, I turned back for the dock and made the crossing of West Oakwood again to the dock.





I was out on the water for about two hours – generally my limit in a kayak without getting out for a stretch. There were, however, several spots along the shoreline where a boat could be landed, even my Folbot.



Oakwood Lakes is really a wonderful place to paddle. It is good to be back in a natural lake, one with good shoreline growth, little development, and big enough to provide a variety of paddling conditions. Over 80 miles, though, is approaching the outer ring of my day paddles. I was on the road about 8:00 a.m. and didn’t get home until 3:00 p.m. Some of that time was me driving off in the wrong direction from the state park, and some was time that I spent taking a nap at the rest stop south of Brookings. Also, I should have packed a lunch for this trip. Of course, Oakwood Lakes is one of the premier paddling opportunities in this part of South Dakota, and I highly recommend it. I will return there at least once a year. I would also like to try East Oakwood Lake on a future trip.

Folding Kayak - The Folbot

In my family, we have always driven small cars. Many years ago I had a Chevy Vega, and I carried a 17 foot aluminum canoe on top of the car. Living in South Dakota, I experienced lots of windy days as I drove along with this large canoe lashed atop the car. I was always concerned when meeting another vehicle along the way, fearing that the force of the slipstream would rip the canoe off the car. I could sometimes see the bow shift orientation, especially when passing big trucks. The possibility of the canoe blowing off the car was a constant source of tension whenever I went out on a paddling excursion.

Folding kayaks had always interested me because of the ease of transportation and storage. After all, there is a certain attraction in a boat that can be stored in a closet and carried in the trunk of a car. Folbot, one of the major builders of folding kayaks, used to be advertised in National Geographic, and that offered an image of being able to explore all sorts of waterways with ease. Through these advertisements the contrast with my enduring tension of a canoe blown off the car top was sharply etched. Paul Theroux is one of my favorite travel writers, and I found my interest in folding kayaks renewed after reading his adventure in The Happy Isles of Oceania, an account of traveling through the south Pacific in his folding kayak. Somewhere along the line, I also discovered the writing of Ralph Diaz, one of the best know proponents of folding kayaks. His book, The Complete Folding Kayaker, is a review of the history of folding kayaks as well as reviews of major brands, and an introduction to kayaking techniques.

About eight years ago I bought an Aleut model of Folbot. This is a 12 foot, exceptionally stable, entry class into folding kayaks. It has an aluminum framework that connects three ribs that then slides into the Hypalon fabric hull. My Aleut came in two bags that easily fit into the trunk of my Honda Civic Hybrid or on the back seat. The boat weighs about 40 pounds when assembled and is pretty easy to carry for short distances. It takes me about 15 minutes to assemble the boat and less than 10 minutes to take it apart.

The Folbot is very stable and easy to paddle. It tracks well without a rudder, although I do have a rudder which I no longer use. The boat is not fast, but I am primarily interested in slowly cruising along the shoreline looking at the vegetation and hoping to spot wildlife. This boat has served me well over the years. The only problem I have ever had with the boat is developing a leak in the air inflated sponsons inside the top of the fabric hull. Folbot, though, offers a lifetime warranty on these components, and replacements arrived within five days of my request. But, these sponsons lasted for at least seven years and were replaced easily – with the help of my wife.

Now that I have both rigid kayaks and the Folbot, I find that I use them both. When I want to take one of my sons or a friend out kayaking with me, I put one kayak on top of the car and then put the Folbot in the trunk. Early and late into the paddling season, I generally use the Folbot rather than put the rack back on the car. I have used the folding kayak in lakes and rivers, and there has never been a problem. I suppose that it would be easier to poke a hole in the folding kayak than in one of the rigid kayaks, but it has never happened to me. Folbots are more expensive than a rigid kayak, but then a person doesn’t have to be concerned with buying an expensive car top rack or in finding a place to store the boat. You can find more information on the Folbot by checking out the company website at http://www.folbot.com.

The following video clip was shot by one of my sons as I assembled the Folbot along Split Rock Creek near Garretson, SD, this past weekend.