Some friends and me decided we are going to attempt some of Falls Park either this year or next year once we feel we have braces and rolls down. In the mean time to save time when we are ready, we decided to scout out the Falls Park in downtown Sioux Falls South Dakota. Our first step is to get a map or pictures of the area to see what parts we want to attempt. We figured using Google Maps would be a good top view to see where we can start and end. I have attached pitcures that we got to see what drops we want and where to start. In the next few blogs we will go over who we plan on contacting so the police and park employees know what is going on.
As you may have noticed this part of the Big Sioux River flows northbound. The starting point would be on the bottom left part of the picture. This is a overhead dam but should be a good place to start above it. Towards the middle we will want to take pictures of this first section of rapids and depths of pool on the end of rapids to know if we need to roll or not. We will take a long pole with measurements on the pole to find out the depth and use usgs site to know the height and flow rate of the river. As we take measurement we will keep it posted on here. Between the middle rapids and the top of the phot is a nother set of rapids that we will measure and see how sharp of a turn it is.
In this photo I added the last set of rapids from the previous picture. Between the bottom and center of the picture is a little set of rapids we will measure just in case it gets more intense with higher water levels. In the center is a pretty good set of rapids with some little drops going into a larger pool of water where we can get set up in the eddy's for the next set of rapids.
Going through the larger pool there will be some rocks to avoid and maybe there will be more rapids in this area with higher waters. We wont know more until we scout the place take some depth measurements and pictures. Now to the fun part. Down from the bridge in the center of the photo is the first really good drop it can be anywhere from 3 feet to 6 feet drop. This goes into another larger pool of water where we can exit if we wish or keep going.
On this one I just wanted to focus on the center rapids and the pool after it. Seems like some minor drops but still fun for the area. The pool will be the biggest item that we wants to scout because this will be the second to last option we have to get out before the large 15 foot drop.
Center of the picture shows the last rapid before the large drop. If water is swift and not able to get out on the last rapids. This is the last chance to get out and it might be difficult. The reason we dont want to go over the 15 foot waterfall the first time is so we can get used to the rest of the area and so we do more research on the bottom of the waterfall. On the American Whitewater site someone stated there are a lot of loose rocks at the bottom of the waterfall and can do a lot of damage so we will want to keep a close eye on this and the levels.
If we do decide to hit the waterfall we want to make sure we do the perfect poof at the bottom to avoid the rocks and be able to make a quick left turn into the next eddy and pool. Towards the center of the page will be a nice quick drop but it will shoot you right into a rock wall unless the water swoops you the other direction. This bottom section would be a nice shoot to hit up.
Here is a better picture of the shoot right before you go under the walking bridge. If/When we go through this part we will have to flow downstream past the small lowhead dam and closer to the upcoming bridge to get out.
Below are larger images to give you an idea how large the area is. This is a class V section at about .8 miles. Should take about 20 minutes to do the full Falls Park.
"Support the
Sioux Falls Whitewater Park"
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