Pierre, South Dakota 1650kms to go

Another couple of weeks and another couple of lakes. It seems they are never ending in this neck of the woods and they just keep on coming. Lakes tend to be tough work with very unpredictable weather and a lack of places to buy supplies. South Dakota while famous for the faces of US Presidents on Mount Rushmore, doesn't have the most exciting scenery. Lots of rolling hills with not a great deal of vegetation. What it does have a lot of according to locals is rattlesnakes. They pride themselves on the quality and quantity of their rattlesnakes. Yet to see any though I do keep an 'eagle eye' out for them.

After a 290km paddle of Lake Ohae I then had the challenge of carry the kayak and gear 4kms over the dam and down to the river. As it was just on 100 degrees it made for hot work though luckily about half way along a bloke from the Army Corp of Engineering stopped and gave me a ride. Now I am currently in the South Dakota state capital of Pierre which I have just been told is the smallest of all the state capitals in the USA. It has a population of about 14,000 and is perched right on the river banks. Course this means like many places in the area they suffered from flooding this summer. They have a little island just across from the town which makes for a great camping spot as you can see the lights and sights from there.

(Picture of my land bound kayak and gear searching for the river.) Was speaking to a local yesterday who reckons I only have about one more month of paddling before the weather will turn nasty. With just over 1600kms to go I might fall short of the target - I would have started earlier but flooding in Montana killed that idea. Well that's about it. Time to tour the Capitol building, gather supplies and get back to paddling. Hopefully the wind will be at my back. Cheers