9JUNE2011 near Canning, SD - I awoke with a stiff lower back and was therefore moving slow. My guess is that following three nights on a cot with last nights porch floor was different enough that my back knows it. Oh well, it is a situation, not a problem. I pushed off a bit after sunrise into a windless day and onto a debris filled lake. Remember that this lake is moving due to having 150,000 cfs squeeze by in a fairly narrow lake. The river direction for the first 5 miles is a gradual sweep to the right, ending with me headed SW then for the next 9 miles it sweeps left until I will be headed a bit north of east, then sweeps back right for six miles until I reach the Bowers mint farm, my destination for the day. I met Kurt Bowers at the Sunset Lodge near Bush's Landing and he extended an invitation to spend a night and enjoy a mint farm. The farm is under the daily operation of his brother Kent; I hope to get there early enough that my presence is not a problem.
In addition to debris I paddled past maybe 10,000 tree stumps today. At the beginning the trees protrude a significant distance and hold several eagle nests. This is the same near the 15-mile point and in the ten miles in between the stumps are closer to the surface, some just below the surface. The flow being so strong all stumps display a downstream water disturbance, making it so that one can see the submerged stumps. Good thing that as the submerged stumps can be a bit scary. An east wind began after a few miles and by the time I was looking toward the SE I was compelled to paddle close to the shore. Doing this was slower as I was in reduced current, but was more enjoyable than getting pushed out into stronger wind. The shore is a 40-foot cut bank with trees and provides a good wind break. Eventually, though, as I swung more toward the east, the wind was more in my face and on occasion quite strong. I came ashore at a pumping station near river mile 1031 and waited a few minutes for the whitecaps to diminish - which actually happened. I was able to paddle on a few more miles before wall to wall whitecaps forced me ashore again.
At this point I decided I had had enough, that it was time to end this year's trip. The prospect of paddling on into more headwinds and doing so in June/July was no longer appealing. My expectation for this trip is that it will be an April/May trip ... that is no longer happening. It is also a consideration that I have a life in Helena and it is also the 16th wedding anniversary for Felomina and me. I first thought it would be a good present for her to hear that I was ending the trip and coming home. In the past few miles I reconsidered and now I think the one who will receive the present is me ... and a good present it is. So I walked up to the Fallis ranch and called Bob Bartell who (again) said that he would come get me. Back at the canoe the whitecaps had diminished again, so paddling on to the Joe Creek boat ramp I arrived about two minutes before Bob - awesome timing. In short order we had the canoe tied into the back of his truck and were on our way back to Pierre. By 1600 the canoe was stored at the Steamboat canoe livery business and I was on my way west on highway 34. By dark I was pulling in at Belle Fourche and checking in at the Bunkhouse Motel. After watching Kidd, Beara, Nowitski and Chandler dominate the Miami Heat I was asleep - what an eventful and satisfying day.