Feb, 24th 2007 - the streak hits 15!

The temperature was about 28 degrees with a south wind in our face. The river gauge has been frozen on 6.3 feet the last few weeks but we figured with the recent snow melt there should be no issue and we should not get stuck . It is bad enough when you need to step into the river when it is warm. Dressed appropriately, Pat and I put in at Community park with a takeout destination of Royce Rd.

The air temperature was not a factor but we quickly discovered the river appeared to be very low and the prospect of getting stuck was a distinct possibility. Shortly after we passed Kent's work (and called him to let him know we were floating by...we missed you buddy!), our worst fear was realized. Just south of 63rd there we sat in the middle of a 6" deep river. Al tough I had speculated that with my additional insulation, I could out wait Pat and he would be the one to give-in and step into the frigid water, it was Kayakman Dan that plunged his feet into the icy water. A couple of tugs and a few wet steps later, we were back "floatin' down the Dupe".

The things you do for your little brother!!

My recently waterproofed boots and my Goretex socks worked quite well, not that I want to try that again. Other than getting stuck a few times, the trip was uneventful without any significant events.

Check out "My photos on Flickr" in the "Other sites to see" section to the right.

February 2007....a deep freeze

February has been an extremely cold month with temperatures dipping below zero. We are in the 2nd to last weekend in the month and my fear is our consecutive month kayaking streak will come to an end. Both Kent and Pat talked to me today about kayaking so I am not alone in the quest to keep the streak alive. The west branch appears to have many areas of frozen river, however, as you can see from the pictures taken today, the east branch seems to be flowing ice-free.

The forecast next week is for upper 30's and rain so we should be good to go. Although it will be pushing the steak to the end towards the end of a month, it won't be as bad as the miserable conditions Pat and I endured on the last Sunday in April 2006.

Hopefully I will have an entry next week summarizing how we kept the streak alive!!

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

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.