Pelican Lake State Recreation Area, South Dakota - October 9th to 10th, 2022
Some of the best memories are from the little places along the way from one tourist attraction to another. Pelican Lake was just a convenient stop between Fargo in North Dakota and Custer State Park in South Dakota. But Pelican Lake was beautiful and we had a lovely time there.
Sunday we drove from Casselton, North Dakota to Pelican Lake State Recreation Area near Watertown, South Dakota. It was an uneventful drive on interstates. We like to avoid interstates, but there were not a lot of alternatives this time.
We arrived at the campground around lunch time. There were about a couple dozen or so campers in the campground. But it was Sunday and check out time was not until 4 pm. By evening, there were only about half a dozen campers left. We were spread out among the 80 camp sites, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.
The campground sits on the shores of a large lake. There were a few cabins available for rent along with a sandy swim beach and a boat launch. The water was still turned on in the bathrooms and one of the bathhouses still had working showers. Yay!
Keith was fascinated by the archery course. It was laid out sort of like a golf course, with sets of targets that you walk from one to the next. We’re not sure how many sets of targets there were, but it looked like it went on for quite a ways. We’re sure the park didn’t want people walking the course who were not shooting, especially since there were a couple of people actively using the course when we walked by.
Our campsite was on a high bank right on the shore of the lake. The place was so peaceful and relaxing. Sitting at our campsite, we listened to the wind blowing through the trees, the water lapping up against the shore, and birds chirping as they glided by.
We slept well that night. It was a nice change from listening to the interstate traffic at our last campsite in Casselton, which was right next to the highway. There was no traffic noise at Pelican Lake, just the hooting of an owl every now and then.
We woke up to a fog over the lake on Monday. As the fog started to lift, we watched birds on the water catching and eating their breakfast of fish. After we finished our breakfast, we went for a long walk.
Starting near the horse campsites, there is the Prairie Multi-use Trail, for horses, hikers, and cyclists. The trail makes a big loop to the east, with a couple of trails that cross the middle of the loop. We started out on the outer loop, then took the two cross trails out and back on our way back around the loop. From our campsite, we walked a total of 4.6 miles with an elevation gain of 177 feet in about an hour and a half.
The trail is a wide, mowed grass strip. Combined with the lack of elevation gain, it is easy to cruise along at a pretty fast past, as long as you watch out for the occasional hole. The scenery does not change very fast, so you don’t miss anything by traveling at a good clip. The terrain is mostly across the prairie, through the grasses. But the trail does go through a small group of trees, next to a marshy area, and by a small pond, so there is a little bit of variety. It was a very relaxing stroll. Plenty of birds were chirping and flying around us. The grasses were waving to us in the breeze. The leaves in the trees were dancing with the wind.
After lunch, we drove into Watertown, the nearest town about a 15 minute drive away. We were in search of a coffee shop. After parking in the downtown area, we got out and went for a stroll. The downtown area was surprisingly nice and filled with old, historical buildings.
In the first block, we walked by a place called Hot Mama Macks. Ann and a friend of hers have an inside joke about calling each other Hot Mama, so we had to stop in. Hot Mama Macks serves SDSU (South Dakota State University) ice cream which is made by the students. (www.sdstate.edu/dairy-and-food-science/sdsu-dairy-bar). Can we have ice cream in addition to a treat at the coffee shop in the same afternoon? Yes, yes we can! The SDSU ice cream is pretty tasty.
We tried to work off some of the calories we consumed by walking around the downtown area. Then we went inside the Gather coffee shop for muffins and chai lattes. Gather is a lovely coffee shop with a wonderful atmosphere. It was a nice way to finish our tour of the Watertown.
Back at the campground, a couple of fellow campers stopped by to chat with us. We had a lovely visit with Brad and Lynette who are from Watertown. We appreciate meeting new people and having fresh conversations. Just having each other to talk to gets a little old after a while.
Back at the campground, the flies started swarming while we were cooking dinner outside. There were also little bugs that could have been gnats, but, after Ann’s episode with no-see-ums over a week ago with bites that still haven’t completely healed yet, she didn’t want to take any chances and stayed inside our Red Tail Lodge the rest of the evening. We cooked the smoked brats we picked up at Hornbacher’s in Fargo. They were quite tasty on rye bread with some sauerkraut and mustard.
Pelican Lake will be on our list of places to stop again when we find ourselves passing through the area. The view from our Red Tail Lodge in the morning, with the fog over the lake and the surrounding trees taking on their autumn colors, seemed magical.
Check out our related video: Pelican Lake State Recreation Area, South Dakota
(Ann)