Fox River: Yorkville to Wedron

Over Father's Day weekend, my dad and I completed a 28 mile run down the fox river. As the same with other trips, we started in Yorkville, camped around Sheridan, and ended in Wedron. The weather held up for the weekend, and it was a nice paddle.  I'm going to chart out where we started, ended, and camped.

I've talked about this trip a few times, so rather than do an overview, I'm going to talk about more specifics of paddling.

The water level at the starting Yorkville gauge was at 13'10", with a CFPS of 1500. Nearby the end is the Dayton dam, and it was at 6'10", and flow was at 1800 CFPS. The water level for our trip a dash lower than average. We scraped up on sandbars a few more times than typical. The current was also fairly slow. I've seen worse depths and flows, but this was near the bottom for a trip that I'd enjoy doing. Much lower than that, and it'd be really annoying.

We put in at Yorkville, just after the dam. No portage that way. You can put in before, but then you are only doing a few miles before having to get out and move gear. Not worth it to me.

You can paddle 13-18 miles before getting into a stretch with several campsites. You pass through a long straight channel that has campers and trailers on river right/north. At the end of that straightaway there's a nice beach, and a few islands directly behind it. The beach is a solid campsite, in a couple of different spots there. The islands behind it can be hit or miss, depending on water level and time of year. If the water's high, it covers the islands. Later in the year, they can get overgrown. There's one big island in between rt. 3 and 41st, which is impossible to camp on, even though it looks reasonable from satellite view. The other shoreline areas I didn't highlight in blue are private property. If you skip through the islands, there's a really solid beach to camp at just past the Sheridan correctional facility. You'll see signs and a fence just before getting to it.

After camping, you've got anywhere between 12-18 miles to go, depending on your takeout point. Two popular spots are Ayer's Landing and C&M Canoe Rental. Both charge a boat launch fee of $5 per boat. I've used both to park cars at overnight. It's never been an issue, but I always call in first, even in off season times to make sure it's okay.

If inclined, you can go another few miles and reach the Dayton Dam. The portage is simple to find, but a long walk. Get out on river right/west side, then walk up a path, over the dam, then back down into the water. It usually takes 45 minutes to an hour with overnight gear. Probably 20 minutes with just a boat. It's not easy.

Once done portaging the dam, it's 6 miles until you get into Ottawa, as the Fox river merges into the Illinois river. There are two parking lots nearby the La Salle bridge you can leave a car at overnight, then just use the boat launch to get out. About 36 miles total from Yorkville. 

I've also prepared a video where I go over some of the points of interest and total mileage. Enjoy!