For Memorial Day, me and two friends took a 42 mile trip down the Kankakee and Illinois Rivers. We started in downtown Kankakee, and ended in Morris. It was me in my kayak, and two camping rookies in a canoe. Weather and currents were pretty good, but I've got a ton of tips and lessons learned from this past weekend.

We started at Bird Park in Kankakee, and ended at Stratton State Park in Morris. We drove our gear to the starting point, dropped it all off (leaving one guy there to load boats/watch over). Then me and a friend took our two cars to the endpoint, and we parked in a lot just south of the Morris post office. We then got a ride back to the start, courtesy of craigslist. From there we left on our trip, with the cars waiting at the end.

Morris has an "enforce on complaint" 48 hour parking law. Fortunately, our cars were fine, despite being parked there for closer to 52 hours. The lot we left them in had no marked restrictions either. No car damage, no tickets, what a relief!

Day 1 consisted of 17 miles, as we moved from Kankakee to Lakewood Shores. The current was very strong for portions of the trip. This was also the most scenic portion of the trip. We made such good time, we overshot a couple of our scouted campsites. The rock formations were beautiful, but not as large as what you'd see on the Fox River.

For the night, we settled on an island/peninsula on lakewood shores. We had a couple of swans keep us company. While storms did hit northern IL that night, we got lucky, as the line broke in half, giving us severe weather north and south of us, but we only had an hours worth of steady rain. We camped on a beach, and had a fine night.

Day two was two polar opposites. As we got away from Wilmington, the current slowed. Once you get past I-55, the current basically stops, and the river widens.

The first half of the day was great. We shot into Wilmington on the current. The portage there isn't great, but a friendly local wit a truck saw us and helped us. Essentially there is a large dam to the river's left that is impassable. If you go right, there is a channel that leads to a second dam. Before you hit dam #2, you get out, move everything across a parking lot, and then drop right back in. The lot is paved, making things a bit easier.

Once you get past the dam, the current starts to slow, going from a riffly 4 to 2 mph. There are sections where it picks back up. After Rt.55, the river widens, even wider than the Illinois. There are houses lining the riverfront with boat docks, which means... POWER BOATS.

Now, I understand we went over a holiday weekend, and so I'm not going to rant and rave at the stupidity of drunk boat owners. But as we rounded that bend, there were 20+ speedboats and jetskis waiting for us. It was complete chaos for the next 4 miles, as we clung to shore, taking wake from every which direction. I wish I had gotten photos or videos, but it was too crazy to focus on anything besides staying afloat. Over the course of those few hours, we saw at least 80 + powered boats and skis, all going whichever direction they wanted. Not fun.

Eventually, we entered into the Illinois river, and the boats became less frequent. We found a decent smaller campsite nearby the Dresden Dam, on the south side of the river. We held up for the night just fine, passing out early after an exhausting day. After a 15 mile day, we just had about 8 miles and a portage to go.

Day 3 was pretty simple. We portaged right away, then continued on the illinois for 8ish miles. The portage was around the dresden lock. We saw that it was taking tugboats 2+ hours to get through, so we decided to just make the half mile trek around. It wasn't awful, just fairly long. You go around their fenced in area, down a road, and then down a wooded path on the right. Over a few rocks, and you are back in the river.

From there, we battled a few speedboats as we moved back into Morris. No current on the Illinois, but with paddling at a decent clip, we got it done in under 4 hours. The stretch from Dresden to Morris is full of trees and campable beaches. Nothing too scenic, but lots of calm water.

Overall, it was a good trip. The first part of the Kankakee river was the most spectacular, and next time, I'd rather start further up the river and end in Wilmington. I wish I saw more cool stuff along the Kankakee, but there really isn't much towards that river's end. The boat battles on day two were exhaustive, but we made it. Like any trip, there were challenges, but good attitudes from my trip mates were the difference makers here.

Last weekend, I cruised through 11 miles on the Dupage River. I decided to get out for a day trip of 11 miles from Naperville to Plainfield. It wound up only taking about 3 hours. My start point was weigand park in naperville, by washington and ring roads. I ended at riverside park in plainfield, by the merge of naper-plainfield and rt. 59. My wife drove me from end to start, so i could plant my car for returning home.

This trip allowed me to hit 100 miles for the year, which is 1/3rd of the way to my goal of 300. I've been lucky to paddle a bunch of different rivers so far this year. I paddled hard just about the entire time, and cruised through in about 3 hours, maybe even a little less. The current was definitely flowing at least 2 mph, but I was hitting a ton of eddies the entire trip. 

The dupage river is perfect for kayak paddling. Even though the water level was high, it was still low enough in a few places before the merge where a canoe would definitely get stuck. Fortunately my kayak was light enough to glide over all the rocks and sand. Even if I was fully loaded for a multi day trip, it still wouldn't have been that bad. I do need to get a canoe out there to test the water levels.

The weather was perfect for paddling. Mid 60s, some sun, not much wind. I've been taking some bad weather while paddling, so this was a nice change of pace. I love traveling down the dupage. Between the strong current, and many woods you pass through, it's a hidden gem not too far outside of chicago.

3 days, 43 miles on the mighty Wisconsin river in late April. It was a colder weekend, with periods of challenging rain and wind. Overall: toughest trip I've been on, easily. The WI river is also the most scenic river I've been on. So, the theme for the trip was our common joke quote "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Me and a buddy started up south of the castle rock dam, then scooted through Wisconsin dells, before ending near downtown Portage. We split off 43 miles into 12, 13, and 17-ish mile days. The temperature never broke 60, and hung out in the 40s most of the overcast weekend. When it was dry out, it was fine. However, we had a good 12 hours of rain across the weekend.

Day 1 was the best and easiest. We put in by the castle rock dam, which has a launch fee of $3. They also have alleged overnight free parking, but we did not leave a car at the start. Instead, I dropped my friend off at the beginning, drove to the end, then got a ride back to the start from a local. ($50, not bad). We wound up hitting the water around 11 am.

We made great progress for the first leg. The current and water level was up,  and we pressed through 8 miles in under 3 hours, while paddling lightly. We then stopped for lunch by the Rt. 82 bridge. After lunch we pressed on until we got to the dutchman islands. We did stop for a mini hike halfway through the afternoon on a big rock face. 

For the evening, we found a non-swampy dutchman island to camp on. It wasn't terribly overgrown or sandy, and had plenty of dried driftwood for use in fire. We stopped about 2 miles upstream from where the river enters into the dells (a big lakelike area). It wasn't the perfect campsite, but it worked with minimal effort.

Day two was a true mix of good and bad. The morning weather was pretty good, decent sun. The wind picked up into a headwind, slowing us down as we passed through the lakelike pre-dells area. While senic, it tooks us a good hour and a half to cross two miles right down the center of this portion. We also weren't sure which canyon we could get through on boat.

Once you pass the lake, you enter the narrow canyons on Wisconsin dells. This was the most scenic portion of the trip. We passed around the primitive blackhawk island, seeing tons of cliffs and trees. Eventually it opens back up as you enter the downtown area. After a couple of docks and twists, we approached the downtown dam

The portage in downtown WI dells is rough. It's only about a mile, but features 3 hills up, then a sharp narrow path back down to the beach.  It takes some muscle getting up, but then tight precision getting back down. It probably took us an hour and a half for our overloaded boat. We hit the beach to put back in, had a quick lunch, and then came the rain. Go figure. We pressed on for a few more miles through some otherwise scenic canyons. 

By 3pm, the rain was coming down hard enough to soak us, so we had to stop. I quickly pitched a tarp shelter to cover us from the rain and wind. We tried to dry off, and got our gear organized. By 4pm, we realized the rain was not going to subside anytime soon, so we called it a day. We were able to finagle a wet stick fire by using dried stick we had stashed from the day before. Thank goodness too, because we were in hypothermic risk weather. 

Eventually, the rain slowed enough for us to quickly pitch tents, change and go to bed early.  We spent about 7 hours on that beach, just trying to withstand the weather and elements. That was the worst of times. I'm just thankful we were able to warm up, get some kind of shelter, and get a hot meal. It was rough, but really could have been much worse.

Day 3 was a bit better. It was bitingly cold in the morning (only 36 on may 1!), and it started to sprinkle rain. Fortunately, it held off, and eventually the sun came out. Once that happened, we were fine. Better late than never. 

While the morning was cold and windy, we kept at it and knocked out 10 miles in 3 hours. We had decent current again once we got away from the dam. While we hit a few sandbars that required me to get out and pull over, it wasn't anything too daunting. 

Eventually, we hit the route 39 bridge, and entered portage. We took out at riverside park, by a pizza place. I ran and got my car from the downtown portage lot ($5 parking permit from police station for the weekend), and we loaded up.

Overall, it was a good and challenging trip. The scenic views were worth the awful weather and portage. While it was the most physically intensive thing I've ever done, I pushed boundaries much further than I ever thought I could handle. It might have been rough, but we made it through!



Some facts to note:

The put in for castle rock dam is $3, and supposedly has free overnight parking.
The portage at WI dells is about a mile long, but steep up and down.
The exit point at Portage isn't a dock. You can park in downtown Portage, WI. (adams and 33 has a lot for $5).

The river current is about 2 MPH average. It's usually stronger, but slows around the wider portions and dam. Paddling hard at those stronger currents will get you up to 4 MPH. Just remember, you will be slowed later on.

Campsites are easy-ish to find. There's a lot of islands and sandbars that can be taken. While things weren't too overgrown because of the time of year we went at, there should be ample sites for a late summer trip.