That river is high! Hopefully less so April 25

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Originally uploaded by Iron Bieso

Here's a snapshot of the take-out at the lowhead dam in Flandreau. This would be where paddlers putting in at the pow wow grounds would end their trip.

As the picture shows, the river is highly flooded and dangerous right now, esp. with the water temps being so low. But here's to hoping the next few weeks will make it more approachable.

One nice thing is the proximity of the put-in for the Flandreau to Egan run. It's literally 20 feet from the take-out shown above.



There's plenty of parking near the dam, and there is more parking on the other side of the river if need be. So we certainly have our location well-chosen.



Bridge to other side of river:



Here's a look at the powwow grounds put-in. For those who started there last year, you'll notice just how high the river is currently. All this snow certainly will not help. The trail that led down to the river is right there where that plastic bag is floating.



If you look at this one you can see the little "rapids" are completely under water currently, this is at the powwow grounds put-in as well.



This last photo shows the sheer power of the river at the dam. If the half-ton logs caught in the dam's vortex can't make it away from the face of the dam, just think how poorly a paddler or swimmer would do in the same reality. Stay away from lowhead dams!



And here's a little video of the water at the dam - it's a rager! But here's to hoping we'll still get our Earth Day fix on April 25.

Jarett