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!