Weather was pretty cold and lousy. It snowed a little nit on saturday, and was in the 30s almost the entire time. No rain though, so that was good at least.
I went on a longer overnight trip on the Fox river this weekend. I went with my dad and a buddy: all on kayaks. We started in yorkville and took out at Ayer's landing in whedron. 26 miles. Weather was pretty cold and lousy. It snowed a little nit on saturday, and was in the 30s almost the entire time. No rain though, so that was good at least. The water level was up a bit. We had a reasonable amount of rain in the 2 weeks prior, and it pushed things up above average. While the water level was going back down, it left plenty of mud, making camping problematic. Overall, the current pushed us at a decent 1-2 MPH clip, so we never had to paddle overly hard. We would wind up camping at mallard bend campground (in sheridan area). While the campground was closed for the winter, we grabbed a spot since it was all clear and mowed. We had a couple of passerbys overnight, then got hit by a manager for camping fees in the morning. Annoying, but it was what it was. Apparently it's $21 per person in season. No thanks.
Comments
Ottawa to Starved Rock state park and back is a fun 16 mile trip. It can be done in one day, but with upstream for half the time, it better works as a short overnight trip. It takes about 3 hours to go all the dam, then 5 to get back. The water level was low this round, and the islands/grasswere high and overgrown. The low water level meant reduced current, so it was easy getting back. Camping was problematic with the high grass. Sheehan Island, which is normally a gold mine for camping, was inaccessible from the back due to the low water levels. The front was overgrown with waist high grass, so we moved back upstream for a campsite.
|
James T.The Kayak Maniac Archives
October 2022
Categories |