Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn
BTW, Dan, have you considered doing any of the other Rivers in the Chicago area such as the Des Plaines, Salt Creek, DuPage, Chain-o-Lakes and the Fox?
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i've paddled a good stretch of the des plaines river up in lake county, but it runs exclusively through forest preserve land up there, so there's nothing urban to photograph, though it is beautiful if you're into all of that nature, birds, and trees crap.
i've also paddled a chunk of the fox river between south elgin and st. charles, but the big problem with doing long epic paddles on the fox is the presence of all of those damn dams. the dams themselves aren't the problem (they can be easily portaged around) but downriver from many of the dams the fox tends to get very very shallow, sometimes for long distances, which can be really annoying when you draggin you're boat through ankle-deep water for half a mile until you can find a channel deep enough to paddle in. those dams aren't even necessary anymore, i wish they just get rid of them already.
though i do frequently ride the fox river bike trail from crystal lake down to aurora, taking my folding bike on metra to get to and from downtown. i did a big picture thread of one of my rides out there from last fall. the link is in my sig below, but i'm pretty sure you've already seen it.
chain-o-lakes would be a lot of fun, but it can get pretty overcrowded with power boat idiots. i also don't know if there are any public access put-ins on the lakes within walking distance of a metra stop.