I was able to get out for my second trip of the year today. I went to the Fox river, in the elgin area. I met up with a couple of other paddlers, and we went for an afternoon trip.


We would start by the boat launch nearby the elgin DMV. We’d go 3.5 miles downstream, and 2.5 back up. The current was nonexistent for the first part, up unitl the south elgin dam. We’d portage around it on the river right, then continued on.

The current would pick up strongly in a few spots, so strong it was hard to keep up trying to get back upstream. There were a couple points where I jumped out and pulled the boat.

​Eventually the people I was paddling with gave up, and I threw in the towel too, as sunlight was quickly fading. We circled back around blackhawk forest preserve, where the current really picks up. Our exit point was a small park south of the dam, river left.

Water level was surprisingly low. There was plenty of hidden sandbars that we would wind up scraping against.

Overall, Pretty good day. Just don't bite off more than you can chew.

First Trip of the season!

Today, I did an 11 mile day trip with a canoeing rookie. We did 11 miles on the dupage river, from weigandt park in Naperville to electric park in Plainfield. It’s a route I’ve gotten to know well. We completed it in about 3.5 hours, paddling at a mild rate.


The water level was up, so boulders and pillows were not too much of an issue. Where we had to keep an eye out, there wasn’t too much scraping or nudging. The river was flowing at a decent rate, probably only 1 MPH. Really, this portion of the river is much better with decent water.