March 11, 2007 - Spring is coming!

Beautiful weather with temperatures in the 50's and blue sky gave hint of the coming spring. The recent snow melt engorged the river to a gauge height of 6.86, which meant only 1 thing......where was I going to go kayaking and with who(m?). Both Kent and I spent Saturday occupied in our respective houses tied to the dreaded "honey-do's" list. Sunday was the day for the float.

We put in at Hidden Lake with a takeout of Royce road. Kent did not disappoint as before we even started to float he had declared (as he always does) that he was too hot and he had to shed a layer. I am not sure if he does this for my entertainment or not but it cracks me up every time. Right away we knew that with these conditions a float down the Dupe was far superior to painting the walls (even white!). Our next pleasant surprise was the total elimination of the major river blockage right before the Arboretum that had always required a portage.

We had multiple sections of nice water action and the wildlife highlight was a huge beaver (Kent estimated 40 pounds), a large owl and our first heron sighting of the year. A couple of beverages, some chips and salsa at riverside capped off a delightful Sunday afternoon.

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.