Picture Post: Wicksville Dam

I know I'm a little late with this, but here are a few pictures from my trip to the Black Hills back in October.

These ones were taken at a place called Wicksville Dam. It's this little place off Interstate 90 in western South Dakota. My dad usually stops there to see if anything's biting there when he's in the area. I forget what the exit number is, specifically. I want to say 90, but that's just a guess, really.

When we get down to it, this is one of those places that's kind of like Lake Alvin, which I wrote about awhile ago. Part of the reason I like it, and I'm sure my dad does as well, is that this place doesn't get a lot of traffic most of the time. When we were there back in October, we stopped there on the way out and on the way back because my sister-in-law really enjoyed herself, and I gotta admit, so did I, even though it's kind of a challenging place for a guy in my shape to actually fish. It's possible to get close to the water in a few places, but the boat ramp is about the only really easy one, and I don't have any pictures of that I'm comfortable with using. Otherwise, here's a nice view of the lake, albeit from a ways away:

This is also a waterfowl hunting place out there, from what I can tell. I'm not entirely sure what all one can do there, since most of my outdoor adventuring experiences have taken place in the southeastern part of the state. But from what I can tell, this is more a day-use area, which is fine. The sign at the entrance gives a few details:

Part of the charm of the place, and the reason we all have such fun there, is because the place is just developed enough to be used for its intended purposes and no more. There are a few access issues as a result, of course, but I'm of the opnion that they're more a result of “me” issues than of anything to do with the place itself. I'd really rather not see the place improved to the point where it gets too much traffic, as that would take away a lot of the charm of the place. Plus, it would be a lot harder to get parting shots like this:

After all, I must be honest here, I'm not sure I want to live in a world where wild, free-range underwear has gone extinct in the US.

There are still a couple sets from this trip that I'm hoping to have up before too long. Until then, happy viewing and happy travels, my friends.