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Another recreation area

My legs were still recovering from the scratches I sustained the previous week from our hike through the tall grass at Greenleaf State Recreation Area. Since we were already going to Sioux Falls to attend the Bare Bodkins’ Shakespeare in the Park production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Falls Park this past Saturday, we decided to check out a state recreation area near Sioux Falls.

Big Sioux State Recreation Area is near Brandon, South Dakota. It has a ton of activities listed on the state of South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks website like biking, camping, disc golf, fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, archery range, etc. It also has a campground, which includes three cabins. There’s a disc golf course and a historical cabin. It’s a beautiful area.

The nice things about the South Dakota parks’ maps is that they describe the trail you’re going to hike (well, what I’ve noticed of the couple or so parks/recreation areas we’ve been to). For example, the Valley of the Giants Trail in Big Sioux is rated “somewhat difficult, strenuous in some areas.” The length of the trail is two miles; the trail surface is dirt. The map description also tells the facilities along the trail, if it connects with other trails, emergency phone numbers, etc.

We started out on the Valley of the Giants Trail. It was fine to begin with. We had layered on the sunscreen and bug spray, so we felt protected. But because of the rains we’ve been having these past few weeks, we eventually stumbled upon one of our nemeses — mud. We plodded through the squishy stuff to turn around and head to the portion of the trail that was on higher ground. And at least we were away from the bands of mosquitoes.

We hooked up with the bike trail, which is paved. According to the description on the map, the bike trail is rated as a moderate, somewhat hilly, even trail surface. Walking the bike trail was kind of uneventful, but we could notice the erosion on the sides.

Then we came to the canoe launch area. We hopped on another trail, which was grassy, rather than paved. But we ran into wet ground again. So here we were, cutting through the tall grass (just like the previous weekend) to try and find dry ground. The grass wasn’t as tall as it was at Greenleaf, but it was still a pain in the butt. After hopefully getting around the water, we set off on the trail.

We didn’t get far until we came across water again. We had a couple of options, which included wading, or going through the tall grass again toward the concrete bike path. I wasn’t too keen on getting my shoes all wet and muddy as that was the only pair I had along, so we waded through the tall grass again instead. We probably should have turned around and went back on the paved bike trail in the first place, but hey, what’s a hike without some adventure, right?

If it just wasn’t so soggy or water-logged, the trails at Big Sioux are nice to hike. Maybe a return trip when things are drier is in order.

We’ve attended the Bare Bodkins Shakespeare shows for several years now. It’s fun to see seven actors playing multiple roles with a simple set and costumes, just like in Shakespeare’s time.

After closing the HuHot restaurant at 10 p.m., we headed home, taking a different route that led us through Brandon and Garretson, S.D. It looked like some people/communities decided to have their fireworks that night, so that was cool to see.

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