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Urban kayaking - the Chicago River: north branch
So I had a party to attend at a co-workers house up on the northwest side last night. Being that I live on the river, and the fact that my co-worker lives real close to the river as well, I decided that kayaking the 11 miles up to her house made the most sense. So I set off around noon for a 5 and a half hour adventure paddling upstream along the Chicago river from downtown all the way up to kostner/foster. Most people think of the Chicago river exclusively in terms of the magnificent skyscraper canyons of downtown, but the river is a whole lot more than just that, with very interesting industrial, residential and eventually even natural feels as it progresses north through the city. The purpose of this tour is to expose some of the lesser seen parts of the river, but of course I have to include some obligatory shots of the canyons of downtown.
in case you missed, here is a link to the north branch thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=160007 map http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5391/mapzl4.jpg 1. Unloading my gear at the put-in by LSD http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/9619/01setupkg1.jpg 2. Pulling all the kayak parts out of the backpack http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/577/02setupon1.jpg 3. The frame goes together http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2995/03setuprx6.jpg 4. What a fantastic put-in http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/570/04putinmp1.jpg 5. Aqua http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/66/05aquavl2.jpg 6. Trump http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/3168/06trumpbs9.jpg 7. Another angle http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1170/07trumpvo9.jpg 8. A nice collection of classics http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5342/08wabashdj6.jpg 9. Home http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7...inacityci7.jpg 10. River bridges http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/3...bridgesxm1.jpg 11. River skyscrapers http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/5976/11reidxf0.jpg 12. Large and in charge http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9...isemartji6.jpg 13. Now we reach wolf point, the nexus of the 3 chicago river branches. the south branch veers off to the left, but we’re curving around the bend to the right to head up the north branch http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/5...lfpointgo2.jpg 14. Turning around and looking back down the main branch http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2...nbranchfo5.jpg 15. The south branch canyon. We’ll revisit it on another tour http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/4...hbranchix5.jpg 16. The kinzie street railroad bridge. This bridge is so low to the water that it is always kept in the open position. http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9274/16kinzieki4.jpg 17. The operator’s house http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/176/17kinzieia5.jpg 18. Sarah palin’s bridge to nowhere? http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8063/18kinzieeq2.jpg 19. Rickety pier connecting bridge protection pilings http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4...pilingsgt5.jpg 20. Harry weese’s funky little river cottages http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5...erhomesbx9.jpg 21. The atrocious east bank club with the better than average park kingbury condo tower in the background http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8...ankclubrx1.jpg 22. Riverfront townhouse with a below average condo tower http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9...nhousesus6.jpg 23. The cool little cottage like bridge house for the grand avenue bridge http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3...gehousexd4.jpg 24. Old warehouse converted to condos http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/6131/24condostz0.jpg 25. The large printing press building for the Chicago tribune is dead ahead. It marks the point where the river starts to feel less “skyscrapery” and more industrial. http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1...tribunefz5.jpg 26. More newish condos http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2645/26condoskz5.jpg 27. These two make quite a lovely pair http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/9427/27condosqb0.jpg 28. Newish riverfront park with yet more condo towers http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2320/28condospt7.jpg 29. The Chicago avbenue bridge up ahead http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8...chicagofj1.jpg 30. The magnificent old montgomery wards warehouse. It’s been turned into a massive mixed-use facility http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/851/30wardsym3.jpg 31. Looking back at wards http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8071/31wardsuh6.jpg 32. Now we’re at goose island where the north branch starts to show its industrial heritage. We’re now entering a part of the river that you won’t see on most of the architectural river tour boats. http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8...eislandae8.jpg 33. Industry http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/4...ndustryuf3.jpg 34. Ditto http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/4...ndustrynm1.jpg 35. A handsome old warehouse building since converted to offices. http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5...rehousepe0.jpg 36. Turning around we are treated to a nice skyline perspective http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8...skylineez1.jpg 37. Summer is officially over http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/7...ailboatnt0.jpg 38. Approaching division street bridge http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4...generaltw6.jpg 39. Mighty sears always watching over his city http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8468/39searspq1.jpg 40. More industrial structures http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6356/40mortonns1.jpg 41. The new cable stayed north avenue bridge. The river gets really wide at this point to act as a turning basin for the large barges that still navigate this narrow river. http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/8...havenueyn2.jpg 42. A cool old defunct railroad bridge http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4...ailroadei8.jpg 43. Brand new SoNo tower. He looks lonely. He needs some friends. http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8227/43sonotx6.jpg 44. Industry is cool http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/1...ndustryif7.jpg 45. It’s really friggin cool http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7...ndustryxg3.jpg 46. Turning around, there’s trump tower in the distance http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4...skylineif9.jpg 47. Mountains of scrap metal stacked up along the river bank http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/2903/47trashcd9.jpg 48. The courtland street bridge is so cute. It’s like a little shrunk down version of it’s bigger brothers downtown. http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5...urtlandnt0.jpg 49. A skyline of smokestacks http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/380...kestacknk7.jpg 50. The union pacific north line railroad bridge. I wanted to catch a picture of a metra train crossing it, but they only run every 2 hours on weekends, and I still had 6 more miles to paddle http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6...dbridgeyf2.jpg 51. A general scene in this section of the river http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/7...generalcu4.jpg 52. The fullerton avenue bridge. This used to be the first non-movable bridge on the north branch, meaning that north of here was off limits to taller commercial vessels and sailboats, but the new cable stayed bridge back at north avenue is now the first non-movable bridge on the north branch http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/3...llertonnb5.jpg 53. The nice red arches of the damen bridge http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4715/53damenzo2.jpg 54. The river opens up real wide again just south of the diversy bridge http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9...diversyyl3.jpg 55. These really old Chicago public housing projects occupy what is now prime riverfront property. http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/183...housingrd8.jpg 56. Newish condo development north of diversy http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/524/56condoskj8.jpg 57. General river scene. It’s beginning to look a bit more natural with tree lined banks instead of 10 foot high steel revetment walls. http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1...generalka8.jpg 58. New condos under construction at Belmont http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4...belmontvu8.jpg 59. A nice townhouse development with a huge pier. Why aren’t the people who live here out paddling? It makes no sense. http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3...nhousesrt4.jpg 60. An electrical substation just south of Addison http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/5...stationbf8.jpg 61. The Addison bridge http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/9228/61addisonep2.jpg 62. This was a cool old shipwreck on the river bank north of Addison that caught my eye. I wish I had caught a close up of the engine. It was old, OLD school. I have no idea how long this thing has been rotting away here. http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/1882/62wreckza6.jpg 63. Gordon tech high school just north of Addison http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/9...dontechaw9.jpg 64. Nice fall colors starting to come through http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/5...generalqi1.jpg 65. Good to know. I’ll keep it under advisement http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1...warninggn6.jpg 66. But I guess the water ain’t too polluted for the ducks http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7941/66duckei1.jpg 67. Now the river takes on a decidedly residential feel with city house lots backing right up onto the river banks with docks for recreational boats http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/4335/67housesdr2.jpg 68. More homes backing up to the river. http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/7726/68housesfq5.jpg 69. This looks like a perfect deck for millertime http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1178/69decknw2.jpg 70. The bungalow belt http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9...ngalowsct3.jpg 71. The builder of this home had the good sense to allow it to face the river http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/3637/71houseqm8.jpg 72. Ohhh, there’s even a 2-flat or two in the mix here and there. Cool. http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9...twoflatoe5.jpg 73. A brown line el train crosses the river http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/9...eltrainfx0.jpg 74. The Lawrence avenue aerator. From what I understand this thing aerates the water in the river so all of our little aqua friends can breathe. There are danger signs to stay away because apparently when it’s on the aerated water it puts out is so unbouyant that boats can sink like a rock in it. http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/1...aeratoriy2.jpg 75. The north branch dam and waterfall. The waterway to the right is the north shore channel which eventually ends up in Wilmette by the bahai temple. But I’m not going the way, I’m heading up the north branch so I have to portage around the dam for the final two miles of my paddle http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/4381/75damdr8.jpg 76. Upriver of the dam, the river is decidedly smaller, shallower, cleaner, and much faster running. I wish I had more pics of this stretch, but the speed of the water that I was paddling against was so quick that I did not have any time to snap shots, I did get a couple though. This stretch of the river was also littered with small shallow rocky rapids that I could not get through, so there was A LOT of getting out of the boat and dragging it through the water. This stretch of the river was cool to see, but I can’t say that I would recommend it for paddling, it’s just too shallow with to many unavigable rapids. http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6744/80footad3.jpg 77. Strange architecture cantilevered over the river just west of the kedzie bridge. http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2...tileverle2.jpg 78. More unusual architecture. I don’t know what complex these buildings are a part of, but they were cool to see from the vanatage point of a river explorer who just happened upon them out of the blue. http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/6...ylindersx9.jpg 79. Von stueben high school http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/3...nstubenxs3.jpg 80. And now entering into cook county forest preserve land, the last stretch of my paddle looked mostly like this. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5...upriverdf1.jpg Well, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed going on my little river adventure with me. Of course, when I finally got to my co-worker’s party with my kayak, every one pretty much came to the conclusion that I’m nuts, but i'm not crazy, i just really, REALLY like kayaking. |
Man...that looks like fun there. No restrictions?
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Was it hard to paddle upstream? Great photos. It would freak me out to be in such a tiny little kayak right next to huge barges and other boats.
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Wow - you've got some stamina!
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Awesome, I used to do this with my father in our inflatable 12 foot dinghy. It was awesome, we never actually made it to chicago, but we did paddle the Des Planes, and the north branch of the Chicago River where the temple is located. Awesome sport, we used to take our little cooler with some drinks and a couple sandwiches, a battery operated radio, and sometimes, fishing gear. Awesome, we even had the courage one day to head into Lake Michigan, in Lake Forest, my father was actually very SCARED, but i decided to go snorkling. Awesome experiance let me tell you!!! good job, maybe in the near future, (not near, winter is about to be here) we can get together, and paddle the Chicago River, im hoping to buy a inflatable canoe or kayak.
Congratulations!!!!!! |
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Incredible pictures Steely, thanks for the tour and education!
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hooray for the urban kayak phenomenon! second time I've seen kayak-perspective urban photos on here... Chicago is pretty neat in that it has a rather significant yet somewhat narrow downtown river with skyscrapers on both sides creating a river canyon effect
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Wow, 11 miles. I did the Sunset architecture tour through kayak chicago this past spring. I think that was around 5 miles... I was sore for a week.
You got some great pictures. The perspective that low in the water is amazing. I had wanted to bring a camera when I went, but was convinced I would end up in the drink. |
Now THAT'S a tour!
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Nice pictures though. |
Fantastic tour, looks like a blast!
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Excellent pictures! After being in CHicago last month, and really enjoying the river tour that my friends and I went on, it is nice to see what lines the river in places that we didn't go and/or I've never been to. Goose Island seemed insteresting when I looked at it on a map (we were considering going to the Goose Island Brewery while there), and it was nice to see the river scenes from there.
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Very cool Steely.
I just got off a charter, and we went up the north branch all the way to Diversey. I might throw and image in here of it if that's cool. |
thanks for all that trouble. great tour
yuck to the no human body contact |
you are a trip :)
cool perspective. |
Have always wanted to see the river north! Thanks for taking such great photos of it!
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Holy crap Dan. I thought I was crazy for riding my bike from Palatine to downtown. An 11 mile paddle in a kayak?
But those are the experiences to remember. Nice photos, thanks. |
Meh, if you paddle the Calumet, then I'll be impressed. ;)
Very cool Steely. If I might hijack your thread for a second... that round building you photographed (it's at North Park University). I used to go past there and think, "Oh, strange little Goldberg rip-off building." But then, I found a reference to the fact that Goldberg actually had done some work for North Park... not sure if it was built. So, the question is, could this acutally be the Goldberg or some bastardized version of it? I never had a chance to look into it further. If anyone wants to do some digging or knows the answer, please PM me or let me know you replied here! |
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