Get instruction in family camping

Posted by Seth Tupper on 3/10/2010 at 8:48 AM in Outdoor Activities, Central SD, Events

When you've got multiple kids, camping can seem very daunting. Beyond all the potential headaches resulting from packing, travel, sleeping issues and outdoor cooking, there's the worry that the kids won't have enough to do, and you'll be listening to them complain about being bored all weekend.

The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks wants to help. They're running a cool program that promises to help make camping with your family more fun and less of a disaster. I've got the insider tip for you:

Fish always seem to bite for everyone but you?

Kids have "nothing to do" when camping?

Sick of hot dogs over the campfire?

Learn how to improve your family's camping experience!

Check out our Becoming an Outdoor Family event, a weekend full of family fun, camping and outdoor activities. For just $50, we'll reserve you an electrical campsite for two nights and instruct you in several different outdoor skills of your choosing. It's a great opportunity for beginning camping families or those experienced families who want to expand their outdoor skills.

This year's event will be held at Oahe Downstream Recreation Area, located on the Missouri River near Fort Pierre, on June 4-6. As a valued park visitor, we wanted you to be the first to know about this opportunity, before we broadcast it to the world. But hurry, space is limited.

Register today!

USA Today mentions Black Hills Maze

Posted by Seth Tupper on 3/8/2010 at 8:40 AM in Black Hills, Western SD, Outdoor Activities

USA Today included Rapid City's Black Hills Maze in a recent list of "10 great places to go through the looking glass," which the newspaper compiled in honor of the new movie "Alice in Wonderland."

Here's what the Black Hills Maze entry said:

It requires stamina to navigate this 37,000-square-foot, two-level maze with its four towers and bridges and 16 sets of stairs. Once you find your way out of the labyrinth, hop onto Highway 16 for the 20-minute scenic drive to Mount Rushmore. Open seasonally. blackhillsmaze.com

Click here to see the rest of the list.

Flooding expected in eastern South Dakota

Posted by Seth Tupper on 3/6/2010 at 12:52 PM in Eastern SD, General News

Across northcentral and northeastern South Dakota, soil that was already 80 to 100 percent saturated before winter is about to receive a heavy dose of moisture from 20 to 30 inches of snowpack that is beginning to melt. The situation has led local and state officials to issue warnings about potential flooding.

The upper James River in South Dakota looks especially flood prone this year, with the worst impacts likely being from Redfield to the north.

It's part of our crazy weather here in South Dakota. Several years ago, we were in a drought. We're just emerging from a winter in which we went months without seeing 40 degrees and were blanketed by historic amounts of snow. Now we're about to see all that snow melt and swell our rivers.

What will the future bring? In South Dakota, which is sometimes referred to as the Land of Infinite Variety, nobody knows. After a wet spring with flooding, it wouldn't surprise me at all if we were dry and needing rain by August.

Some people might look at our vastly varying weather and ask, "Why in the world do you live there?" Well, for one, I guess some of us like the variety. Seventy degrees every day would be nice, but it would probably get boring after a while. We consider ourselves a hardy, hard-working lot, and I think a lot of South Dakotans take some pride (perhaps foolish pride) in testing ourselves against the best that Mother Nature can throw at us.