Friday, January 26, 2007

January 2007



The streak hits 14 consecutive months.
1/1/07 WDR. Pat and Kent in tandem, Dan in single for the 2nd annual New Year's day Float down the Dupe. Put in at Centennial Park Park with takeout at Knoch Knolls.
1/6/07 - Happy birthday to me (and Kent)! Pat and Dan put in at Community Park with takeout at Royce Road.
1/707 - EDR. Kent and Matt in Kent's tandem, Dan in single. Put in at Hidden Lake with takeout at Royce road. This was a combination of 2 separate trips, Dan and Pat had just done the 2nd half the day before. Had a portgage through the Arboretum, but overall a nice trip with some nice water action.




November and December 2006

11/07/06
Dan and Pat in tandem kayak. Put in at Centennial beach
and takeout at Knoch Knolls.

12/2/2006
Dan and Pat in tandem kayak. Temperature in low teens,
guage at 6.76. Put in at Community Park takeout at
Royce rd. No ice in river but ice forned on boat during trip.
This was day after first winter storm of the year, trees
were snow covered and beautiful. Nature highlights
include a large owl sitting abount 15 ft upin a tree right on
river bank, he did not fl away. Two beavers dove into the
water as we passed, they were about 10 ft away, Pat
screamed like a school girl. Full size doe was in the water,
about 10 ft away, just watched as we passed. The section
in Seven Bridges that has rapids normally had the most
water action we have experienced on the Dupe. It was
excellent. The guage at 6.76 is about as high as it can be
to get under the pedestrian/ bike path bridge near 87th
in Green Valley. We had to do the limbo the get under
the brdge.

12/17/2006
Dan and Kent in tandem kayak. Temp about 42, guage
at 5.76. Put in at Centennial Beach and takeout at 95th
street. Both of us wore red Santa hats, got good reaction
from multiple people. One woman shouted "Ho, Ho, Ho"
…Kent responded: "It's Row, Row, Row"…very quick and
funny. Saw 2 deer laying right on river bank, limited bird
spotting.

12/23/2006
Dan and Pat in tandem kayak. River at 7.92 put in at
Centennial beach, takeout at Knoch Knolls. Completed
total trip in 54 minutes, only took 19 minutes to get to
Pioneer park and 45 minutes to get to Ring/95th.
River was high and fast, rolling, boiling in sections.
Excellent. Pat wore a Santa hat and Dan had white
beard, red hat and red Santa top. Numerous postive
comments and joyous reactions.

October 2006

10/1/2006
East BDR. Kent and Dan in tandem, put in at Royce, paddled
through the trout farm in Bolingbrook and takeout at DuPage
River park. There was a major blockage which resulted in a
portage. At one point we thought the river ended but it actually
continued through a very narrow section going back in what
appeared to be in the opposite direction. It eventually wound back
and connected to the main river again.

10/7/2006
West BDR. Dan and Pat in tandem, Kent in single. Put in at
Jefferson St., takeout at Knoch Knolls. Gauge at 5.8, distance
approx 6 miles. On Monday 10/2/06 the gauge was over 9 ft, the
highest we have seen. Although the river was high, it was not the
highest we have been on. This was 6.4 in February. A "highlight"
of the trip was when Kent had to drop a deuce and we stopped off
at a gas station in Naperville. From the car I saw the attendant
hold up 1 finger and Kent responded by holding up 2. Kent was
denied the privilege of using the facilities. We had quite the
laugh.

10/8/2006
West BDR. Dan and Lisa put in at new launch at Pioneer Park,
takeout at Knoch Knolls, completed trip in less than 1 hour.
This was Lisa's 1st river trip. At Knoch Knolls talked
to a woman who was picking up dad and 3 kids in a canoe. At
Pioneer Park talked to a couple taking out their kayak. This
was a beautfiul sunny and 70 day, the most boats we have seen.

10/15/2006
East BDR. Kent and Cole, Dan and Steven in tandem kayaks.
Put in at Hidden Lake takeout at Community Pk, gauge at 5.25.
Had to portage at just under 1 mile mark, 1st use of the saw
to help clear path. Total distance 3.14 miles in a little over an
hour.

10/22/2006
East BDR. Dan and Kent in tandem, Mark in solo. Put in at
Community Park takeout at Royce Rd. Gauge at 5.9,water level
noticably high. Temp in the 50's, used skirt on solo but not
tandem. With high water did not have any issues like previous
time when we got stuck 3 times. Altough trees were colorful in the
area, on the river most trees were bare. Highlight of the trip was
deer entering on river left and exiting on river right.

September 2006



9/2/06 West BDR. Kent and Dan in tandem kayak,
river at 4.88. Put in north of North ave, projected
takeout at Mack rd. River was very low, sometimes
both of us had to get out to move the boat. Over-
grown weeds in river. We were averaging less than
3 mph. At Gary Mills road they were dredging the
river and we had to get out. As Kent processed a
few of the consumed beers, I went ahead to see how
far our portage would be. I told Kent….."there is no
river". The river was dry as far as we could see.
We walked 1.7 miles to where our car was at
Mack rd. The trip from North ave to Gary Mills road
was approx 7.3 miles in 2.5 hours.

9/16/2006 East BDR. Mark T. and Kent in tandem
kayak, Dan in single. Put in at Community park
takeout at Royce rd. Collected approx. 10 balls (hard,
soft, basket, soccer,golf, wiffle,play). Had serious tree
downage in 3 areas all after about 90% of trip was
complete. Were able to grunt our way through,
no portage. River at 5.15

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

August 2006

8/13/2006 Dan and Kent in tandem kayak, river at 4.83,
put in at Community park and takeout at Royce. Only
got stuck a few times with the river so low. Previous
downed tree resulting in hard portage in July was
passable. Nice to know river is do-able in Dan's tandem
with less than 5.00 on Naperville guage.


8/20/2006 East BDR.Dan and Pat in tandem kayak, river
at 5.20. Put in at Mack Rd, take-out at Centennial Beach.
Three portages around the 3 dams, bottom growing weeds
almost choking river at some points. Lilies growing 2
feet above water level covered whole width of river, very
narrow passageway at far right bank.

June & July 2006

6/1/2006 Put in at Jefferson St., tatekout at Pioneer
Park. Gauge at 5.50. Dan in single kayak, Pat and Jim M.
in canoe. Quote of the day from Pat: "Jim, you add a
whole new level of stress." There was a downed tree
north of Pioneer Park, creating a "sweeper". Neither
boat swamped but potential danger noted.

7/8/06 Put in at Community Park, takeout at Royce. Dan
and Steven in tandem, Pat in solo kayak. Had a difficult
portage around downded tree just north of Royce road.

May 2006

5/4/06 East BDR. Dan and Pat in canoe. Put in at
Hidden Lake, takeout at Community Park. Had to
portgage 3 times (one we straddled the tree and
hoisted canoe over the tree, technically not
portaging). Initally had canoe facing backwards,
awkward seat feeling. Had one "rapids" situation
south of Warrenville, screamed like little school
girls. Fisherman close by observed the very manly
canoeists.


5/20/06 East BDR. Dan and Pat, with little Dan in
canoe. Put in at Community park, takeout at Royce.
Little Dan discussed dificulty of finding his balls
in the grass, Uncle Dan suggested getting up on his
knees. Got stuck a couple of times with river at 5.20
and the 3rd passenger in canoe. Downed tree that was
an issue on a previous trip for Dan and Kent had been
removed.

April 2006

4/30/06 West BDR. Pat and Dan in tandem kayak. Put in at
Knoch Knolls. Takeout at Eaton Pkwy. Met at Pat's house
at 6:00 am, were in water at approx. 6:50. Rainy and extremely
windy…needed to get our paddle trip in for April. Trip was 6.7
miles, took about 1 hour 25 minutes. Slow, wide, non-descript
section of river. Did see where East BDR converges (approx. .
3/4mile from Knoch Knolls

March 2006

3/12/06 West BDR. Pat and Dan in tandem kayak. Put in at
Centennial Park,takeout Knoch Knolls. 5.84 miles in 1:08 kayak
time. Naperville guage at the time of the trip was 5.90. We got
stuck once and scraped bottom a couple times, trying "river right"
a few times when we normally do "river left". 5.90 on the gauge
may not be high enough for the canoe. Note: When the gauage
was at 5.74 we felt the East BDR was quite fast, we did not feel
this on the West BDR at 5.90.

3/30/06 West BDR. Dan in single. Put in at Mack Rd, takeout at
Centennial Park,7.32 miles in 2:18 kayak time. Naperville guage
at the time 5.16. Couple low spots but at 5.16 no real issues.
There were 3 dam portages on this trip. The first was at Warrenville
Dam, about 43 minutes from Mack Rd and 10 minutes (.447 miles)
from Rt 56. McDowell Woods dam is right after a nice canoe launch
area and about 35 . minutes from Warrenville dam. Fallwell dam
is approx. 30 minutes from McDowell dam.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

February 2006 log

1/29/06 West BDR (canoe). Dan and Pat put in at Centennial Beach.
Takeout at Washington St. Got stopped by the Conversation
Police for a strip search. Canoe was not registered, written warning
issued. Cop advised of man planting marijuanna along shore.
River was high and fast, almost swamped.

2/4/06 East BDR. Kent and Dan in tandem kayak, Pat in single.
Put in at Community Park, takeout Royce Road. 5.438 miles in
1:15 minutes kayak time.Temp in upper 20's, snow was falling most
of the time. Naperville guage at time of trip was 5.74. Nice
fast water,did not get stuck.

2/25/06 East BDR. Kent and Dan in Kent's tandem kayak.
Put in at Community Park, takeout Royce Road. 5.438 miles in
1:35 minutes kayak time.Military-like serpentine navigation of the
river, possilby added another mile of distance.Naperville guage at
time of trip was 5.03. Got stuck at Hobson and 75th. Major
blockage just north of takeout. Multiple attempts made to obtain
sufficient ramming speedto plow through. Removed a few 4 inch
limbs. Potential future issues.

The Streak begins

December 2005 / January 2006

12/26/05 West Branch Dupage River. Dan and Pat, put in downtown
Naperville, takeout south of Pioneer Park. Note: Ice on river
determined put in and takeout points.

1/1/06 West Branch Dupage river. Dan and Pat in tandem Kayak.
Kent in single. Put in at Jefferson St. Note: Got stuck 3-4 times.
1/15/06 East Branch Dupage River. Dan and Pat,put in south
of Hobson takeout Royce Road. No issues.

1/21/06. West Branch Dupage River. Dan and Pat put in Pioneer
Park, takeout Knock Knolls Park. Got stuck 6-7 times. Recent
snow covered trees(beautiful).Dan panicked yelling "gopher, gopher"
when coming across bobbing object.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

My kayaking history


I have been a recreational kayaker for the last couple of years. I received my first single kayak as a Christmas gift from my wife. Although I had gone canoeing over the years, either renting them or using someone else's, I had learned to kayak at family camp in Wisconsin (Camp Edwards). I immediately knew that of the man-powered watercraft, kayaks were the way to go.

When I feel like I need to justify a kayak trip, I tease my wife that she was the one that opened my eyes to the wonderful world of kayaking! I also used that same logic to justify my purchase of my second kayak, a tandem. "Honey, now the three of us can all go together!" After all, kayaking by yourself can be dangerous and is not very social unless you know someone else with a kayak.

Although we had been taking trips on a regular basis, 12/26/2005 was the beginning of the "streak". Since then I have gone kayaking in 14 consecutive months 14 (as of 1/2007). For living in Northeast Illinois that's got to impress you, right? Pat and Kent have shared the most trips with me but Mark, Matt, Cole, Steven, Little Dan and Lisa have also been part of the fun at some point. Larry and Ben also got a taste of kayak-fever with a trip around Churchill Woods.