The Bridges of Boone Creek

The theme of this trip was BRIDGES! In the 1 mile stretch (one way) I passed under 6 bridges. What was cool was each one was a little different. They also got smaller as I went deeper into a neighborhood and further up Boone Creek. Now, even if you live in Mchenry, you still may never of heard of Boone Creek. It is a tiny little creek that connects to the Fox River just south of rt 120. I launched from Watertower Marina and headed south into the creek.

There is a newly renovated area right as you enter the creek called Riverwalk. It is a very nice section of the river and there is a fountain in the channel during the summer season. The rocks that they placed at the river bank make for a very scenic paddle.

The bridge at Green Street is pretty cool. It is low and pretty wide so you kinda feel like you are paddling through a cave. It is very calm and quite in this section of the creek too. Once you go past Green street, you start to get really hungry since all you can smell is food from the local restaurants. As you come up to the second 120 bridge, the scenery goes south.

The creek gets really shallow as you go under 120 for the 2nd time. There is a channel though that zig zags back and forth up the creek. It was pretty easy to follow the water flow and the channel. This section winds through a little neighborhood and the creek splits.

This section heads west and gets very shallow. I was able to get under this last bridge but not much further than that. The water was moving quick and it was only about 5 inches deep. It would be a great section to pole, but I have never tried that. I am now interested in practicing this summer though!

The trip back through the neighborhood was very quick. The current was moving and I was able to stay in the deeper channel.

This is what I was talking about when I mentioned that the scenery went "south" after the rt 120 bridge. This is in the older, downtown section of Mchenry and obviously isn't a frequently traveled section of the creek. The hill side was full of trash and there were old tires and debris at the shoreline.

You can see in the center of the picture above, a submerged wheelbarrow that seems to have been there for a LONG time. It was not the prettiest section I have paddled, but it was interesting to be in "urban" area like that.

Once back out on the Fox River, I made my way back to Watertower Marine. A lot of these marinas have been here for decades and it is cool to see that they have not changed much. Miller Dream Marine is one of the buildings that look like a movie set. It's cool to paddle past and feel that you went back in time. There are a lot of cool sections on the Fox River that have some great history to them.

Back at Watertower marina, it is easy to get in and out of the water. There is never anyone there so it doesn't seem like you will get hassled.