• Welcome to Jetboaters.net!

    We are delighted you have found your way to the best Jet Boaters Forum on the internet! Please consider Signing Up so that you can enjoy all the features and offers on the forum. We have members with boats from all the major manufacturers including Yamaha, Seadoo, Scarab and Chaparral. We don't email you SPAM, and the site is totally non-commercial. So what's to lose? IT IS FREE!

    Membership allows you to ask questions (no matter how mundane), meet up with other jet boaters, see full images (not just thumbnails), browse the member map and qualifies you for members only discounts offered by vendors who run specials for our members only! (It also gets rid of this banner!)

    free hit counter

Weekend at Bellefourche Reservoir

FSH 210 Sport

Jetboaters Fleet Admiral
Messages
8,679
Reaction score
10,724
Points
582
Location
Tranquility Base
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2020
Boat Model
FSH Sport
Boat Length
21
My friends and I went up to Rocky Point Recreation area last weekend..Bellefourche (Bell-foo-shay) reservoir. It had been very windy, 50 mph gusts) the day before arrival, and had been gusting to 20 mph earlier in the day before I got there, which gave me a bit of concern putting up my spring bar tent.


IMG_0220.jpeg


My friend would arrive just after dark and park his motorhome in the space on the right side of the picture…
IMG_0219.jpeg

Since my friend was arriving later I decided to try one the freeze dried meals I carry in my kit on the boat…. Beef stroganoff sounded good.

IMG_8862.jpeg


IMG_8863.jpeg

IMG_8865.jpeg

The key to these meals is getting the right amount of boiling water in them, this meal called for 3/4 of a cup and I had to guess, my jet boil is marked for 2 cups… unfortunately I put in a bit too much water so it was a bit soupy, BUT the flavor was great.

IMG_8866.jpeg

The wind laid down nicely just before dusk which made for a great sunset.
IMG_8874.jpeg

IMG_8870.jpeg

Set up the tent with a queen size air mattress, table and my indoor kitchen …
IMG_8882.jpeg

IMG_8880.jpeg

These are RV sites with 50A electric pedestals so a 1500 watt electric heater was a nice luxury to have for the mid thirties over night temperatures. I had put one movers blanket on top of the air mattress but that wasn’t quite enough as it got a bit cool in the wee hours, so the heater got turned on to keep things a bit warmer. As the air mattress cooled the pressure went down so it got a bit soft, the next night I made sure to inflate it better and that worked well. It’s a queen size air mattress that is chair height..a far cry from the old school ones that weren’t very thick. Can I sleep on a pad on the floor? Yep, did that a lot years ago, but I don’t want to anymore!

My friend and his wife got there just after dark and we had his Mo Home set quickly and we had some hot dogs 🌭.., I went over and grabbed a shower at the bathroom / shower facility, showers are included with the space rental at South Dakota state parks. The volume of water was like a waterfall..on demand heaters provide as much hot water as you want for as long as you want.

Coffee time early the next morning…
IMG_0218.jpeg

My friends’ eldest son showed up late morning and then we headed out on the lake, Bellefourche reservoir is 13 sq miles and we made full lap of the lake to take in the sights. There is dispersed camping right on the shore with tables and fire rings, some of these areas have pit toilets as well. I’d say we spent about a hour or so making the tour. We stopped to fish for a while before the number 1 son had to go take a shower and head to a wedding, but would return later.

I had brought two of the 10x11’ Springbar tents with the thought I’d have one for my gear if the weather turned crappy and ended up setting it up for the 1 son and his lab CiCi to sleep in. These tents go up quickly and easily, I put them up in 10 mins each. One was mine and the other was my Dads..I stayed in my Dads for old times sake.

The number 2 son and his wife arrived in the afternoon and we picked them up at the dock and spent the rest of the day fishing.

The wind came up again Saturday night with 25 mph gusts but was calm by early next morning…My friend and I got out on the water well before sun up yesterday yesterday morning and well before anyone else was up…

IMG_8884.jpeg

Fishing was pretty slow and we caught a white bass early and a nice 18” walleye just before we had to go back in around 1000 hrs to have breakfast, then break camp and head home.
IMG_8883.jpeg

All in all a successful weekend at the lake. It’s been almost 20 years exactly since I camped out in a tent, I’d still prefer my RV but with the excellent state park facilities it’s pretty nice staying in a tent!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8884.jpeg
    IMG_8884.jpeg
    3.9 MB · Views: 1
Back
Top