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.