10APRIL2012 near lower Brule, SD - I slept long and hard and did not arise until the sun was up. Such is the result of paddling 15 miles. While breaking camp I discovered several fish about 20 feet from my shelter ... so the slight dead-fish-smell was indeed dead fish. Good that it is well below freezing so the fish smell is way down. In the river, after only 100 yards I was around the point and heading north ... and into the breeze. No whitecaps and therefore no problem, but a different direction would surely be appreciated. Continued paddling, of course, brought about a change in canoe direction and a change in how the wind struck the canoe. At midday I passed a boat ramp, a swamp and the 1000 mile point. From here the distance to St Louis will be measured in 3 figures ... already it sounds more achievable. At the boat ramp I gathered a black walnut from under a a smallish tree. The distinctive sparse limbs, huge buds and nuts still hanging on was unmistakeable. While common in South Carolina, I have not seen any such trees in Montana ... it may be that this tree is as far north as one has ever grown. Also seen today were turkeys (twice), ducks, geese and some sort of hawk. A notable animal not seen is beaver. To pass mile after mile with no sign of beaver is new. Shortly after passing the 1000 mile point I opted to angle over to the left bank. Owing to the exceeding calm I did a three mile crossing on a diagonal, thus reducing the length of today's paddling. Paddling on I came ashore at the North Shore Boat Ramp. That being still two miles from the dam, I embarked again and pulled in at a swimming beach near the dam. From there it was a short walk into Ft Thompson and a fine casino meal. About two hours after landing, Crow Creek tribal attorney Dannis Adamson drove me back to the canoe ... and it was gone! Tent poles and socks were retrieved from the water but the rest of the gear and canoe were gone! One of the baseball playing boys in a group of 8 - including two adults - told us that he saw it drifting away a short while back. Sure enough, there it was, bobbing off toward the SW and the other shore.
So Dannis and I went to the local police department and requested that they do what they can to help retrieve the craft including contacting the Lower Brule tribe across the river. Frustratingly enough there was very little else one could do at that time. Dark was coming fast so getting ready to act early tomorrow was the plan. It being a bit too much for my placid brain to absorb, sleep basically did not come. I found myself catching some TV time after 2 AM even.
During the day I paddled from river mile 1011 to river mile 988, a distance of 23 miles. The canoe travelled one mile less - 22 miles.