“I looked in Miami, I looked in Negril, The closest I came was a month old bill, I checked The Bahamas and they said she was gone, I can’t understand why she did me so wrong.”-Bob Seger
Lake Oahe? Check. Lake Sharpe? In the bag.
Tuesday August 5th
I was bound and determined to complete Lake Oahe. I was successful. After a night in the back of Twin Bay, 3 miles from the dam, I headed out early in the dreary morning. The weather conditions had deteriorated overnight although the wind had died down enough to allow safe passage. I battled a SE headwind, some light rain showers and paddled ahead safely to the boat ramp on river right at the west end of the dam. I felt a sense of accomplishment, I am certain almost anyone can paddle these big lakes but after completing the third big lake, given the amount of time and effort that was required, I felt relieved and slightly proud about having finished the “Big 3.”
The portage was very easy, I simply called the downstream campground and they sent Pat over to assist with getting The Helinda and all it’s goods to Lake Sharpe. I still have about 200 miles of smaller lakes to complete until I hit the free flowing Missouri River current sans dams. That will be a great day for sure!!!
I spent the afternoon at the downstream marina, had a juicy burger and updated my blog. I plan to head out at some point tomorrow, I will take a little R&R in the morning. Also, storms may be forthcoming. Am I back in Montana?
This way out of Twin Bay
gloomy morning
dam right Skippy
awaiting the portage
Wednesday August 6th
It rained. Hard. My tent stayed dry, I had it staked out well…which isn’t always the case. I headed back to the marina to upload a couple videos ( I will try to do one on my stuff and lessons learned) and met the owner Steve. We had a nice chat, we discussed the Missouri flood of 2011 which significantly impacted his marina restaurant. It was submerged which makes it difficult to facilitate business. He fired up a nice breakfast and discussed logistics of Lake Sharpe.
I headed out around noon to a dark and windy afternoon on the Lake. I fought the wind for about 5 hours before settling on one of the nicer campspots just on the other side of Farm Ranch Island, a recreational facility favorite of South Dakotans.
I also paddled through Pierre which has a similar feel to Bismarck just not as big nor as many homes, overall a nice stretch of Lake. If only the SE headwinds would relent.
Steve, good meeting you..oh and not sure I can sign your deliveries for you either..
Pierre
arriving at campsite
campsite
Thursday August 7th
A memorable day. A beautiful day. An unfortunate day. I woke up early intent on making miles, enough to allow me to arrive at Joe Creek, a nice state campground on Crow Creek reservation land. This stretch of the Lake is quite beautiful, on river right you have Lower Brule Reservation Land and on River Left you have Crow Creek. I understood that Joe Creek was one of the nicer, safer places for camping.
I spent a tough afternoon paddling into another SE headwind, at times worse than others, making about 30 miles before arriving at Joe Creek. The view from here is gorgeous, an overall treat. I spoke with two fisherman when I arrived (they were fishing at the dock) and they greeted me with a couple Mountain Dews, not typically my drink of choice but totally clutch at this time, particularly after a long day. This was my first experience staying on reservation lands (they were not Natives) and they explained this was a good place to stay. They left and I had the campground to myself.
I was somewhat unsettled simply because, for better or worse, reservation lands do not have the best reputation with paddlers. I am not sure that this is fair and certainly one or two bad apples should not spoil the cart. All Indians I have met have been wonderful to me, in fact I am fascinated by the history of the lands that I am currently navigating. Anyway, around 8:30 a family showed up, with about 6 kids. I introduced myself and had a great conversation with them about South Dakota and reservation lands. I felt comfortable with the situation and headed back to my tent to call it a night. They were going to stay and listen to music which was fine with me since I sleep like a rock. They left around 10:30pm at which time another car showed up, it was a man and his son, I heard them discuss fishing. After about 10 minutes, I was going to get up and go introduce myself to him and then I hear him peel out and book on down the road. I thought that was unusual, I went to check on my boat down at the dock….and it was gone.
I couldn’t believe it…I mean,really? I walked down on the dock and was “relieved” to realize my boat had been cut loose and was banging up against the rocks about 20 feet from the dock. I did a rock scramble, grabbed the boat, two dry bags that were tossed into the water and brought it back to the boat dock. I quickly surveyed my items and I was missing a $15 chair, my cooler, a backpack with essentially nothing in it (Lewis and Clark Journals and a canoe book), and my first aid bag (aspirin, snake bite kit, emergency blanket, etc.). I decided this probably is not the best spot for the remainder of the evening so I packed up my tent and goods and made my “Night Moves”…only there was no black-haired beauty or cornfields involved. I simply paddled until I found a discrete location and finally called it a night.
I have mixed emotions about the incident. I would never again camp at any spot where Indians congregate, I also have had great experiences with them over the years. So there’s that.
Oh, and they also took a pair of shoes, I am down to one pair now…like I said, if I make it to Dallas I may only have my boat and paddle.
Heading out in the morning, and I ran, I ran so far away, I couldn’t get away
still got it
Entering Joe Creek
Joe Creek
Friday August 8th
Not the best night of sleep. I woke up early and, at this point, I really want off Lake Sharpe and hope to get to Chamberlain SD ASAP. I paddled all day and into the evening…I “stealth” camped rather than trying my luck at another campground. I am not sure that you are suppose to do this but given last nights events I figured it was the only move.
I was still perturbed about last night, I mean, take my stuff. OK. But cut my boat loose…that was wrong. Anyway, I’m starting to get over it, actually, I feel fortunate that I didn’t really lose anything of significance.
I went through a stretch of Lake that goes about 2 miles but makes a big bend so you have to paddle 20 miles to make 2. Luckily, it is a scenic stretch although it is somewhat maddening and there was no way I was going to do the portage…give me the 6 hours of paddling. I did make good miles today and should be off Lake Sharpe tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get portage assistance to Lake Francis, I called Big Bend Dam and they informed me they do not assist with portages.
Where’s my stuff?
Time to move on
Fold or Bluff?
Light in the sky
Saturday August 9th
Great day. I woke up early and made it to Big Bend Dam in about 4 hours (SE winds continue to persist) and could not dialed up a better portage. I pulled up to the dam boat ramp and Craig, a boater from Sioux Falls, was just launching his boat. I asked “How long will you be on the lake today?” He inquired about my intentions and I shared my journey intentions with him. Craig said “Sure, I can do that.” It turns out he has canoed the Northern Boundries so he was quite paddler (i.e. Keith) friendly. He pulled his trailer into the ramp, I paddled onto it and within 10 minutes I was on Lake Francis. This was a well timed, fortunate, turn of events. In fact, it was almost too quick since I didn’t have time to rest-but I won’t complain. Craig, if you are reading..A big Thanks!!!
I headed out on Lake Francis (very similar to Lake Sharpe, beautiful, plains with some trees, beautiful bluffs, simply nice land) intent on making it to Chamberlain SD. I arrived around 6:00 and had a nice rest…I opted not to spend the $25 for a slice of earth at the American Creek campground and paddled a couple miles down river to a nice location on river left. I will have to paddle back tomorrow to resupply but I am OK with that. I hope to “circle the canoe” tomorrow, R&R, resupply and decompress after 3 long days on Lake Sharpe/Lake Francis.
Morning in America
Hello Sun, it’s been a while
Another Dam
view during break time
Sorry to hear about the thefts. It was something that was always on my mind when I camped at isolated ramps and especially down stream. This sort of thing can happen anywhere though. One just has to hope for the best.
When I pulled into Joe Creek I was running low on water because the wind was really slowing my progress. Some friendly fishermen gave me almost a gallon of water but I too was soon alone and found the area to be very eerie. Luckily there was a pounding rain for about 12 hours that night to keep any would-be thieves at bay.
Make sure to stop into Dock 44 for a meal by the highway 44 bridge on Francis Case. Friendly owner and say hi to Scott Abbas for me if you see him on his yellow sailboat.
Keith-You are welcome for the portage! Hope you have light winds and sunny sky’s from here on.
Craig Stadtfeld
It wouldn’t be an adventure without some sort of thievery. Glad nothing of note was stolen. In those situations, you can always ask yourself “what would Gronk do”?
Well Keith now you know how the cowboys felt when the indians robbed them, and to think little kids still like to play cowboys and indians. Sorry to hear you were ripped off, lessens learned (sleep close to your canoe and belongings when on reservation land).
Yes, it is unfortunate that with all the positives you have had in south Dakota, a negative like this would pop up. And it is never appropriate to justify a misdeed by siting previous misdeeds, period.
If there is anything I can help you replace Keith, I have contacts all the way down the river, at least until Omaha. Just let me know.
Karma will get those thieves back. Someday you’ll look back and realized it just adds to the adventure. Keep your head up and paddle forth!
You’re doing great Keith! Almost to Yankton! You’re gonna love it back on the river. The current is strong and I’m sure you’ll zip down to Louisiana in no time!
As Scott states, I too found Joe Creek carried an eerie feeling. I ended the flood year (2011) there and began there in 2012 … and paddled away for sleep elsewhere. At the dam (Crow Creek side) my canoe was pushed out and I retrieved it the next morning. PFD, paddle and some non-floatables were gone. Weather kept me at Ft. Thompson for several nights during which many the tribal members assisted a lot with rides and assurances that they would “Counsel” the young canoe pushers – they had heard about the incident and were embarrassed. From your experience it sounds as if some older tribal members need counseling also.
Maybe it was the family with the kids that did the stealing and boat cutting lose? Perhaps the father and son that ran away so fast did so because they saw a giant guardian angle watching out for Keith’s stuff and it scared the holy peyote out of them.
In reply to Donald Zinter, perhaps the “Indians” were upset about having their land stolen from them? But it does no good to either side to take an eye for an eye – the end result of that is everybody is blind.
I agree with Scott. I hope you stopped at Dock 44 Marina. Nice people there.
Nice pics as always, and sorry that happened. though jerks are jerks regardless of race, right? Little tip while you continue to paddle through reservation land–“Indians” is a bit un-PC. (Having sat through endless SD teacher committees with reservation instructors!) I know they vacillitate betwen various terms,but you are safer with “Native Americans” at this point. 🙂