14APRIL2012 near Ft. Thompson, SD - I awakened late again (hotel droop?) and was at the river at 0900. What a mess! The river had receded and I had easily 60 feet of mud before even a smidgeon of water could be encountered. Argggh! Well, of course I did it, but it was not the start I wanted. Barefoot was the attire so that I could save my shoes and socks. More than once I was knee deep. Argggh! It is amazing how wonderful a small amount of flotation feels after struggling as I did for 80 feet or so. Even so, after getting underway I encountered exactly zero wind. It was so calm that small insects from the shore swarmed around me. It was so calm that I watched a formation of maybe 200 pelicans, noting that they had to flap their wings. It was so calm that I picked a Caesars Pizza balloon off the water. It was a helium balloon that was just floating along, not being blown anywhere. As the water evaporated from it, it elevated and became my wind vane. That continued for several hours and about six miles when I rounded the long sweeping left turn. At noon I had finished that turn and began the straight stretch followed by a long sweep to the right. About two miles from the point that the right sweep would end - against a cliff - a whitecap generating headwind began. Slow at first, it eventually got close to the point that I wanted to pull over and stop. The extremely muddy shoreline was the main reason I continued. Also, though, I convinced myself that eventually I would reach the wind shadow of the cliff ... and yes, I did. So after two miles of very strenuous paddling I was alongside a 3-mile long cliff that ends at Chamberlain, SD. I've seen a lot of South Dakota river front by now, so I am qualified to assure you that those three miles are the most scenic, the most striking, the most appealling that I have seen. Also, the wind that had been such a problem became a tailwind along the cliff and was not strong at all. The gathering clouds blocked the sun, so the three miles into Champberlain were delightful. I talked with many boat fishermen, I savored the mature cedars along the top of the cliff (picture the flag of Lebanon), I admired the thick horizontal strata of the sandstone/shale cliff. An owl flew out, swirled and beat wings back into a cedar, an osprey ospreyed from a dead cedar snag, then dove for a fish. I pulled in at the American Creek Campground at about 1600 and was afforded a camping spot - right at the boat ramp and very low charge. Now that, folks, is paddler friendly. After emptying some of my gear, I hoofed into Chamberlain to get new tent poles, gloves and paddle. The paddle, though, was not obtained.
Today I travelled from river mile 980 to mile 968, a distance of 12 river miles. It is still 88 miles to the Fort Randall Dam. Spotty rain is forecast tonight and tomorrow a very bad weather day is expected. Tomorrow I will try one of Chamberlain's motels.