A Sunset Cruise on Lake Alvin

A Sunset Cruise on Lake Alvin – June 2007

At least once or twice a year, I like to go out to Lake Alvin on a weekday evening for a sunset paddle. During the summer, the public access area at the northwestern part of the lake is generally a more agreeable spot from which to launch. There are often fishermen in that area, but the dock in the state park section is often crowded with people hanging out, and I find it is a little uncomfortable wading into the crowd lounging on the docks with my kayak.



Boaters on the lake begin to thin out, even in the summer, with the approaching sunset. There are usually a couple of fishing boats up in the eastern part of the lake, but I have found these boats pretty quite just sitting in coves making one last effort to catch their limit. Evening is when the birds begin settling down for the night, and I find it interesting to see them looking for a good place to roost overnight. The trees and other vegetation take on a sharper silhouette on the hills surrounding the lake, and the sunset begins to take shape on the horizon, especially when there are great cloud conditions. Even on a hot day, the temperature drops significantly in the evening. Generally, the lake is quite calm, and the ripples from the kayak spread out across the flat water.



One night last week, I was at home thinking about the great evening, and I just decided to take a sunset cruise on Lake Alvin. I live on the east side of Sioux Falls, near 26th and Sycamore, and I was able to load up and be at the lakeside within 15 minutes. For the first time, I saw lines of nets set out from the shore on both sides of the lake at the western end. I have no idea why the nets were out, but I assume that the SD GFP people must have been trying to deal with an excess population of some type of fish. These nets would pose a navigation hazard to motor boats during the day, I would think. I have never seen nets set out from the shore at Lake Alvin.



I made my usual cruise along the circumference of the lake, from the western to the eastern end. On my way back into the western part of the lake, the narrower part approaching the launching point, I began to see beaver crossing the lake in front of my kayak. I observed at least six beaver making the crossing from the south to the north shore on this return to the public access area. At a distance of up to 10 feet or so, the beaver seemed unaware of my presence; any closer, however, and they generally dived down and away. Sunset is the only time that I have seen beaver on this lake.



There are a number of homes build up on the hills overlooking the lake, and I was able to see the lights come on within these houses and a few cars moving along the road over the extreme western part of the lake. The launch area is not lighted, so it is probably best to arrive back with at least enough light to get the kayak back on the car. The last time I did this, I arrived back at the dock in total darkness and had some difficulty in loading up my boat. This time, I brought a flashlight, but it was not needed.



Evening provides a special contemplative time for the solo paddler, and I may well find another opportunity this summer to do a sunset cruise on Lake Alvin.

Lake Alvin - Up Nine Mile Creek

Lake Alvin – Cruising Up Nine Mile Creek – June 2007

Lake Alvin is certainly one of the most accessible waterways in the Sioux Falls area, and many of us visit the lake often. For me, the best times to cruise on the lake are weekdays, especially early in the morning or at twilight.



For a change of pace, I have found it interesting to put my kayak in at the southwestern end of the lake and take a cruise upstream on Nine Mile Creek. As you depart the launching point, it is important to keep to the left bank making your way down to the western end of the lake. The waters off to the right tend to be shallow with a muddy bottom: it is easy to get hung up on the mud banks of that side. The channel seems to run deepest about 15 feet off the left (eastern) bank.

As you approach the end of the lake, there will be a passageway through the aquatic vegetation about 20 feet wide. This is the mouth of the creek as it empties into Lake Alvin.



The creek twists and turns its way to the south. During the first part of the trip, the creek is fairly wide, and the water is deep enough so that there is little problem with running aground. Early into the cruise, you will pass under the bridge over 479th Ave. Cliff swallows have constructed their conical mud-built nests under the bridge, and clouds of them rise into the air with the approach of a boat.







Past the bridge, the creek varies in width as you move upstream. The course is always very winding, and the depth continues to be okay. There is a high bank on both sides, and lots of birds nest in the grasses. I saw dozens of big carp in the shallower areas of the creek; their large oval mouths were above the surface, and the fish emitted some sort of cough-sounding gasp as they fed.



Going upstream, I used my double bladed paddle, and on the way back downstream I used a single-bladed bent-shaft canoe paddle that I carried on the deck of my kayak. In a constricted waterway like Nine Mile Creek, I think that is it better to use a canoe paddle because you can keep closer to the shore line and also use it to fend off or to pole along in shallow water. It also allows closer approaches to any wildlife without scaring it off.



From the launching point at the public access area, it takes about five minutes to approach the mouth of the creek. From that point, it takes about 20 minutes to move upstream to the end of kayak or canoe navigation. The end of possible movement is where the creek becomes too shallow and rocks prevent further passage upstream. Until that point, however, I did not run aground and kept the rudder of my kayak deployed.





So, this is a change from just paddling the circumference of the lake, and it takes about an hour to do this cruise: a slower cruise upstream checking out the vegetation, taking photographs, lost in contemplation and a quicker return. I think that this is a wonderful variation for people. My trip took place from 12:25 to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, June 18, with the temperature in the 70s. The key, again, is to keep to the left bank in making the approach to the creek.

Big Sioux River: Brandon to Lake Alvin

The Big Sioux – From Big Sioux Recreation Area (Brandon) to Grandview Country Road (Near Lake Alvin) - June 2007

On Sunday, Jarett Bies and I set out on a trip along the Big Sioux River from the launching point within the Big Sioux Recreation Area located on the edge of Brandon to the state owned access point by the bridge along Grandview County Road on the west side of the river just north of the Lake Alvin State Park. The distance of this run is listed by the SDGFP as 12.8 miles, and it took us about 3 ½ hours. The current on the river was moving fairly fast and there was plenty of water depth. The skies were overcast with a vague threat of a thunderstorm that did not materialize, the winds were light, and the temperature was about 80 degrees during the afternoon paddle.



The launching point at the Big Sioux Recreation Area is decent, by river standards. We had shuttled my car down to the take-out point and left Jarett’s car there at the BSRA. The course of the river is winding, of course, and there is lots of vegetation along the high banks. There are many large trees along the shoreline and occasional tree trunks rafted together in islands of sorts along the course of the river. There are some cliffs of perhaps 100 feet along the banks as hills have eroded down to the river bank.



The only wildlife that we observed along the run were owls, hawks, some geese and ducks, and lots of smaller birds. There were some jumping fish, but no mammals were to be seen.

Scattered along the course of the river are sand or gravel bars and occasional beaches. It is easy to find a beach to stop at along the way for a stretch and a short walk, and we stopped once on this trip at such a spot. Most of the river bank, however, is pretty high, muddy, with a fast current running. I thought that there was very little litter to be seen along the river; it was a pretty clean ride.



Within this 12.8 mile run, there are a few homes built within sight of the river, and we passed one where a couple of guys were fishing. Otherwise, we did not run into any other people on the trip.

There does not seem to be much opportunity to exit the river along this stretch. The Highway 42 bridge near the new Wegner Arboretum has been the site of a lot of construction and development. Although the SDGFP map indicates this as an access point, it would not be an easy take-out at this time. There is a barbed wire fence and lots of newly deposited rock fill at this point. The map also indicates an access point at the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve (Iowa), but we did not recognize any access point in this stretch of the river; so if there is a launching area at this location, it is pretty well disguised.



There is one hazardous point that should be noted along the river. About a mile north of our take-out spot near Lake Alvin, there is a site where a bridge had stood in the past. The big stone stanchions that supported the bridge are still there, and there is a set of wooden supports that extend along the western shoreline. There is a large logjam that obstructs three of the passageways through the stanchions and the current rushes through the remaining and open slot through this ruined structure. This is a trouble spot along the route, and I recommend great caution at this point. I made it through the slot on my first try but was pushed into the stanchion by the current and had to fend off with my hands to work around it. The current is strong enough to capsize a boat if pressed into the stanchion at the wrong angle. Jarett had trouble working his 17 foot kayak into the turn through the slot and had to make repeated tries. I was downstream along the shoreline waiting for him, and I wondered if he had run into trouble. We shouted back and forth, and after several minutes he came shooting through. There does not seem to be a viable portage around this logjam, although I suppose that a person could drag a kayak around it through the weeds and brush if necessary. Last year I paddled upstream through this spot without too much difficulty. This year, under the present circumstances, I would not attempt it. You can check out my earlier posting for this section of the river in the Big Sioux River section of this blog.



This trip concluded at the bridge over Grandview Road. There is a pretty well developed parking area and launching point. The actual launching area, however, is very muddy. This mud is deep, soft, and black. Both Jarett and I had our boating shoes sucked off in the mud as we sank 8 or 10 inches into it. There doesn’t seem to a way to avoid the mud; so, if you intend to give this part of the river a try, be prepared to wade through mud at the “take-out” point along Grandview Road.



A SD Park sticker is required for the Big Sioux Recreation Area but not for the access point along Grandview Road.



As always, the time spent on the river seemed longer than we might have anticipated; river trips always seem that way. I would recommend allocating four hours for this 12.8 mile stretch of the river, although we did not break our backs racing downstream. The landform and vegetation are always interesting along the river. There were a couple of riffles that offer a change of pace during the trip, but there was no real concern about rapids or other hazardous conditions – except for the logjam described above.

This was a great Sunday afternoon paddle. It would have been so easy to find an excuse not to go out yesterday: storm clouds gathering, a book to finish, a nap to take, general inertia. But, the older I get, the more I appreciate the need to take advantage of opportunity as it presents itself. I am seldom sorry for taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity to get out; I often kick myself for finding an excuse for inactivity.



As Jarett Bies, a former Marine, said: “This was a good op (as in operation).”