Gunshots in the Wind

I headed out to Chain -O- Lakes State Park Sunday for a little paddle across Grass Lake into Lake Marie. Like many trips in paddling, the plan changed. I arrived at the park to find that it was closed and only open for hunters. I was turned away by the ranger, but was reminded that there was a launch just a few miles north on the river.

I arrived at the 'new plan' and unloaded. I knew that wind was going to be a huge factor, so I was just going to play with it and see what direction made the most sense. Once I got out onto the river, I found that the wind was headed UP stream. It had some pretty good gusts so I decided to paddle into the wind rather than hope that I could fight it on the way back.

I only got a few hundred feet before I got spun around. I figured I would take my chances and head up stream with the wind and figure it out on the way back. I paddled about a mile before the wind changed again. Now I was paddling into it. Again, I spun around and paddled back to the channel where I parked.

Once I got to the channel, I was about ready to leave. But I talked myself into staying. I had traveled about 45 minutes, setup my GoPro on the bow, had food and water and was warm..... I was going to PADDLE! I buckled down and took some strong slow strokes into the wind.

I was gaining ground, so it looked like I was going to venture on. The wind wasn't the only factor as I headed south. I was now venturing into the closed park that I stopped at earlier. While you could hear gunshots in the park, none were close enough to me concerned about. It was eerie to hear the 'pop pop' in the blowing wind. Those were the only sounds that were out there that day. It was a little tense.

The beauty of the rivers is, even when it is windy as heck out, you can find calm spots as you round the bends. Most of the river in this section was nice and calm. I was moving pretty effortlessly most of the trip. About a mile into my southbound trip, I hit the wind again. I surrendered and let the wind take me back to the calm water. The gunshots were getting closer and there were a few that scared me into ducking. Not that they were fired in my direction, but they seemed very close.

I put on about 4 miles on a trip that almost didn't happen. It is always a nice reward when you get off the water and are happy that you went, rather than feeling you wasted your morning. I also went straight to Wal-Mart to get an orange hat.

Morning Paddle

After about a month off the water, I finally had some time to get back out there. I missed the last two weeks of great weather so I had to settle for "pretty good" weather. My spare time came to me at about 7 am so I ducked out of reality and hit the Fox River nice and early.

I passed through some sprinkles on the way out to Miller Riverfront Park in Mchenry but nothing that scared me away. I unloaded, portaged, and dropped in. As soon as I pushed away from shore, the sky opened up and it rained. I was prepared for the chilly water splashing on me in my rain gear, so it actually raining on me wasn't too bad. Luckily it stopped as quickly as it started.

I headed north from Miller Park towards Downtown Mchenry. There was NO wind and NO boats out there so the water was perfect. It was as if the river missed me and wanted to welcome me back with the perfect paddling conditions. I was sipping coffee and watching the birds fly by on water that was a mirror. It was well worth the wait.

I paddled up just past the rt 120 bridge before turning back. It wasn't a long trip, but it was enough to relax me and get me excited about getting out there again.

Rainy Day Blues......

It has rained for about 3 days straight here in Northern Illinois. It kinda puts a damper on ...... everything. With 72+ hours of gloomy weather, there is no better escape than to PADDLE! I have my canoe strapped to my truck all the time, and it's days like yesterday that that convenience comes in handy. There was a break in the rain and I decided to take that opportunity and hit the water. I got 2 miles in before the park closed and that was plenty of time to forget about the miserable weather.

I dropped in at the Mchenry Dam Park off River Rd. You can launch at the north or south side of the dam. This trip sent me south of the dam. On the south side, you can see the beauty of the dam. There has been a dam at this section since 1907, but I believe sections of the dam that you see now date back to the 1930's. There are a few different sections of the dam and lock system, so you can spend some time watching it. It is pretty cool to see.

Headed south from the dam, you have about 3,000 feet of No Wake. So even in heavy boating season, you have a nice distance that you can paddle and not be bothered by waves and craziness. On this trip, there was no craziness. That's because there was no one around. No one.

The water was perfect and there were barely any noises at all. I stopped and let the current take me and there was hardly even birds making noises. It was awesome.

The colors are starting to change and the boat traffic is starting to drop. This makes for a perfect time for paddlers to take over the Fox River and Chain of Lakes. Once the temps drop a little more, morning paddles are going to be breath taking with the steam coming off the calm river. I can't wait! See ya out there!!

Bangs Lake, Wauconda

This time of year adds another factor onto paddling....daylight. An after work paddle is a great way to end the day. Relieve some stress and wind down before heading home. But there is no time for a big trip. I don't mind paddling into the dark, but a lot of the parks close at sunset or dusk. So, it isn't so much a problem of being on the water, it is more of a concern about the truck in the LOT!

With the dissipating light at the end of the day, I have found myself looking for smaller areas to paddle. I have been hitting some of the local lakes that are tucked around the area. One of them is Bangs Lake in Wauconda, IL.

Bangs Lake is a pretty popular lake and it is surrounded by homes. You are not going to get the 'nature' feel you do of a lake in the middle of nowhere, but sometimes paddling home lined lakes is more interesting. You get to see a little taste of someone else's life. For me, that taste makes me jealous and dreamy. I would love to live on a lake like this. Drop the canoe in, paddle whenever I want.....and not have to worry about getting back to the park district parking lot before the gates close..lol

There are a lot of pontoon boats and power boats on this lake. I have heard that the lake is no wake until 10am and then it is open boating. I was out on a Tuesday evening and there were maybe 5 boats out there. I caught some wake from a wakeboarder, but it was nothing that I couldn't handle. I realize that I am a small boat out with wake setters, so I know my place. There are also a ton of kayaks and canoes around though. One apartment complex had kayak parking all along the beach. It was like being back at Canoecopia!

Once the few power boats would pass, the water was very calm. There was a good breeze when I was out, but it wasn't anything that effected much. The lake is an easy paddle. You can stay in the 'no wake' all the way around and not have to worry about hitting bottom. There were a few times when I threw some weeds in the boat with the paddles though.

The highlight of any paddle trip is the sunset. If you can work a sunset into a trip, it makes the trip that much better. It is always the cherry. I paddled right into the setting sun as I came around the north side of the lake. It was a perfect end to the day.

History Alert!

Bangs Lake was used in this scene from the original Blues Brothers movie. If you look real hard, you may recognize the beach while out there!

I parked at Cook Park off Main Street (old rand road), but a park district personnel told me that parking was also allowed at the small park to the south of Cook Park. That park gets you right up to the lake.

Lake in the Hills, IL

This past week I paddled "Lake in the Hills". Based on the LITH website, I think the actual lake is called Woods Creek Lake. There is a permit required to use the lake and most of the beaches and access are gated......except Nockels Park and LaBahn Hain House. There is a parking lot and launch at this location. There is a sign that states there is a user fee and the rates for residents and non residents. I searched on the LITH website about the user fee and it mostly says you must be a resident. I just risked it and went.

It's a great lake to kill some time on. I thought that it would be a little more "northern woods" feel, with steep horizons and a lot of trees, but it wasn't really. It still had a woody feeling though. I went late in the evening and there were only a few fishermen out. The water was very smooth.

At the far Northeast side of the lake there is a spillway that is clearly marked. At the other end of the lake, the water drops to a few inches deep and turns into a small creek. The police station is also located at that end of the lake.

There is a nice little island park towards the south end of the lake that you can paddle around. There is something about paddling under bridges that I just NEED to feel. So, yes.... I paddled under the small foot bridge and almost got stuck....but it was worth it.

As I was heading back to the launch, the boy scouts were coming out on the lake. The parking lot was full and there was a lot of activity with the scouts. I was able to slip out as if I was never there in the first place.

I am not advising you to avoid the user fee and paddle this lake...but I didn't have any issues.

Hitting Rock Bottom

I am always up for finding new places to paddle. While I love the areas that I do paddle, I always am curious in seeing new sights and not paddling the same sections too frequently. That is why I headed down further on the Fox River to "BlackHawk Park" in Elgin. Well, after about 20 minutes of looking for the place, I found that they changed the name to Jon J. Duerr park. I got back to the river and unloaded just in time to see another canoe headed down the river. It was a rental group. I asked them how far they were headed and how the trip was so far and they chatted as they floated by the launch. I should have asked them if they hit bottom, but I wasn't thinking.

My plan was to paddle around a little island just off the launch and then head upstream to the dam. It looked like a nice trip for the afternoon. I got us pushed off and noticed that it was pretty shallow.

We were able to float down around the south tip of the island and make our way to the center of the river. I thought if we got out to the center, we would catch some deeper water. It never happened. I was out in the center of the wide river, and I could not get my paddle half in the water without hitting bottom. We limped it up around the island, then headed back to the launch. Once I was about 100 feet from the launch, I got out and walked it in. It was about calf deep water. I was just hoping I wasn't going to startle a snapping turtle.

Back at the launch was a couple watching me walk back in. They mentioned they had a tandem kayak and they were watching to see if it was deep enough. Obviously it was not. I told them they could walk across the river and they were shocked.

This looks like a great section of the river. There are some islands out there and it is very rustic. You have to hit it when the water is high though... and along with high water, I think you are going to get a strong current right here. I will have to check it out in the spring.

Shopping Cart Run?

When my daughter and I go out on the water, we always see the great Blue Heron. It is a given. Sometimes we see so many, we count them. There always seems to be something that makes the trip interesting. Once, I counted 30 herons. But it may not always be Herons. We count swimming beavers, canoes, kayaks, and whatever else we come across on a continual basis. This time it was shopping carts. We counted 5 ditched shopping carts near or in the river. The last time I traveled this section, there were only 3, so the record was beat this time.

Another interesting part of this section is the bridges. There is a Metra bridge that passes over the river while also passing UNDER rt 20. As we were talking the shopping cart picture, we heard the train coming down the tracks. It was eerie to see something that you know is so huge and powerful pass over you so close. We were in such a peaceful state of mind and this massive machine barrels through it. It was very strange and slightly spooky to experience.

Further up the river is the casino boat. This time there were some folks enjoying the fresh air and possibly trying to forget how much money they lost inside. There were quite a few fishermen out also. We stuck more to the center of the river as to not disrupt any of the lines.

Once we got to the island park near the dam, my little skipper bailed on me. I let her run around on the island as I paddled up to the other side. She danced around and ran over the bridges as if she was on her own private island. I think she had more fun running around than she did floating on the canoe with me. She would not admit to it.....but I think she did.

We spun around and headed back to the launch. As we did we caught the attention of some photographers. One guy was taking some shots of a couple models on the edge of the island and another was on the piers near the river boat. I don't mind getting photoed while out there, but I never know if I should smile and wave, pose, ignore them, or splash around like I am drowning. They always seem to get so excited as I paddle by, like taking pictures of the sunset and the flowing water was getting boring.... YES, A PADDLER!

Finding Dunns Lake

With I announce this quest last week on the Facebook page, and a few days later I made the trek. I just remembered that this lake was there. It is part of the chain o lakes system, so you do need a FWA sticker ($10) but once you get a taste of the chain, you will use it all the time.

I set out from Lighthouse Marina again just north of Pistakee Lake. I cut straight across and headed into Nippersink Lake via the rt 12 bridge. As soon as you make it under that rt 12 bridge, there is a cove to the west. In that cove is a little bridge you can pass under to get to Nippersink Lake, or you can come around the side of the island at the end of the no wake. I went around the island this time. Dunns Lake is hidden on the west side of Nippersink Lake. If you don't know it is there or are not looking for it, it will look like a small channel filled with homes.

I came up the channel at the far southwest side of Nippersink Lake. It was a very quite channel and there were some lily pads growing that added to the serenity. The paddle into Dunns Lake is nice and easy. Once you get into Dunns Lake, you can see the whole lake right away. I paddled around and then hit the small channel that is at the West side of the lake. It turns into a private channel around the bend, but it is still a nice peaceful channel to paddle. The color of the water on Dunns Lake is very different than the rest of the chain. It was a bright green color rather than the dull brown that the rest of the lakes have. It was very pretty.

Leaving Dunns Lake, I took the first channel that shoots out East. That took me to the North side of Nippersink. In that channel I came across some Beavers. I forget how big those guys are until I see them again. As I exited the channel I came across 2 swimming towards me. I set my paddle down and just coasted towards them as they swam towards me. One cut across my bow and slapped the water to my right and the other swam passed very close on the left. It was very cool to see them so close.

Back on Nippersink Lake, I paddled north to the Grass Lake Bridge. At this time, the sun was setting and I popped my light on. Once I got up to Grass Lake Bridge it was dark out. The paddle home was quiet and a little spooky. That spooky feeling added to the uniqueness of the trip though.

As I came down the East side of Nippersink Lake, I saw a cloud filled with lightning far to the east. It wasn't coming my way, but it was eerie to see so much lighting in the sky. I stayed way over to the east in order to stay out of the main drag of late fishermen racing around. There was one portion that I was vulnerable and that was at the No Wake gap between Nippersink and Fox Lake. I came into the no wake from the North and paddled as hard as I could to the south. I wasn't near any boats, but my eyes were wide and my head was on a swivel just to make sure that I was alone in the area. The rest of the trip was peaceful in the dark. I was never bothered by wakes or close calls. It was a great trip and I would encourage you to go check out Dunns Lake if you get the chance.

16 Miles of Nippersink Creek

I have been wanting to take this day trip for a while now and I attempted it a few weeks ago, but got stopped at the dam. That was my Wonder Lake trip. This time I planned it out and made the move. I paddled Nippersink Creek from Keystone landing (Just North of Wonder Lake) to Pistakee Lake. The trip was about 16 miles and took about 6 hours. It was all downstream, so paddling was not tough.

My little paddling buddy and I got dropped off at Keystone Landing and we started down stream. The section from Keystone to the bike bridge is all prairie with tall banks. There were a lot of flowers in bloom so that made this section very bright and summery. It was a wonderful start. There are some "small rapids" in this section too. This was our first time navigating quick water so that was exciting for us. It was a little unnerving seeing the size of some of the rocks that made the rapids. It was fun to read the water and guide the 16 foot canoe through the ripples.

Once you pass the bike bridge, you head into a wooded section of the trip. From Keystone to Pioneer Landing, you are in Glacial Park. You will see that there are very little trees blocking the river. It is well kept and an easy section to handle. Most of the rental trips head between these to points. This was the only area that I passed other paddlers.

Once passed Pioneer Landing, there is another shallow rapid section. I snagged the bottom in this section and had to stick a foot out to scoot through. I was now out of Glacial Park and there were more obstacles to overcome. The creek passes through a dairy farm and there are 2 fence lines that pass through the creek. I had heard about this and was a little concerned about the barbed wire. I did not know what to expect. Once we came to the first fence, I realized that they were not going to be an issue. I have also heard that you may be joined by cows in the creek in this section. We saw a lot of hoof marks, but no cows today.

A lot of this area is in and out of the trees. The creek runs pretty quick and there are so low parts. The water seemed to be at a normal level when we went. Getting closer to Lyle C Thomas Landing, you start seeing some houses on the creek. There are a few that are absolutely amazing.

After Lyle C., it is about 4 miles to the canoe base. In this stretch, we had to jump a few logs. This was the first time I had to do this also. I had seen it in some Youtube videos, so I was fairly calm in doing so, but I was still a little nervous. I got the bow of the canoe over the downed tree and then scooted it until I could transfer my weight to the other side of the canoe. Much like a teeter totter. There was one tree that we hopped that was in some quick moving water. The boat wanted to turn sideways on me, but we were able to stay upright and get over the log.

Once you get to the Canoe Base, it is clear sailing. There are no more tight turns, no more downed trees and no more tight passages. It is just calm, slow moving water. There are a lot of homes in the section from the Canoe Base to the lakes. You will know that you are getting closer to the lakes too because you will start seeing pontoon and motor boats docked behind people's homes. As you exit Nippersink Creek, you come into a no wake zone. I passed through the boat traffic and headed to Lighthouse Marina. It is straight across from the mouth of the Nippersink. It is a great spot to get out at. Once you are in the lakes, you can spend hours and hours out there if you want. After the 6 hour trip down the creek, I was ready to put the paddle down and soak in the memories that we had created that day.