Silver Lake (near Freeman): Late Fall 2012

Dave Finck at Rest Stop Put-In for Silver Lake

In the summer of 2006, I visited Silver Lake, just 7 miles north of Freeman, SD, with Jarett Bies, currently the president of the South Dakota Canoe/Kayak Association. I have had vague plans to revisit this body of water over the years and finally got around to it this morning.  Dave Finck, one of my kayaking pals, expressed interest in traveling to Silver Lake, and he offered to take his canoe and trailer rather than load up our kayaks.

Receding Shoreline along Silver Lake

We set out on a glorious fall day here on the northern plains; it was about 37 degrees as we left Sioux Falls for the 45 mile drive southwest to Silver Lake under sunny skies with only light wind. 

Rest Stop Put-In along Highway 81

The western shore of Silver Lake is alongside US Highway 81.  A rest stop with vault toilets, a picnic table, and a turning and parking gravel apron are provided at this site along on the eastern side.  It is easy to carry a canoe or kayak down from the parking area to the lakeshore. 

Waters of Silver Lake

The state provides a public access area on the eastern side of the lake.  As is common on South Dakota lakes, there is no signage to point the way, but it can be reached by turning east on 271^st Street, just north of the lake, and continuing one mile to 440^th Avenue and then turning south for about a mile.

Public Access Area on East Side of Silver Lake

This public access site, however, is a derelict set on a receding shoreline with a broken pier.  The area seems as thought it has been the location for beer parties, with broken glass and trash strewn about.  The shoreline has receded several feet, and it would be impossible to launch a boat at this point. 

Derelict Public Access Area on East Side of Silver Lake

Launching a canoe or kayak would require wading out several feet into deep grey mud.  For the time being, this access point is useless for boats.

Receding Shoreline of Silver Lake

On my previous visit in 2006, we also tried first to launch from this public access area, but the lake is open to the west and subject to heavy wave action when the wind is driving across the mile of open water.  On that visit, the waves were crashing in on the eastern shore, and we thought it prudent to go back to Highway 81 and enter at the rest stop.

Shallows of Silver Lake

The drought this summer has affected Silver Lake more than I have seen on other area waterways.  There is a band of several feet between the normal and existing shoreline. Setting off in our canoe from the rest area along Highway 81, we had to claw our way out into the lake through water less than a foot deep.  Even up to 50 or 60 feet offshore, the depth was frequently only 18 inches or so. 

Rocks Showing in Shallow Waters

Throughout our cruise, we rarely came across depths that exceeded four feet.  When the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks survey crews reviewed lake in 2008, the maximum depth was seven feet and the average depth was 3.5 feet.  So, while we did not have to get out of the canoe to drag it off a shallow spot, a common characteristic of the lake today was shallow depth.

Flocks of Birds Over Silver Lake

The lake is described by SDGFP as 393 surface acres, nearly four times the size of Lake Alvin.  It is oblong in shape with an east to west width of about one mile and a north/south length of also a mile, including a large bay located on the southeastern end of the lake. The shoreline generally includes a thin fringe of trees, usually only one or two trees deep.  The western shore is largely open, leaving the surface susceptible to prevailing westerly winds.  It would not take much of a breeze to create major wind wave action across the surface.

Island in Silver Lake

There is a low island located in the central area of the lake, and I found it impossible to resist landing on the island for a stroll around.  This island has no trees, only bushes set in sandy soil.

Pelicans off Island in Silver Lake

There were many pelicans loitering about the eastern shore of the island; the interior seems ideally set as a rookery for geese and other waterfowl during their nesting season.

On the Island in Silver Lake

We walked around the island looking at the plant life, shells, rocks, and traces of birds and fish.  The water seemed deeper around the island than in some central areas of the lake itself.

On the Island in Silver Lake

The flock of pelicans left the island shore as we approached and flew off to another spot on the northeastern shore.  

Pelicans on Silver Lake

There must have been nearly 20 pelicans in the group, and I was surprised to see them still here. Temperatures during the night have been falling to the high 20s or low 30s, and it seems time for these magnificent birds to wing their way further south to more agreeable climes.

The Bay on Southeastern Side of Silver Lake

Our tour of the lake continued past the public access area on the eastern side and into the large bay on the southwestern end.  We were able to enter the bay and paddle a hundred yards or so before being stopped by the shallow depths. 

Dave Finck Paddling on Silver Lake

We backed around through the muddy bottom and continued our clockwise cruise back to the “put-in” at the rest stop on Highway 81.

Contrails Above the "Fly-Over" State

The water was quite calm and the only navigational difficulty was the shallow water and occasional rocks that would normally have been deep under the surface.  We were concerned about the possibility of having to get out of the canoe to drag it through shallows; the deep mud suggested that we would sink up to our knees in the mud if we had to exit the canoe.  As it happened, though, we were able to continue without incident for a two-hour cruise around the shoreline. 

Waters of Silver Lake

It is always gratifying to be able to go out in a canoe or kayak this late in the season.  The water is cold, and soon the lakes will start to freeze.  There are only a limited number of cruise opportunities left in the year, and many of us want to squeeze whatever we can out of the remaining season.  By the time we got off the water around noon, the temperature had risen to about 50.  It was a great day to be out on the water!

For those interested in the full set of photographs from this Silver Lake Cruise, please access my Flickr Account at the following URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayheath/sets/72157631898694110/

To view my 2006 narrative of the first Silver Lake cruise, please look at the area waterways menu along the right side of the blog for the Silver Lake link.

Big Sioux River – Brandon-to-Brandon: Fall 2012

A little over two months ago, Dave Finck and I canoed down the Big Sioux River from the new put-in along Rice Street at the edge northeast end of Brandon to the take-out at the Big Sioux Recreation Area, a river-distance of about 2.5 miles. The river level was quite low in the first week of August, and we wondered what it would be like now after more than two months with only a very little rain over the intervening time.

We set off from the developing SDGFP launching site near the Brandon bridge over the Big Sioux River at Rice Street.  The river looked much as it did two months ago; as the drought has continued, the river has tended to become narrower.  Still, there is a channel that provides enough depth to easily float a canoe or kayak.  The problem, of course, is to find and keep to that channel going downstream.

The temperature was in the 30s as we set off under sunny skies with no noticeable wind, and it climbed to about 50 degrees as we finished the cruise.  The width of the water flow varied from 50 feet or so to perhaps 6 feet in narrow passages.  In those narrow slots, the depth would sometimes reach deeper than the length of a paddle and the velocity of the flow would markedly increase. 

At other times, the width would increase with a corresponding decrease in speed and water depth.  On the wider stretches, we would sometimes miss the channel and find ourselves scrapping along in water only a few inches deep.  On a couple of occasions, we jumped out of the canoe to drag it off a bar and into deeper water.

The banks of the river, the temporary beaches along the lower shore, and the tangle of dead trees that could be strainers during times of high flow were all highlighted during this time of exceptionally low water during the drought. These sights offered a marked contrast to the spring and summer landscape when the river is fuller and faster.

The fall is rapidly descending across the landscape.  It has been a couple of weeks since the first “killing” frost, and the leaves are dropping from the trees.  The landscape is assuming the bland winter look along the river. 

We saw a mink and lots of birds.  A few fish were jumping.  But, I didn’t see any bugs.  Perhaps the arriving frost and the first temperatures into the 20s has caused the insect population to burrow down for the next months.

The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks is further developing the two launch sites along this 2.6 mile section of the river.  I would think that this short cruise will become increasingly popular over time.  The river flows through park-owned land, and this provides the background for a scenic cruise and the likelihood of wildlife sightings.  It really is a pleasant one-hour cruise that I will probably take many times over the years. 

For a contrast in the appearance of the landscape from mid-summer to mid-fall, you can check my last Brandon-to-Brandon cruise.

Those interested in viewing the complete set of photos of the cruise can access them at my Flickr set.  

Long Lake - 2012

Yesterday, I paid a return visit to Long Lake, a site that I last cruised with my son Derek in 2006. Long Lake has a strong appeal to me; it is located just south of Lake Madison, across an isthmus separating the two bodies of water, just west of Hillside Resort.  Access to the north side of the lake is on the south side of the road running through the isthmus and is much improved since my cruise in 2006.  Long Lake appears on the South Dakota Atlas and Gazetteer just south of Lake Madison and about 45 miles northwest of my eastside South Dakota home. 

Dave Finck and I had just finished cruising Scott Lake and decided to head north to visit Long Lake.  We arrived just after noon with a stiff wind blowing out of the west.  Long Lake is wooded on the north and south sides, and there are several islands in the lake.  The lake covers 480 acres and is, as the name implies, long and narrow.  Much of the width is about a quarter of a mile, and the lake extends for about two miles on a northwest/southeast slant.  While the lake is narrow, it is still open to a west wind; we found that the wind was brisk but presented no problem for the 17-foot aluminum canoe with two guys paddling.

Unlike Scott Lake, Long Lake was completely deserted when we arrived, and we did not come across anyone on the cruise. 

We set out from a public access area that consists of a dirt road that winds down the hill to a primitive launching site.  From there, we headed across the lake into the shelter of an island and then paddled west into the wind along the southern shore. 

Continuing west, we cruised along the shoreline, finding a passage through a set of brambles marking a channel, and moved further west for another half hour of so.

About two-thirds of the way down the lake, we crossed over to the north side and rode a following sea with the wind east back to the launching point.

There was little wildlife observable today, even relatively few birds.  Part of the shoreline on both sides of the lake is used for pasture, so we saw quite a few cows out in the sun chomping grass.  I was disappointed in the lack of wildlife, but it was mid-day with a stiff breeze, and I guess that the timing just wasn’t right.

Long Lake is really a good place to paddle in this area.  The lake is relatively large with some variation in the landscape.  It is also not easily accessible, especially for motorboats.  Lake Madison is just across the isthmus, and that is where people have their lake cabins.  We saw no cabins on Long Lake, nor any real access to the lake.  So, there is a nice sense of isolation on Long Lake.  There is a Wildlife Production Area on the west end of the lake, so viewing a variety of wildlife is likely – despite our lack of success yesterday. Also, the wooded shoreline and islands provides some shelter from the wind. 

We returned along the northern shore to our launching point and left after a cruise of perhaps an hour and fifteen minutes.

I like Long Lake and recommend it to area paddlers. If you are considering visiting Long Lake, I suggest that you review my blog entry from 2006 to add some depth to this narrative.  It provides a contrast to the large round lakes that are more common in this area.  For those interested in viewing the complete set of photos for this cruise, please access my Flickr site at the following URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayheath/sets/72157631621983785/