Big Sioux kayaking booms after changes in flood control, COVID

By Patrick Lalley, for Pigeon605

There’s this section on the Big Sioux River, somewhere downstream from Tuthill Park, where you can’t believe you’re still in the city.

It’s a spot that very few Sioux Falls residents ever see.

Photos courtesy King Rentals

It’s not near a street. The moderate cliffs of Tuthill guard one side. The shrub-oak buffer of the greenway blocks the other.

It’s a tranquil stretch known primarily to canoeists and kayakers, where you’ll see urban wildlife, the blue sky and little else.

“It looks like you are in the middle of nowhere,” said Mitchell Joldersma, who has been paddling the Big Sioux for years.

Floating down the river reveals an entirely new view of the city, a near-circle from the northwest corner around to the falls downtown.

Outdoor activities surged during the summer of COVID. That was true of kayaking and canoeing on the Big Sioux as well. But it’s a trend that was building for years before that.

“There is a lot of interest in kayaking in Sioux Falls,” said Jayden King, owner of King Rentals. “There’s been a lot of interest for a while.”

Water is good business

King started renting kayaks in 2018, while a business management student at Southeast Technical College. Today, he can put 35 people on the water at one time, providing boats and transportation for customers who want a fun and easy experience.

It’s a business benefiting from the city’s decadeslong focus on the river corridor. It wasn’t hard to see the potential back in the 1970s when a handful of community leaders suggested the idea of a greenway.

Geography, it turns out, was a few thousand years ahead of city government.

The Big Sioux meanders with oxbows from Watertown to North Sioux City, creating ponds and sloughs as the riverbed shifts to and fro.

The biggest bend created the fertile undulation that attracted settlers to what is now downtown. Thefalls get all the attention, but on the way, the water wraps Sioux Falls in a ribbon of recreation potential.

Kayaking gets a boost

Nearly 50 years since the concept was forwarded, that potential for water sports is being fully realized.

It wasn’t that people didn’t canoe and kayak in the city. But it wasn’t easy to do, and the season was short because most of the water was diverted by a channel – from 60th Street North to just below the falls – for flood control.

Usually, by July, there just wasn’t enough water coming in from Skunk Creek to keep your boat afloat.

Then, about five years ago, paddlers got a big boost.

City engineers and the parks department revisited river management.

“We looked at it and said why are we not sending more of the water through the historic channel,” said Andy Berg, the city’s environmental/storm water manager.

So they did.

The result is a much longer, more predictable boating season.

Increased flow benefits

The extra water has several benefits, including better wildlife habitat, less silt and sand buildup and a stronger, more picturesque flow at Falls Park.

Drought will still drop the water to low levels. And when there’s a big rain forecast, engineers will throttle back a bit. But for the most part, it’s not a problem, Berg said.

“The goal is to send as much water as we’re comfortable with through the historic channel,” he said.

Tory Miedema, the city’s park development specialist, said the department estimates river traffic is three or four time what it was before the flow changes.

That has led the parks department to increase investment in ramps and parking at the several spots. Demand for outdoor recreation is increasing across the board, according to needs assessments conducted by the city.

“We want to provide what people want to see,” Miedema said.

It all depends on the water

That has given King Rentals a good base for business.

Not only did the pandemic turn people’s attention outdoors last year, but the river stayed high enough to float through the warm months.

King opened earlier this month with high hopes for another good year of growth. He has 14 seasonal employees and is considering more kayaks and another truck and trailer.

“It really just depends on how the water goes for us,” he said.

Sioux Empire Paddlers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to canoeing and kayaking education and safety with the goal of getting more people on the water.

Joldersma founded the group in 2014 and cruised along with 40 or 50 members. Then a couple of years ago, membership jumped to 200 and now nearly 300.

The pandemic contributed to what was an already expanding base, Joldersma said.

“In the past 10 years, there has been a gradual increase,” he said. “And then last year, it skyrocketed.”

Sioux Empire Paddlers partners with Sioux Falls Kayak Rental. The full-service approach makes kayaking a much simpler prospect, Joldersma said.

“The worst part of kayaking is shuttling and transporting those big-ass boats,” he said. “You can’t just throw one on the back of your car like a bike.”

Future opportunities

King is an entrepreneur. At 21, he has the kayak business and rental properties and is looking at land along the Big Sioux to build a campground with a focus on river recreation.

His marketing for kayak trips is a step up from the basics. The packages have names such as Verde Valley, Yakkers Metro and Eagles Retreat. The goal is to make the process as easy and attractive as possible.

It helps that the Big Sioux is a great experience for beginners and families. It doesn’t move too fast, and there are just a few spots with what could be considered rapids at Pasley Park, Rotary Park and at the Statue of David downtown.

“Anybody can show up and get on the water and not have to worry a whole lot,” he said. “We’ve done everything we can to make things easy for everybody.”

The Big Sioux hasn’t always been thought of as a source of recreation, King said. That’s why the routes have names, to essentially brand them for that particular stretch or the experience, rather than the river. In fact, you will find very little use of the words “Big Sioux” on the website at all.

And that’s why each route has an interactive map with photos and video to show landmarks and features that preview the trip. There are options for short floats in the city to longer treks out to Brandon and from Brandon to east of Sioux Falls.

King does a little more each year to get people to see the river in a different light.

“We want to change the perception of the Big Sioux,” he said.

There’s one more thing that makes kayaking in Sioux Falls a rather attractive experience. Thanks to a health threat that started 20 years ago – the West Nile virus – the city has a mosquito spraying program.

“We hardly get any bugs,” King said. “That’s a huge plus.”