I went on an overnight kayak trip on the Illinois river. Started in Morris, went 8 miles upstream to the dresden dam, then came back the next day. Good weather, good current, and great camping.
Upstream on day 1: not hard, but certainly not easy. To get to the dam, takes about 4.5 hours. The water is fairly neutral, making the wind affect you more than usual. Speedboats were around, but not too bad this go round. Especially as you get further from Morris, they taper off.
The hardest stretch is parallel to the lake. 4 miles with basically no points of interest make you feel like you are not going anywhere. Once you see the bridge, you are close to the end, with just another mile and a half to go.
Upstream on day 1: not hard, but certainly not easy. To get to the dam, takes about 4.5 hours. The water is fairly neutral, making the wind affect you more than usual. Speedboats were around, but not too bad this go round. Especially as you get further from Morris, they taper off.
The hardest stretch is parallel to the lake. 4 miles with basically no points of interest make you feel like you are not going anywhere. Once you see the bridge, you are close to the end, with just another mile and a half to go.
Heading back the next day was a breeze. Going downstream, we did the same stretch in about 3.5 hours, shaving off close to an hour of time. It's a little boring for me to see the same sights back to back days, but the current helps.
Plenty of camping by the dam. Lots of open beaches on the north side makes it easy to find a spot that isn't all brush.
Plenty of camping by the dam. Lots of open beaches on the north side makes it easy to find a spot that isn't all brush.
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