Things to do in the Black Hills – High Water at Pactola Lake in 2015
How ’bout that picture above? We laughed so hard…
So what do you do when it’s been raining and raining and raining some more? Go check out your go-to lake that CLOSED the boat ramps due to water levels being super high!
Friends had posted pictures of the high water conditions and we had to find out if it was really that bad. And I was wondering how in the world they were going to keep boaters from getting their boats in the water (around here, we get kinda creative when it comes to launching boats). Well, we found out:
As we walked down to the water, I looked at Sarah and said, “I could SO get the boat in here.” (Did I mention WE were boaters??) But since we left the bobcat to move the concrete blocks at home….
It was crazy to see the dozen or so lucky boats on the water (the ones that had got their boat into the Marina before the rains hit). They were just floating around on the smooth mountain water. As we looked down on them from the dam, I could almost hear them all: “Nyahh, nyahh, na, nyahh, nyahh.”
Since we couldn’t get into the water, we explored around the lake. And found some trails that we didn’t know even existed! On the south side of the Visitor’s Center is the “Aspen Leaf Trail” – which takes you down to the water. There’s a little bench there for you to sit and gaze out at the water as well.
We also came across the Veteran’s Point Trail between the Visitor’s Center and the North boat ramp entrance. It led down to a fishing bridge (that was knee deep under water) and a short walking trail along that cove of the lake. Plus you could continue along the trail that went up and around the Hills near the Lake. We weren’t able to check out the trail, but the bridge was cool:
Cool new finds on a trip out to Pactola Lake. Yet another fun and interesting Black Hills adventure. I’ve never seen the lake so full!