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Canistosta Disappoints
Canistosta, SD, August 2025 Kate read that Canistosta has a farmer’s market on Tuesdays from 5pm to 7 pm. We left a little early with plans to stop by the dam and get to Canistosta at 5pm. We checked the dam for the Belted Kingfisher, but it was not there. The hurt pelican was floating…
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Pelicans, Egrets, and Herons, Oh My!
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 We did not have a lot planned today. We thought we would sit out at the 261st Street dirt road to we could find some new birds, look for the Belted Kingfisher, and mail postcards in Canistosta, SD. The first activity was to go to Canistosta Post…
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Otter Stream Trail
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 In the morning, John has been walking the, roughly, one mile hike from the RV around the Otter Stream trail trying to get pictures of new things. Kate has been staying home for these treks because they are about 1/3rd walking and 2/3rds picture taking. Today was…
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One More Loop Around Maple Campground
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 John decided to walk the loop around our (Maple) campground on the Otter Stream trail early in the morning. If you consider 10 am early, then he succeeded. Otherwise, he was a bit late. The hope was that it would be cooler, less people around, and more…
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Falls Park
Sioux Falls, SD, August 2025 Kate found out that there was a Farmer’s Market in Sioux Falls at Falls Park. We decided to kill several birds with one drive by going to the Farmer’s Market, touring Falls Park, and getting groceries all in the same trip. On the way out, we saw a Great (White)…
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Greenway Bike Trail
Sioux Falls, SD, August 2025 I started out the day watching the birds from the back window. We had quite the variety. Unfortunately, Mackie slept through it. Sioux Falls is about 30 miles from Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area and is the largest town in South Dakota. Throughout the town runs the Greenway Bike Trail.…
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It’s a Blue Bird, not a Bluebird!
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 We planned to rent paddle boards to putter around the lake today. John had been planning to hike the Otter Stream trail with the tripod to try to get better pictures of some of the subjects from the last hike. Since it was still early, he decided…
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Palisades State Park
Garretson, SD, August 2025 Today was supposed to be a reasonably nice day with sun and no rain. So, we decided to visit Palisades State Park in South Dakota which is about 45 minutes from our current campground. We set the car GPS and off we went. Needless to say, the car GPS took us…
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Waterfowl Game Production Area
Lake Vermillion Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 South Dakota has a lot of “Waterfowl Production Areas” that are managed by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department. The website indicates that the Production areas have hiking. Based on what we saw, you can hike in the areas but there are no designated trails. I…
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A Stroll Along Lake Vermillion
Lake Vermillion Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 The weather in South Dakota changes on a flip of a dime. Last night and this morning we were not supposed to have rain. Guess what? It rained. So, we had a wonderful breakfast while we waited for the weather to clear up. The weather started to clear…