PADDLING THE
DES PLAINES RIVER
The Des Plaines River is somewhat narrow
up in northern Lake County and can be very shallow in low water conditions,
but widens and deepens as you progress south to and through Cook County.
The Lake County Forest Preserve District owns over 85% of the land abutting
the river in Lake County, so most of the scenery is forest and devoid of
obvious development. The Forest Preserve District of Cook County controls
somewhere near 50% of the land along the river in Cook County.
The major obstacle to paddlers is the series
of dams. Some can be paddled over during higher water levels, as this one
could if the water were higher, because V-shaped boat notches are cut out
of the concrete dam (near the right shore on this dam south of Route 60).
In lower water levels, the spillway (expanse of slanted concrete) and some
posts below the spillway could harm boat or boater. And portaging is difficult
due to overgrowth on the banks and very steep sides on most banks. Negotiating
dams when paddling upriver would be even more difficult, so I always paddle
between dams which gives round trips of 10 miles or more .
The Annual
Des Plaines River Canoe Marathon has been in existence for nearly 5
decades and over 1500 entries paddled in 2002 and 2003 combined. Despite
the huge number of boats, the start is so organized (with 10 boats starting
every 2 minutes) that all goes off like clockwork. Its distance of 19.5
miles can be daunting to inexperienced paddlers. Above is the staging area
upriver of the starting line in Libertyville at the Oak Spring Road canoe
launch. Other canoe launch areas in Lake County are Wadsworth Road, Van
Patten Woods, Independence Grove, and Route 60. You could also launch from
the banks in many of the forest preserve areas. I have photos of the race
here.
This was one of the few places where no other
boats were in sight. Though it is crowded, noisy, and exciting on race day,
paddling here any other day is a very solitary experience, and the only
other sign of life is generally great blue heron and white egrets and occasional
people on the shore.
Prairie
State Canoeists is an organization offering many paddling outings
see www.chicagopaddling.org
for Chicago area waterways for paddling/fishing, and for info on dams.