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.

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.