End of the 2010 Paddling Season

If we are lucky with the weather, those of us here in the Sioux Falls area can hope for a paddling season that begins toward the end of March and continues on into mid-November. The season this year was as much as any of us could hope for in that regard. My first venture on the water was on Lake Alvin on March 30, and the last cruise was on Split Rock Creek on November 14. Between those dates, I wrote blog entries for 30 cruises that ranged from rivers, creeks, and lakes in the Sioux Falls area to my week-long trip in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. There were as well a few other cruises that I took that were not described in a blog entry. So, this has been an active year on area waters.

Here on the northern plains, we have pretty harsh winters and then the continuing possibility of flooding throughout the rest of the year. Fortunately, there is a variety of kayaking opportunities: rivers and creeks to paddle with groups, lakes to paddle at virtually any other time. When going down moving water, I normally go with groups to take advantage of the arranged shuttles and the chance to laugh it up with others who share a passion for moving down the waterways. On lakes, I normally go alone so that I can take my time savoring the vistas, taking in the landscape, and watching for birds and other wildlife. Here in the Sioux Falls area, there are plenty of opportunities for both types of kayaking cruises.

(Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls - December 7, 2010)

Now though, the kayak is in the garage, the rack is off the car, the lifejackets and paddles are up in the attic, and the rivers and lakes have frozen over. The long winter is upon us. My kayak will probably be serving as the car bumper in our garage until late March.

The South Dakota Canoe/Kayak Association will be presenting the annual winter conference toward the end of January at the Outdoor Campus here in Sioux Falls. By then, we will be only about 8 weeks away from first ventures on the water. For the past couple of years, there have also been safety exercises for “wet-exit” and “rolling” at the YWCA swimming pool organized by the SDCKA and offered two or three times during the deep winter. I’ll be reading Canoe/Kayaking and Sea Kayaking magazines more closely now as the weeks and months pass.

In the meantime, I may provide an occasional blog narrative, but it will be a little difficult to gather fresh material over the next three months. I’ll offer specifics on the up-coming SDCKA conference as they become available. I recommend also checking out the SDCKA blog from time to time to keep abreast of developments, and you can access that on the links to this blog.

Split Rock Creek: from McHardy Park to the Confluence with Beaver Creek

It was 34 degrees under cloudy skies with a brisk wind this morning as five of us gathered at McHardy Park in Brandon for a late season cruise down Split Rock Creek. I received an invitation to join the group yesterday and accepted the opportunity in spite of the weather conditions. This cruise was organized, as so many over this summer, by David and Mary Finck and Larry Brtaaten, all directors of the South Dakota Canoe and Kayak Association (SDCKA).

We first shuttled cars down to the bridge over Split Rock Creek at the confluence with Beaver Creek, a river distance of about six miles.

All of us were dressed in layers with heavy jackets, appropriate shoes or boots, water resistant gloves, and winter hats. I had a change of clothing and towels in the hatch-covered compartments of my kayak, and I am sure that others did as well.

A few snowflakes were drifting in the air as we set off from McHardy Park, but that faded quickly. The water level was high, so we were fairly confident that we would make it down the creek without having to get out of the kayaks. The flow was fast as well, and we were able to make it down the six miles in an hour and a-half. There are a few minor rapids along the way, but all of us slipped through without incident. While there were a couple of times where kayaks ran aground on shelving bottom, those that got hung up were able to quickly back off or shift direction and return to the deepest channel. Overall, the creek flow was smooth, the channel was three or four feet deep in most places, and there were no obstacles to our passage.

This section of Split Rock Creek flows along high banks that roughly parallel Highway 11 that runs from Sioux Falls to Brandon. The banks are sometimes 30 or more feet high along one side and five or six feet on the other. So, the creek is quite sheltered from the wind along most of its course. Very soon after our “take-out,” Split Rock Creek enters into the Big Sioux River.

Soon after beginning our cruise, we came across the first of three deer sightings of the cruise. The deer were up on the bank in the trees, and my cold fingers would not work fast enough to get the camera out for a photograph.

We also came across a bald eagle sitting high in a tree over the creek. The eagle seemingly just sat on a branch and watched us approach.

As we passed, he took off and alighted in another tree, again on a branch over the creek, and waited until we reached his new perch. He did this three times, and we all felt a special moment in company with this eagle. Following an eagle down the river from tree to tree is an uncommon pleasure.

The five kayaks keep pretty close company down the creek. I think that we all recognized the risk of paddling in very cold water with an air temperature just above freezing, and we wanted to stick close in the event that a kayak should capsize. In these circumstances, it is best to have assistance available. After all, becoming immersed in such water with a few miles yet to travel could be uncomfortable or dangerous.

Throughout the trip today, the light conditions changed rapidly. Sometimes it was heavily overcast, and then the sun would peak out through the clouds, some blue would appear, and the visible specter of light would be markedly changed. The, the darkness would come again and shadows would disappear.

The “take-out” at the bridge was in an area of fast current and a steep sandy bank. We clamored out of our kayaks and dragged them up on the bank. From there, we had to make a path through dense brush to the road.

We loaded up the kayaks, bid a tentative farewell to the paddling season, and wished each other well until we gather again in late January at the Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls for the winter canoe/kayak conference.

Split Rock Creek – Upstream from Garretson City Park

This was another gorgeous day, and I am so glad that I have left the kayak on the car. I decided to visit Split Rock Creek, beginning at the Garretson City Park and continuing upstream through the palisades to the rapids. This is a cruise that I have taken many times, and it is also the cruise of choice when taking visitors in the area out for a kayak ride.

I rolled into Garretson about 10:30 a.m., and the temperature was 53 degrees under sunny skies with only a light breeze. As nearly always, I was alone in the park and alone on the water.

The palisades are always spectacular with cliffs of quartzite rising a hundred feet or more out of the creek bed. Quartzite is a hard stone that was used in the construction of many early public buildings in Sioux Falls. The Old Courthouse Museum is a prime example in Sioux Falls, and the city park building along Split Rock Creek is another – a building constructed in 1936, probably as a WPA project.

The waterway was very quiet this morning. I did not see even a bird as I made my way up the couple of miles to the set of rapids that makes further upstream paddling a little rough, especially at this time of the year.

Instead, I concentrated on the landscape, the coniferous trees along the cliffs, the browning growth along the shore, and debris left high up in the trees and along the rock faces from the extremely high water earlier in the season.

As always, the play of shadow upon the water and the rock face of the palisades from the morning sun was a pleasure to watch. Moving along the cliff wall, a kayak moves from bright light to deep shadow and back into the light.

There are some caves on the cliff walls that extend deep into the rock, sometimes 15 feet or so. At some points, there are crevices that wind up from the creek level to the top of a cliff wall. Trees and bushes grow out of cracks or on small ledges of the cliff – brave plants that survive in the most trying circumstances.

On the way back downstream, I skirted the left bank and ran into some large, barely submerged rocks. My kayak became unbalanced as I hung up momentarily on one large rock that was hiding just a few inches underwater.

As usual, I went through the arched bridge near the “put-in” and entered that secluded world of Devil’s Gulch. I really like the flat calm, the overhanging cliff faces, the railroad bridge overhead, and the short ride up to a set of rapids. I saw a turtle in this section of the cruise, probably the last turtle that I will see until the return of spring.

There were no waterfowl visible on the water today, nor really much in the way of bird life at all. On the cruise back downstream, a large owl flew across the creek ahead of my kayak.

Split Rock Creek, through this section from the dam at the Garretson City Park, is always a nice cruise. This is the section cruised by the large pontoon boat, Jessie James, that takes groups on a ride through the palisades. I have passed that pontoon boat filled with cruise customers several times, and the skipper never fails to holler out, “I say, have you any Grey Poupon!”

As I drove through Garretson on my way home at 12:30 p.m., the temperature had risen to 66 degrees.

Who is to say how long this wonderful weather will hold out. Most of us here on the northern plains have our snow blowers gassed up and shovels ready. Winter is overdue now, and each day like today is just a marvelous gift – a gift to remember over the coming months.