From the President
May Schaefer

Greetings to all! What a fantastic weekend we just had at the Women in Blue Jeans Conference in Mitchell, SD. OWSD had a booth and the opportunity to network with over 300 women attending the event. For those of you who do not know about Women in Blue Jeans, it is a two and a half-day conference geared toward women that farm, ranch or live in the country. There are classes every hour to attend, vendor booths, and it’s a great time to just visit with other women of like interests. This year OWSD provided the Friday night social event and in return received a booth spot. The OWSD social event was making “Sunshine in a Cloud” and then sitting and visiting with the ladies. The members of OWSD who attended had the opportunity more

From the Editor
Linda Harris

Recently I read an article in a friend’s Backpacker magazine that rated outdoor gear. Part of the feature reviewed gear specifically made for women. This made me think of earlier times when most outdoor gear and apparel was made for men--and women had to just make it work. Fortunately, today this niche is being addressed. Women can buy items from bicycles to sleeping bags, backpacks, firearms, and all types of clothing made and sized just for them. Keep that in mind with your next purchase. The cost could be a little more, but the advantage is better fit and performance. The market will continue to respond as women become more selective in their equipment and apparel choices. As the article declares, “Hey, girls: This stuff is made just for you. Buy it, and they’ll make more of it.” Enjoy your outdoor pursuits!
 

From Our E-mail Box

OWSD received the email message below. I‘m sharing it on the website to see if it generates any feedback. “Leave No Trace” is an excellent program to follow as you enjoy the outdoors. Does anyone want to learn more? Let us know. (LH)

Dear Organizer:

As a past Boy Scout leader, it was always important to educate the boys on how to "live" in the outdoors, since we camped monthly all year long. The teaching of hypothermia subjects was very important. The junior leaders in the troop knew the subject so well, they did the teaching to younger scouts. The Leave-No-Trace program covers an outdoor living theme very well. In my opinion "LNT" should be part of your program maybe when the whole group is together. A good presenter could quickly cover the important points in about an hour.

GC

January West River Second Sunday Gathering
By Linda Harris

The Gathering for January was held on the third Sunday. (We try for the second Sunday, but the schedule is flexible.) The event was ice fishing at Sheridan Lake. Laurie Root, Naturalist with Game, Fish & Parks, covered the basics of ice fishing. She discussed fishing rods, different baits and lures, and safety. Laurie provided the equipment. It was a mild, sunny winter day to enjoy fishing and visiting and eating. I found out that chocolate is a necessary component of fishing. Laurie said it was so, and her family made sure we had plenty of chocolate bars and brownies.

Other items learned included that kid-sized fishing poles work very well for ice fishing. You can even rig up some fishing line on a short stick. Usually you are not fishing very deep, so it’s easy to pull the string in by hand if a fish bites. That’s assuming a smaller pan fish has taken the bait and not a feisty Northern Pike.

If you are wondering if we caught any fish, the answer is no. It would have been nice to bring home some fish, but “catching” an afternoon to enjoy the beautiful Black Hills was enough for my “stringer.”

Ice fishing on Lake Madison
By Josee Tardif
On Sunday January 16th, 2006, a few of the OWSD and some friend’s head out to Lake Madison for a great afternoon of fun with a great weather of 42 degree F to learn the basics of ice fishing. We were lucky to have with us Dick Simpson a great “coach” and passionate of ice fishing of Madison. We all met at walkers point around 1:00 pm. We started by learning the safety basics of ice fishing, followed by the basic equipment needed to ice fish. We had all kinds of toys to look at and try. After this introduction, we each drilled a hole in the ice to find a 12” layer of ice and we got started on the set up of our rods.

Dick demonstrated to us how to tie lures on the line; he also demonstrated how to use a depth finder in order to locate the right depth to fish and so on. We practice some jigging and had our eyes glued to the hole hoping for a fish to bit. We had some goodies and try to catch the big one until 4:00 pm or so. Unfortunately, nobody caught anything that day; and I can tell you that it was not by lack of experience either... Nobody on the whole lake caught anything. So, we did not feel bad at all. We really had a good time with Dick and we hope he had as much fun as we did.

Here some ice fishing general rules:
 2” of solid ice is permissible for 1 person on foot
 Snowmobile, 4 wheelers are safe on 4” of ice
 2 ½ “ ton truck needs 8-10” of ice
 Most importantly consider also the ice structure and the recent outdoor temperature before you adventure yourself on the ice.
It is really important to remember that when the temperature stays above freezing longer than 24 hrs, the ice begins to lose its strength. If this is the case, the general safety rules above will no longer be safe. Always follow your gut feeling and your comfortable zone.

Clothing safety:
 1st, sock layer should be made of nylon or rayon, next cotton can be used but wool is preferred since it pulls moisture away from the feet and keeps your skin drier.
 Lightweight boots are the best with a layer of thinsulate. There is no other insulation that will keep you warmer.
 Cover your head & ears properly as 75-80% of all body heat loss occurs from an uncovered head.
 Mittens are much warmer than gloves to wear since the decrease the chance of frostbitten fingers.

I hope to do this again next year! See you on the ice!
 

Making Tracks
Snowshoe hikes to explore trail, park
By Kevin Woster
Rapid City Journal Staff Writer
(Reprinted with permission.)

To many, the George S. Mickelson Trail is a mostly forgotten treasure this time of year.
But Shannon Percy hopes to change that — step by step. And if you’re so inclined, he’ll take you along.
Percy will lead the “Snowshoe Shuffle,” a Mickelson Trail event aimed at introducing house-bound outdoor lovers to the beauties of the trail in winter, as well as to the joys of the snowshoe.
And this year, there’s actually some snow to shoe on.
“We started it last year, but we had to cancel because there wasn’t any snow,” Percy, trail coordinator for the state Game, Fish & Parks Department in Lead, said. “We’ve got snow up there this year. I just hope it stays.” more
 

Speaker Series at Mount Rushmore
Sundays in the Park :
Celebrating Diversity of Cultures Through History
(Most) Sundays January through March
For more information call Judy Olson, Chief of Interpretation and Public Information Officer, at 605-574-3114 or check the website: www.nps.gov/moru and click on special events.