Pelicans on Grass Lake

 We have had a great couple of days here in Sioux Falls for this time of the year, and a change seems to be coming beginning tomorrow.  The forecast for today called for “breezy” conditions, with winds from 15 to 25 mph and gusts to 30 mph.  Still, Dave Finck and I decided to take advantage of an otherwise really fine day. 

He picked me up with his van and kevlar Wenonah canoe strapped on top at 8:00 a.m., and we drove west on Highway 42 and north on 459^th Street to Grass Lake. I have normally visited Grass Lake a couple of times a year, but I think that it has been at least a year since my last cruise on it.  It seems to have been unchanged since my last visit.

Grass Lake has a rough launching pathway that is just a rocky trail.  We went down the trail and then over to the right side of the shoreline to launch in a smoother spot. 

A strong wind was apparent as we shoved off and headed west along the northern shoreline.  The wind was coming from the southeast, so we made a rapid passage down the lake in a following sea with waves of about a foot in height pushing us along.

As we cruised west, it occurred to us that the passage back to the launching spot might be a bit more challenging.  Still, we pushed on toward the western end of the lake – about 1.5 miles from the put-in.

The landscape is quickly losing its color and reverting to the brown cover that will last until next spring.  Many of the trees are changing color now, and the sight is beautiful even though it signals a return to the dreaded winter months.

Our cruise this morning was highlighted by a very large flock of while pelicans.  It seemed to us that there were upwards of 200 of these magnificent birds lounging around a rocky outcropping extending out from the northern shoreline about a mile west of the put-in.  This is the spot where I have quite often come across large groups of waterfowl, especially pelicans.

We cruised in as close as possible, and they seemed to tolerate this approach.  Eventually, they decided to move a couple hundred feet toward the southern shore.

We continued on another quarter mile or so and then cut across the lake to the southern side.  As we turned and faced into the wind and waves, we found ourselves straining to keep on course heading east.

We decided to keep inshore and paddle within a lee formed by the high banks on the south shoreline.  This eased our passage markedly, and we thought that moving on down the lake to the east end and then across to the north side would be the best option.

First, though, we passed by the old windmill on the southwestern shore that has been one of my most photographed sights on the lake.  After all this time, it still stands, although perhaps a little more worn each year.

As we moved along the southeastern shoreline, we spotted a sign that had been peppered with bullet holes.  I felt a great need to land the canoe, climb the steep bank and check out the sigh.  I hoped that it would read:  “no shooting.”  No luck!  It was a sign identifying the collaboration of agencies to manage some aspect of the lake.  The sign has apparently become a target of sorts for people with a great need to blast away.

The climb up the bank was hard enough, requiring me to grab brush and grasses to help get atop the slope. I thought that I had found a better way to get back down to the canoe, but I fell into an unseen hole in the brush and got scratched on my neck and hand. 

Worst, though, I cracked a bent-shaft paddle of Dave’s that I was using as a walking stick of sorts.  But, I got the photograph!

We spent about an hour and a half on this windy lake today.  It was a strain paddling into and across the wind and waves, but my fall climbing down from the high bank was our only incident, and, of course, the crack in Dave’s paddle.

It was a great morning on Grass Lake.  A complete set of the photos of this cruise can be found on my Flick page at the following URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayheath/sets/72157636405551855/

Other narratives of cruises on Grass Lake at various seasons over the years can be found in the menu on the right side of the blog in area waterways. 

Springtime on Grass Lake

With a good forecast for this morning, I loaded up my kayak last night for an early departure this morning to Grass Lake.  Leaving the house at 5:45 am and taking an hour for my early morning read, bagel, and coffee, I drove west on Highway 42 to the turn-off for Grass Lake and arrived by 7:30 at the public access point.  As has always been the case, I was alone on the lake this morning.

It has been a year since I last visited Grass Lake, and there has been little change.  Some work has been done on the rocky ramp so that fishing boats can be launched, but it is still pretty primitive in comparison to other state access points on area lakes.

The morning was sunny, still, and cool – just right for a lake cruise.  As I set off on my counterclockwise cruise around the shoreline of the lake, the surface was mirror calm.  The lake is about two miles long on a northwest/southeast axis and about ¾ of a mile across at its widest point. While the wind was calm when I began, it slowly rose out of the southwest and produced a light chop across the water.

The stillness of the morning allowed the sounds of birds and the light splash of the paddles to produce a tranquil and contemplative movement across the water. I found myself gazing into the shoreline growth and looking at the plant and bird life.  There were a few turtles out in the morning sun.

About three quarters of the way down the lake, there is a rocky shoal where pelicans and gulls usually gather.  I always look forward to checking the pelicans out and taking photos of these magnificent birds.  Today, however, the lake is higher than normal and the shoals are underwater. The only pelican in sight circled above me and departed without landing.  There were a few geese, but they kept their distance from my kayak today.

A surprising amount of algie for this time of the year has appeared.  It ranged from a solid cover of thin scum along the lee side to streaks and then fading to just a screen of green particles on the windward side of the lake.

The old windmill at the northwestern end of the lake is still in place, although perhaps a bit more skeletal each year.

The first house built overlooking the lake has appeared since my last visit a year ago. I have wondered how long it would be until a community of large homes along the lake was developed. I noticed a sign advertising available land near the lake shore, so I assume that such development is likely to occur when the current financial troubles finally pass.

Grass Lake seems to experience heavy algie cover most years, and this probably makes it less attractive than some other areas; I would not want to swim in this water, and I even worried about open cuts on my hands and leg.  Still, the view is great and kayaks can easily make it through algie cover.

My cruise around the lake took about an hour and forty-five minutes.  The flat calm that greeted me at 7:30 a.m. had transitioned into a light chop across the lake from the west by 9:30 a.m.

This was a pleasant way to start the week, and I thought about the many times that I have visited Grass Lake over the past six years.  There has been almost no change to the environment over that time.  While I did not see any “critters” on this cruise, there have been many others where I did see interesting animals.  Grass Lake is one of the best lakes in the area to spot wildlife.  For additional narratives of past cruises on Grass Lake, please check out the inventory of area waterways on the right side of the blog. For a complete set of the photographs of this cruise, you may visit my Flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayheath/sets/72157629833790118/detail/

Grass Lake - May 2011

Looking ahead at the forecast yesterday, I assumed that today would be the best day for a kayak cruise this week. With that mind set, I loaded up the kayak last night and headed out this morning for Grass Lake. As I left the house at 5:45 a.m. for my customary stop at the local bagel shop for coffee and a little novel reading, it was still dark. When I headed west along Highway 42 (12th Street), I saw that the sky was totally overcast, there was a moderate wind, and the temperature was in the mid 50s. I thought that I saw sprinkles on the windshield as I drove on; still, a decision to head out with the kayak lashed to the car top had been made, so on I drove.

Locating Grass Lake requires specific directions, and earlier narratives (see the menu to the right side of the blog) provide turn-by-turn directions. On most of the isolated prairie lakes in the region, signage for public access areas is not a strength of the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, and anyone heading out to this lake really should check out the specific directions.

The lake was deserted when I arrived at 7:20 a.m., as it is has always been on my weekday morning cruises over the years. The launching area is just a rock pathway, and even that has markedly deteriorated over the winter. While a kayak or canoe can be muscled down the pathway and into the water, I don’t see how anything larger could be launched, especially a boat on a trailer.

The wind was blowing briskly through the trees as I launched from the southeastern shore, but there was a lee side sheltered from the wind by the banks and tree cover for about 25 feet offshore. The wind was blowing out of the south, down the lake. My normal route for this cruise is counter clockwise, heading northwest down the lake, past the first of two islands.

As I moved away from the lee side of the lake, the waves built up until they were crashing over the bow. Still, I continued down my normal route looking for “critters” in the brush of the shoreline and watching the many birds fleeing my presence: great blue heron, pelicans, geese, ducks, and egrets.

As I continued down the northeastern shoreline heading west, everything was smooth. If I got out too far, the waves would send my kayak rocking up and down with spray drenching my pants, shirt, and glasses.

After arrival at the northwestern end of the lake, I continued my route over on the western side, heading back south, continuing the counter clockwise pattern. As the lake widened out on the return, it became apparent that kayaking on the western side would be a battle all the way back, and I would have to cross the lake again at its widest point.

Most of my paddling is alone on these out-of-the way lakes. At this time of the year, I sometimes feel a little anxious about wave action when I am pretty far out in the lake, far out enough that swimming to shore in cold water is not likely to be a positive experience. I felt a little that way this morning, so prudence seemed to dictate abandoning my routine and returning back up the lake along the lee shore. So, I crossed over and had a much more tranquil paddle back along the same route I used going down.

I visited some of the wetlands along the eastern shore. These are not as extensive as found on many of the area lakes, but it is still possible to move up through the reeds and check out the backwaters. Two or three times I head a chorus of frogs calling out. Somehow, these creatures are able to sense the approach of an intruder. Like turning off a switch, the chorus ceased upon the approach of my kayak – as silent as I tried to be.

This was a good early morning cruise, although I would prefer warmer temperatures, calm waters, and sunny skies. Still, this is the day that I had, and I am glad that I had an opportunity for a couple of hours on Grass Lake.

Water Sampling at Grass Lake 2010

Each year the South Dakota Canoe/Kayak Association performs a number of public service activities. For the last three years, taking water samples from area waterways has been one of those activities. Dakota Water Watch is the agency coordinating the water sampling for our area, and this morning representatives of that organization provided refresher training for SDCKA members as they set out to collect samples at Grass Lake, about 20 miles west of Sioux Falls.

The volunteers worked in pairs, two teams in kayaks and one in a canoe. Each team was given an overview of their assignment and provided the paperwork and equipment needed to sample conditions at three specific locations on the lake.

The teams were asked to assess the environmental conditions of the lake, the shore and the sky. Their assignments included temperature of the lake, depth and clarity of the water, and taking a water sample for later analysis.


We all proceeded to accomplish our assigned responsibility and then lingered a bit on our way back to the staging area. From departure until returning with the data and samples, we were out for perhaps an hour and a half.

It was a beautiful day on Grass Lake. We gathered at 9:00 a.m., and the temperature was about 85 degrees with moderate wind and sunny skies. The lake was perhaps two feet higher than normal at this time of year.

I did not see any waterfowl or other “critters” on this cruise, although our trip was more purposeful than my typical cruise on Grass Lake. I did come across a school of little black fish that reminded me of Black Mollies that I have had in my home aquarium at times.

A cruise of this sort offers an opportunity to be involved in a scientific investigation of sorts. We were working with specific protocols and gathering data to determine the condition of area lakes. This was the second sampling operation for the SDCKA on Grass Lake. The first one provided a baseline for evaluating changes over time, and this operation today provided interval data to compare conditions.

As we finished our assignments, we cruised back to the “put-in” and had a few laughs along the way. Readers interested in the water sampling activity can review earlier narratives posted under Grass Lake and Diamond Lake

Grass Lake - May 2010

I have been working in Italy and Turkey the past weeks and missed about three weeks of spring this year, as I did last year. Still, I feel fortunate to have been on the water four times during the mild early weeks of spring in late March and early April. Today, I continued my spring roundup of area waterways with a trip to Grass Lake. This is one of my favorite lakes in the area, especially for viewing wildlife. Grass Lake is about two miles north of Highway 42, about 20 miles west on 12th Street from my eastside Sioux Falls home. You can check the blog waterways index on the right side of the blog for past narratives about Grass Lake, including detailed driving directions.

The lake is situated along a northwest to southeast axis. The primitive launching site is on the northeastern end of the lake, just off 459th Street. Grass Lake has not received an upgrade to the public access area, and I often wonder how a boat could be launched from this steep gravel access point. For a kayak, though, the launch is just a matter of carrying the boat down the approach and shoving off.

I arrived at the lakeside at 7:30 a.m. with only light wind, mostly sunny skies, and a deserted lake. With no wind through the trees, the surface was quite calm and the sound of birds was constant. I set off in my kayak along the northern shore and headed west toward the larger of the two islands in the lake. The water was high, higher than I ever remember seeing it. A large group of pelicans was concentrated just off the shoreline of the island, and I moved closer trying to capture a good photograph with my barely adequate camera. As I found out a little later, the rocky point jutting off the northwestern shore about two-thirds of the way down the lake was largely underwater. The high water had covered that spot in the lake where the pelicans tend to hang out most of the year, and they seem to have found a new spot to gather, at least for now.

As I cruised down the northern shore, I came across a large raccoon at the water’s edge. Before I could fumble my camera out, however, he had moved off into the vegetation. I could see the weeds rustling, but the raccoon decided to avoid publicity today. There were lots of pelicans out on the water along with geese, ducks, and cormorants. In addition, there were a great many shore birds, including egrets and what seemed to me to be plovers, although I am not sure about that designation. There were, of course, many gulls as well. Perching birds were constant along the shoreline and in the branches of dead trees protruding from the inshore waters.

Because of the high water, I was able to move into a wetlands area to check out a couple of beaver lodges. I like moving through cattails and other wetland growth into areas where birds nest and beaver build their homes of mud, weeds, and sticks.


Along the southwestern shoreline, I came across two coyotes moving rapidly about ten feet in from the edge of the lake. They were running through the trees on a high bank, and I was just offshore. I would guess that they were about 25 feet from me, close enough to see details of their bodies. This was the first time that I have seen a coyote in the wild, and I felt pretty lucky to have shared that space for a few moments with these creatures. They did not seem to notice me; they just keep moving on – too fast for me to get a photo of them, of course. Later, I came across a woodchuck sitting in a tree hanging just over the shoreline. I stayed and watched him for a while, and I could see slight movements, including his eyes. He seemed unaffected by my presence in a kayak right under him.

The lake was beautiful today. The calm conditions and sunny sky created conditions for reflections of trees along the shore, and the spring foliage is at its height. I was glad to see that the old windmill along the southwestern shore has made it through another long winter.

This is a great time of the year to slowly paddle along the shoreline, alone on the water with a range of wildlife from turtles to birds to mammals. I was out for two hours, and the only sign of another person was a light airplane that passed over two or three times. I waved to the pilot, but I did not see any wing wagging in return.

It was even more delicious, of course, to be out on Grass Lake during what are normal working hours for most people.