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!