5JUNE2011 near Pierre, SD - I was up at 1st light (0330?) and on the water by 0430. A slight head breeze greeted me but it was nothing of difficulty. I was happy to get underway and expected that if not finished I would be in a position to easily walk out should conditions prove silly - like wind without end. Paddling past high bluffs soaking up the gathering dawn I could not avoid the feeling that - despite how tired I am of flat water - these sights will soon become less and less a part of the river's edge and by Yankton will basically disappear. The sun came up and the wind died and I paddled SW approaching the final big turn of this lake. Peoria Flats is a vast area covered with inundated trees ... so thick that it is not possible to paddle close to the shore for probably a mile. After rounding the point there is no shelter and a strong head wind would be very difficult - having to paddle far from shore one gets into an increased liklihood of being blown out and maybe across the lake. Indeed I faced a head breeze as I turned east, but the strength was still low to moderate. After some time I was able to angle closer to the shore and by the time I beached at the Peoria Flats boat ramp I had covered the most imposing part of this day's journey. Paddling on - and into a head wind that slowly increased in intensity - became an exercise in passing a bluff, watch the opposite bank, pass a bluff, watch the opposite bank and so forth until there were only a small number of bluffs left and the opposite bank was mostly the dam. As I rounded the penultimate protruding bluff I faced only one more mile and a channel crossing to be finished - and the wind was showing it's full intensity ... coming right to left, 45 degrees off headwind and generating whitecaps. The final mile was slow but steady and the channel crossing was surprisingly easy. I came ashore at a pumping station road about 150 yards south of the East Shore boat ramp. Big mistake as the road grade was much less at the boat ramp landing. Who knew? I alternately took gear from the canoe, pulled the canoe farther onshore and affixed wheels until all was on the road and pointed away from Lake Oahe. It was probably 800 to 900 feet up the hill, steadily increasing in grade until it begins mellowing in the last 100 feet. I pulled about 400 feet and took a break, chocked the wheels and took two packs to the top. Angel Bob Burrell was at the top with his ample pickup truck. How glorious it was to put the rest of the gear in his truck, wrap the painter around my waist, attach my hands to the tail gate of his truck and run/walk up the hill aided meaningfully by his vehicle. I was so tired at the top that I wonder if I could have pulled that canoe - even empty - to that point. Well, we will never know, but I definitely would paddle in at the boat ramp were I doing this again. After catching my breath and watering down I began the portage along highway 1804. It was 2.4 miles to the dam then another 1.6 miles to Jim Sutcamp's house where I stopped for the day. Bob carried me in to the Red Cross Flood Shelter in Pierre and convinced them that - despite my just arriving - my intent is to assist with the flood relief and therefore should be allowed to stay. They agreed and by 2000 I was showered, shaved, fed and had washed clothes hanging around my bunk. I had no idea that I was so tired, but I never saw "lights out". Today I paddled beginning at river mile 1088 and ended my portage at river mile 1069. The total mileage for the day was 19. As I bed down the canoe is still 5 miles north of Pierre. It should be moderately easy to get it into Pierre tomorrow.