My "Red and Green Show" moment 04/06/2014

The day started off normal enough.  My buddy Jacob was finally going to get a chance to get to try the kayak he bought last fall and I was excited to introduce him to one of my favorite activities.  To cut down on the commute we were going to do the Grandview Road to Klondike Dam route (7.8 miles).  

It didn't take long however for Jacob to realize that trips down the Big Sioux are not without incident. The recent patch job on my kayak lasted all of 15 seconds.  With water coming in quick I pulled off at the nearest sandbar.  What a great first trip for Jacob I thought.  We had barely made it 50 yards down the river and my spotty patch job was going to cause us to turn back and go home.  But we were both not ready to throw in the towel quite yet.  

After examining the leak we were both doubtful that we had something that could keep water out of my kayak for the next 7.8 miles.  But after after discussing we managed to come up with 3 items that could save Jacobs maiden voyage down the Big Sioux; duct tape, a used sandwhich bag, and a pack of gum.

Jacob went to work on chewing the pack of gum right away and passed me the wad which I molded to the crack in the kayak. Over top of that went my sandwhich bag which was then secured by wrapping duck tape around the kayak. 

To both of our surprise that did the trick!  The kayak might as well have been brand new.  It was something straight out of the Red and Green show.

After the rocky start the trip went great.  A major highlight of the was seeing a herd of deer (probably 10-11) all come running down a hill together jump a fence and sprint back up a gully.  I had never seen that many deer traveling together before.

Unfortunately the bubble gum patch job was not the only major incident of the trip.  We reached the end of the route and proceed to get out of the river on the South Dakota side right before the Klondike Dam.  

As I watched Jacob attempt to dock and his kayak rocking back and forth it was not a surprise when he dumped into the cold water right by the exit.  I chuckled to myself and went over to help him out.  The banks of the river were full of spectators out fishing and after Jacobs spill I wanted to get the two of us on shore and docked as soon as possible.  

As Jacob slogged through the mud to shore I incorrectly determined that I could get out and drag out kayaks onto shore.  My idea was quickly proven a mistake when I found myself chest deep in freezing cold water.  

I had always wondered what 38 degree water would feel like and now that I knew I wanted out right away.  The cold took my breath away and my left calf cramped immediately.  I grabbed my kayak then Jacobs and struggled towards the shore fully aware of how commical the whole situation must have been to the fishers on the shore.  

The cherry on top of the whole situation was who I saw as I finished dragging the kayaks onto shore.  A friend from college had been out enjoying the day on his motorcycle and just happened to be stopping by the dam and whitnessed the whole ordeal.  So much for putting this embarrassing incident in the vault!  Nonetheless it was a great day and memorable day on the Sioux! 

Solo Yak - 03/30/2014

First truly nice day of spring appeared in the forecast and found me unprepared.  With my kayak still not water worthy on the 29th I scambled after work to try and finish the patch work that I had started.  To my dismay the drying time recommended was 24 hours.  Plans canceled.  There will be other nice Sundays.

Fast forward to Sunday early morning sitting on the roof of the apartment reading a book, sipping some coffee, and nursing a small hangover from the night before.  Sun shining on me I thought to myself "what the hell are you doing; don't waste a great day like this - load up your kayak and get on the river!".  So that is exactly what I did.

Too late to organize anything with my fellow woodsmen my wonderful wife agreed to pick me up at the end of my route.  A quick text picture of where she could find me after my call and I was off. 

I picked a section of the river that I had never been on before - Gitchie Manitou State Preserve to the Grandview County Road - 4.2 river miles. 

The canoe landing area at the state preserve was awesome.  After parking in a small lot right off the highway you needed to hike about 150 yards to the river.  Have to say that it felt pretty cool to lug my kayak down to the edge to the river.  Luck was on myside becuase the kayak did indeed float - my patch work was a success. 

The river was full of activity.  I could see the tail end of 4 kayakers rounding the bend of the river as a put in and every 20-30 min I would come across people out walking enjoying the first great day of early spring.

The "chesty" mount for the GoPro worked great for kayaking.  I was able to take some pretty cool videos and even started playing around with mounting the camera on different spots of the kayak.  I plan on making some videos once I have some more free time this spring.

Two highlights of the trip were the highwalled bluffs that I passed by and the remaining pillars of a bridge long out of commission. 

 

I reached the end of the route in about 1:45.  Overall a great Sunday afternoon paddle and Kelsey managed to find me with no problems! 

 

The Big Slush River - 3/23/2014

Spring fever must have hit because a high of 33 degrees is not an ideal temperature for the first canoe trip of the year but that did not deter Tyler and I from our first trip of 2014.

We set out late morning after meeting up at Tyler's apartment.  The plan was our classic route; Klondike Dam to the Highway 18 Bridge a total distance of 8 river miles. 

It was a beautiful morning and it felt great to be back outdoors again but it was COLD.  Chunks of slush littered the river that had formed from the freeze the previous night. It felt like we were paddling through a slushy.  With only one pair of gloves Tyler and I took turns with either a right or left handed glove to keep some feeling in our hands. 

This was the earliest that I had ever been out on the Big Sioux River and it was really cool see the river in such an early stage of spring.  Tell tale signs of springs approach littered the river but the amount of birds that we saw was a dead give away.  Unknown to us until after the trip but we were traveling the river in the height of the bald eagles migration period.  We were lucky enough to see 3 (THREE) bald eagles during our trip. 

For our trip we had with us a New Belgium variety pack, supplies for fresh coffee, and two cigars from Europe that Tyler had been saving.  When we stopped at our first sand bar to give the cigars a shot we decided that a fire was needed.  It did not take long to get one going and it felt awesome to warm up and thaw out our hands while enjoying the cigars.

Highlight of the trip was our next stop where we built another fire and brewed up some fresh coffee.  I don't know if the coffee was really that good or just the environment but it tasted amazing. 

 

We wrapped up the tail end of the trip without incident.  It was great to get a chance to use the GoPro for the first time.  An awesome trip and can't wait to get out again...when its at least 50.