New rivers added:

Pecatonica River: a small tributary to the Rock river in the Freeport area of northwestern Illinois

Kishwaukee River: another tributary to the Rock River, this one has two branches, joining together as one.

Rock River: A large river starting in Wisconsin, ranging hundreds of miles to the Mississippi

Wisconsin rivers: IL Fox and Sheboygan for now! More to come soon

This winter, I intend to take time saved from not camping and boating, and will apply it towards upgrading this site and information. To come:

Full pages for the Vermillion, Rock, and Des Plaines Rivers. This includes distance charts, maps, GPX downloads, dams and portage info, and depth charts.

Upgrades to existing river pages: Dupage river, Fox River, Illinois River, and Kankakee River.

A series on gear: what I pack for trips, where to find it, and what I use it for.

​Here's to a productive winter!

This past weekend, the weather was nice enough to get out for a 10 mile run on the Fox River. I started up by route 30 in Montgomery, and paddled to the dam in Yorkville. After recent rain, the current was a brisk 4 MPH, and I actually had to lay off paddling/explore a few islands to prevent arriving at the end before my pickup ride arrived. It was so fast, I drifted a good chunk of the time. If I take out the breaks, a 5 hour trip becomes 3 hours.

The weather was a bit cold, but nothing too awful. The killer was the wind on the open water. I need to invest in better waterproof gloves. Under wraps, it was manageable though. The nice thing about the kayak is how it keeps your lower body covered from wind. I could feel the cold from the water sneaking in through the boat's bottom though.

Overall, this stretch of the fox is a very easy paddle. The current keeps up most of the time, and there are few obstacles. Really, the biggest danger is the dam/whitewater course in yorkville, but it's not hard to keep distance. While I considered running the whitewater, I decided against it because of the hypothermic risk. The high level of water did  rise over a good chunk of the boulders there, so it would have been a good opportunity. Oh well... next time.