Tag: swimming

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Splashing in the Devil’s Bathtub

By Lee Schoenbeck

Located between Savoy and Spearfish in the scenic byway of Spearfish Canyon is an unmarked, semi-secret place to enjoy a hike and a refreshing dip in a mountain stream. Ever since climbing behind the falls at Roughlock became verboten, the Devil’s Bathtub has been the best playground in Spearfish Canyon.

WHERE DOES THE DEVIL BATHE?

There are no signs disclosing the secret location of the Devil’s Bathtub. Most people that know about it found out from a local. My law school roommate, a Black Hills State grad, told me about it. I quizzed people on the trail this past week, and all were locals, or were told by locals. It’s kind of supposed to be a secret — at least before the Internet, Google and YouTube. Now, it’s a traffic jam to fun.

To get there, pull off the Spearfish Canyon highway at Cleopatra Place. There isn’t a parking lot, but these days there are a lot of cars along the narrow lane — park there. Hike across the bridge over Spearfish Creek and follow the trail to your right. The tributary to hike comes into Spearfish Creek at that point — DO NOT cross it and follow Spearfish Creek. Assuming you don’t make that mistake, you can’t miss the Bathtub. You definitely can’t miss the fun. The”trail” has a range of options — my crew prefers jumping on rocks and traversing fallen logs, but there is always the option of just walking on the dirt path adjoining the creek.

FALSE FINISH

After about thirty minutes of playing and hiking along the creek you’ll come to an area where the creek has cut a smooth swirl in to the rock. It looks like Mother Nature’s water slide. It’s a fun spot to stop and play on the rocks and in the creek. For the first three or four years, we took our family and friends. With me acting like some kind of an informed Sacagawea, this was where the hike ended. We all had fun sliding on the rocks and enjoying our lunches. One year, to our surprise, hikers came down upon us from farther up the canyon! They informed us that, while the spot we had hiked to was indeed fun, it was about 10 minutes short of the actual bathtub! At that point old”Sacagawea” felt a little stupid, but it did mean we now had new places to explore.

THE REAL BATHTUB

A little further up the canyon along the creek, the real Devil’s Bathtub is swirled out of the rock formations, and it definitely entertains. You can swim in the pool, slide down the chutes, or just lower your bottom into the coldest refreshing, rushing water you can imagine. The walls of the canyon at that point are steep — I mean mountain goat-quality steep — and tree covered. The setting is beautiful.

There are little brown trout in the stream and it’s entertaining to watch them jumping the rocks up the stream, like a fish ladder, until they reached a point just too steep to”climb.”

THE CROWD

When we pulled up, the parking area was filled. When we left, a van driver had his wife get out and navigate a squeeze play into Cleopatra. I quizzed people while we hiked, because we probably saw at least fifty people along the trail and at the bathtub. Almost everybody had a local connection — they knew somebody that knew the secret. A nephew and his wife met up with us there — both Mines grads who had heard of, but not seen, the Devil’s Bathtub. Having them and their sons with us meant the secret was passed on to another generation.

KEEPING SECRETS

Former Governor Bill Janklow used to say”a secret is something that you promise to only tell one person at a time.” So if you’re reading this, you need to promise to keep the secret. But if you know of any other secret or unmarked hiking trails in the Hills, fee free to email me the location. Other than to a few close friends of the outdoors, I’ll keep the secret.


Lee Schoenbeck grew up in Webster, practices law in Watertown, and is a freelance writer for the South Dakota Magazine website.

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An Extreme Missouri River Challenge

By Laura Johnson

An afternoon spent tubing, kayaking or water skiing on the Missouri River is adventure enough for most people, but England’s Dave Cornthwaite isn’t most people. He has skateboarded across Australia and sailed from Mexico to Honolulu, and now his adventuring is bringing him to South Dakota.

Cornthwaite’s next expedition will take him from Chamberlain to St. Louis, Mo. via the Mighty Mo, swimming all the way. That’s a thousand miles of paddling — 20 miles a day over 50 days. This stunt is one of 25 trips Cornthwaite plans to take using different forms of non-motorized transport.

All this swimming isn’t done just for kicks, though. Dave’s missions raise money for the AV Foundation, which provides drinking water and other support to East African communities and schools, and CoppaFeel, a British breast cancer awareness organization. He also hopes to educate along the way about environmental issues, the importance of getting involved, and the life-enriching joys of adventure.

Cedar Shore Resort in Oacoma will be hosting a welcoming event for Cornthwaite and his support team on August 9. You can also follow his exploits on Facebook, Twitter, or simply stand on the Missouri River shoreline and shout your encouragement as the red-headed Englishman swims by next month.

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The Perfect Babysitter

By Lee Schoenbeck

Photo courtesy of Webster Reporter and Farmer.

Our parents never hired a babysitter — never. But Mom would regularly announce that the $25 she spent each year for the family season pass at Webster’s public pool was the best money she ever spent on a babysitter. No wonder.

Like all the other neighborhood kids in Webster, we lived at the pool from Memorial Day until Labor Day. Depending on ages and the class, mornings were for swimming lessons, and then home for lunch. The pool opened at 1 p.m. and it was good etiquette to be in line at least 15 minutes early. Not sure what happened to those who couldn’t get there until after 1 p.m., but nobody in the neighborhood wanted to take the chance and find out.

The pool closed at 5 p.m., but that’s when then first round of swim team practices started, and they took you right to the evening general swim at 7 p.m. Sometimes after the pool closed at 9 p.m. we could still swim laps or have swim team practice.

Life for a city kid in Webster meant days at the pool. It also meant love.

For twenty years the first crush every pool-going boy in Webster had was on one of the many Baukol girls. They greeted us in the morning teaching our lessons, coached us on swim team, and beautifully occupied the lifeguard chairs at all hours of general swim in between. Romance didn’t get much better than that if you were between the ages of 8 and 14. After about 20 years Harmon Baukol quit providing daughters to the pool staff, and I left for college. I’m not sure how the young pre-teens in Webster survived, or who filled in for all those Baukol girls.

Whole summers of trouble and excitement were designed at the pool. Poor Mr. Meyer owned the apple trees closest to the pool, which made it the first and most obvious target for mandatory raids that took place almost nightly after practice. Sometimes we’d even get as far as Grandma Hoven or Grandma Johnson’s, but the absence of yard lights and the presence of way too many gardening devices brought a certain risk with running through those dark enclaves.

You also didn’t need much cash to hang out at the pool. With a quarter you could get all the Hot Tamales and other snacks you needed. Fashion hadn’t really hit the neighborhood, so cutoffs worked just fine for looking good at general swim. As for female fashion, there were really only three choices — Anthony’s, Nerger’s or The Elevator Store. The chances that they would have neighbors in the same summer fashion wear was pretty much a lock.

While we swim team folks thought life in the pool was built for speed, there was another way to prove prowess — the diving pool. Flips off the high board that didn’t finish in the form of a belly flop were to be admired and worshipped. For those lacking the death-defying urge, there was another option — the cannonball. Danny Giese perfected the 4:45 p.m., high board, soak-the-lifeguard cannonball. The one that got you kicked out for the afternoon (which was why it was best to wait for about 4:45).

Last week I drove by the pool, and saw that my old babysitter isn’t what she used to be. It was kind of sad to see such a big part of neighborhood life reduced to a hole in the ground. To this day, the old swim team crowd is still my close friends. Next year the young people in the community get to start building memories with a new pool. I’m sure all of us from the neighborhood wish for them the many great memories that the city parents built for us over fifty years ago.

Lee Schoenbeck grew up in Webster, practices law in Watertown, and is a freelance writer for the South Dakota Magazine website.

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Triple V Triathlon

By Rebecca Johnson

140 individuals and 17 relay teams conquered the 4th annual Triple V Triathlon last weekend in Yankton. The triathlon, named for the Latin phrase,”Veni, vidi, vici,” was started by Yankton locals Lynn Peterson and Dr. Lawrence Leon. Both had participated in several triathlons around the area.”We realized Yankton offers the perfect venue for this,” Peterson said.”We wanted to promote a great sport as well as all the benefits Yankton has to offer — the lake, river, beautiful bridges, historic downtown and campgrounds.”

My husband Jeremy participated in it as his first triathlon. He tried to talk me into doing it, too, but I’m not much of a swimmer and the chain doesn’t always stay on my bike. It’s definitely a hazard.

The race begins with a 1/4 mile swim in Lewis & Clark Lake near the marina. Athletes then bike over Gavins Point Dam, follow the Missouri River until they reach the Discovery Bridge, cross over the bridge to Yankton, and bike back to the transition area at the marina. The race ends with a 5k run on the bike trails along the lake. Approximately 25 volunteers help out along the course. I decided to participate by taking timing chips from the athletes at the finish line. It was fun greeting everyone at the end because a lot of them seemed very happy to see me.

Missouri River flooding didn’t affect the course, but Peterson said numbers were down for the first time in four years. The race directors fielded a lot of calls from people wondering how the water had been affected.”The South Dakota Parks Department did a great job informing us of water quality as they do daily tests,” said Peterson. There hadn’t been any tests showing the water was a hazard. My husband said he ran into some plant growth, but I think that sort of made it feel even more adventurous.

Yankton high school athlete Kipp Kinsley was the overall winner and Becky Youngberg from Eden Prairie, Minn., was the women’s top finisher. You can view a list of participants’ times at allsportcentral.com.

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The Old Swimming Hole

Warm water and rare plants make Cascade Falls a unique place to take a dip.

Story by Katie Hunhoff
Photography by Stephen Gassman

Artesian springs fill Cascade Creek with constantly warm and clear water. Photo by Stephen Gassman.

Today most swimming holes are concrete squares with colorful umbrellas and rows of plastic chairs. But South Dakota still has some natural places and one of the best is 8 miles south of Hot Springs at Cascade Falls, where murmuring falls, lush foliage and warm turquoise-colored pools create a movie-like atmosphere in the middle of Fall River County.

The clean, clear water of the falls originates about two miles upstream at Cascade Springs, where a series of six artesian springs feed ever-warm, 67-degree water into Cascade Creek. The water’s temperature creates thick vegetation around the springs, creek and falls. Rare plants are found there, including a fern, prairie gentian and orchid that are nonexistent in the rest of South Dakota.

Cascade Falls is the only place along the creek recommended for swimming.”The water isn’t too fast and you can find different depths of water,” explains Cindy Reed, who lives with her husband Marc Lamphere in an old building that was the Allen Bank in the town of Cascade.”People feel safe about their kids being there. It has the added nuance of being a historical public swimming hole for well over one hundred years.”

Early settlers at Cascade hoped their village would become a popular destination for warm mineral baths and spas, but leaders of nearby Hot Springs plotted Cascade’s demise by directing traffic away from the town. Photo by Stephen Gassman.

Cascade was founded in the 1880s between Cascade Springs and the falls. Town fathers hoped it would become a thriving spa destination due to the confluence of the warm mineral water and a railroad through the Hills. By the turn of the century, Cascade had 50 businesses, a post office and 400 residents. Fred Evans, an ambitious businessman who owned much of the land around Hot Springs, put a quick end to Cascade’s growth, along with the economic crash which eliminated a lot of the town’s financial support. Evans was determined that Hot Springs would have the only mineral spa in the Hills, and he even went to the expense of paying a stage coach driver to not stop at Cascade.”The age of the stage passed, the railroad went in to Hot Springs and Cascade withered and died,” wrote journalist Jerry Wilson after a visit to the valley.

J.G. and J.H. Keith, husband and wife, were founders of Cascade who remained there decades after everyone else had given up and left town. The Keiths owned much of the land around the former town and their heirs eventually donated Cascade Falls and Springs to the Forest Service, believing them to be so special they should be shared with the public.

If you go

Cascade Falls Picnic Grounds is 8 miles south of Hot Springs on Highway 71. The area got a makeover recently by the U.S. Forest Service. There is a small parking lot, restrooms and a picnic area. An established trail and steep stairway connects the parking lot to the falls. The area is ideal for swimming or picnicking, but watch for poison ivy on the banks of the creek.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story is revised from the July/Aug 2010 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order this back issue or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.