2 river trips, one entry

Kent and I put in at Hidden Lake on 9/15/07 and had a world's record slow pace down to Community park. The float through the Arboretum was enjoyable but the river was about as low as we have experienced. We did very little paddling and let the slow pace of the river take us peacefully to our destination.

A very uneventful float but enjoyable nonetheless.

On 9/22/07, the Duper boys ventured down to Shorewood to recreate our excellent adventure from 9/1/07 when the rapids were raging. A funny thing about rivers, they prefer to have water in them. Although we did not get stuck very often, the payoff at the end of this route is supposed to be the class 2 rapids that we experienced 2 weeks ago. No water = no rapids. This is a nice stretch with or without rapids and we did start to see some color on the trees. We need some rain!!!

Streak = 22 mths. Rapids at Shepley!!!

Kent and Dan took the 2 solo 'yaks down to Hammel woods to give Dan a taste of the Illinois' rapids. The Watertrails map (see link to the right) says in times of high water this section provides nice rapid action. Although the river was clearly about 4 ft lower than last week this was the best action Dan has experienced in the Pungo classic. Definitely worth the 45 minute drive. The 5.44 mile river trip took a little over 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete. We saw 2 deer on the bank, a hawk and some blue heron. Even with breakfast, the total time of this little adventure was about 4 hours. Not bad considering even our smallest trips seem to take 3 hours once you do the car drop off, etc.

This September 1 trip brought the consecutive month streak to 22.

Raging River...is this the Colorado?

The recent rain engorged the river to an all time high of 9.05 on the Naperville guage. Pat and Dan were in the tandem and Kent did the solo thing. We put in at Centennial beach with a takeout of Knoch Knolls. The GPS indicated our high speed was 9.1 mph with an average speed of about 6 miles an hour. We finished the 5.73 mile trek in 56 minutes. This trip normally takes about 1.5 hours.

With the river so high and fast the ability to take quality rivers shots was diminished. As you can see from the pictures, the river was over much of the walking path downtown and flooding the parking lot at Knoch Knolls. At this depth (and this fast) there was one bridge in Naperville that we had a precarious moment passing under. We managed to get through without impaling our heads on the low hanging metal brackets hanging under the bridge.

Sunday 8/27/07 - Saturday was so good I decided to take out Duper virgin Andy on the same route. Just one day later the river was noticeably lower (8.2) and passing under the bridge mentioned above was a non-issue. The speed of the river seemed about the same but Andy's desire to show off his manly paddling prowess propelled us to an even quicker time than the day before. I tried to explain that the appeal of the Duper is the float not the paddle!!

1st ever Night float - or- "Float of the bugs"

Another first for the Duper boys as we took ourselves up on our long time threat to tame the beast at night. Ideally this should be done with a full moon (keep you pants up, we are talking lunar not gluteal), but a call from Kent, a spur of the moment decision and we were off.



We put in at Hidden Lake with the destination of Community Park. We figured a well known route was our best option with the limited visibility. As you can see in the picture, we had our headlamps on and were ready to start another chapter of life on the Duper. When there was no tree cover the lights were not all that necessary even though we had no moon light. However, when we were in the Arboretum, the light was necessary. Remember how moths and bugs congregate around porch lights at home and around lanterns while camping? Guess what? They like headlamps on the river also!!!

A few swallowed bugs were washed down with a couple Fat Tire brews while we held each other and watched the fireworks being ignited at the Bandit game. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Friday evening.

Mad River Canoe trip extends streak to 21

The recent rain on Saturday night boosted the river to a canoe-able 5.3 so Pat and Dan took out the Mad River Canoe for the obligatory August float. With the streak extended to 21 months our next mission was to make sure we did not get stuck in downtown Naperville. The feel and float is definatley different from the kayak to the canoe and there was a time or two that we felt as if we might get swamped (stuck on a rock perpendicluar to the water flow for instance). Despite the oppressive heat and the near mishap, the crowd in Naperville got to its feet to observe the skilled oarsmen manuever through the obstacles as if their boat was a hot knife cutting through butter. Thanks for the encouragement, girls!

Kayaks battle the wind & waves

July 14th, 2007 we had our biggest single day group with 6 kayakers using 2 tandems and 2 singles. The day had an ominous feel to it with what appeared to be some threatening clouds and there was talk of shortening our planned trip. Kent and Dan declared we would stay the course and down to Silver Springs State park we headed. As we unloaded our gear a family group was taking off in 20 canoes loaded with plenty of beer. I was sure we would see more of them during the day! After our designated drivers returned from our takeout point we headed out onto the Fox. Chuck and Brandon took the two singles, Dan and Kent hopped in Dan's tandem and Adam and Kevin navigated Kent's tandem.

The day was beautiful with bright sun and a flowing river (unlike's last week's drag fest on the Duper). With an expected journey of approximately 11 miles and an estimated time of 3 or more hours we set off. This stretch of the Fox is very wide, has numerous islands and has very little man-made interference to disturb the shoreline. We did only see one blue heron which surprised me some. Just short of the 5 mile point we stopped on a little island for some sandwhiches and some beer (thanks Chuck). Kent and Dan switched boats with Chuck and Brandon for the 2nd half of the trip.

Altough we had commented throughout the day how windy it was and we were constantly looking for the ideal position in the river to avoid the wind, none of us was prepared for the hurricane-like winds that would smack us upside the head at about mile 9. The river was straight and the wind perfectly postioned right in our faces, creating whitecaps and difficult paddling conditions. It felt like we were paddling up Lake Michigan in the annual Macinac Island race. We all remained in good spirits despite the pulsating pain in the shoulders and lived to finish the 11.8 mile stretch in 3 hours and 55 minutes. It was nice to get on another river and enjoy the company of some new paddlers. I wonder how this trip would be with little or no wind.

July 8, 2007 - Hot, sunny and nonexistent?

The temperature was in the 90's and the gauge was low but what the heck? Off we were to the put in north of North avenue with the destination of Mack Road. One problem, though. As you can see from the 1st picture there was no river at Mack Rd. This brought back some bad memories (can you really have BAD memories when kayaking?) of Kent and my trip last year when we unexpectedly ran out of river at Gary Mills road. Since the river did not exist at Mack Rd we went north to Gary Mills road. The river was back from last year's absence and it looks like they made some nice improvements. Since this was our revised takeout spot we did not experience it first hand.

The beginning of this stretch and the end were very nice, river levels were ok and the scenery was great. This is one of the most secluded parts of the river and at times it feels as if you were in the deepest parts of a national forest....or one of the last trips down a river that was due to be flooded and made into a lake (did I hear Kent squeal like a pig?). The middle section was low and we had to drag the boats on occasion. We saw 4 blue heron in flight all at once and a fifth flew by shortly after. A father and 2 boys were walking the river and one of the kids caught a decent size carp with his hands!!!

Again, I plea for rain!!!