Wednsday Night Paddle by Jo Ann Fritz

My wetsuit is still dripping, but I must post our Wednesday night paddle report before everyone goes to bed!

It was a lovely night out on the Fox shared by the company of Bill, Doug, Patty, Linda, Joe, and Doug B.. Every Wednesday, there are some things that are always the same, but every week, there's always something different. It's fun to get to know the river so well.

We were anticipating the herons and egrets nesting and sure enough, mother herons are on their nests. It won't be long and we'll hear the squawking of the baby herons.

As we paddled around the island, one visually challenged member thought she saw a muskrat...but, alas, it was only the Dundee Ducks playing Halloween a little off season.....however, it must have been a premonition, for on our homeward paddle, Doug noticed two beavers on the bank of the river. They ambled slowly enough so we could all get a closer look. Then our fearless leader couldn't resist the urge to get right up close and got a tail slap as the beaver headed underwater to get away from the invaders. Not willing to give up so easily, our fearless leader continued his quest and followed the little bugger as he headed up stream and emerged once again.....then
SLAP! It was a loud and ferocious tail slap - we all beat it out of there right quick.

It was an evening we could have stayed out longer, but some members had Van's on their minds and headed for the shore to continue our tradition of Van's Frozen Custard after our paddle.

Congratulations are in order to Joe, was is now Daddy to 200 baby praying mantises who hatched this very morning from the egg sacks Joe gave me. The kids at Perry El. squealed with delight to see all the babies swarming out of the sack.

Thanks to all who came out tonight. Hope to see you on the water next Wednesday for some more adventures on the Fox :)
Jo Ann



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Trip Report: April 24 - Fox River Paddle Update



Five of us decided to paddle Saturday, despite the forecast for rain. We chose wisely. The morning started out slightly misty, but dry with almost no wind. Darria M, Doug T, Joe M and I paddled north toward Blackhawk County Forest Preserve in calm and delightfully quiet conditions. I can't say we saw a lot if wildlife but there were the usual ducks and occasional jumping fish. We joined a boy scout troop at Blackhawk, camping out for the weekend. One of our paddlers had a slight mishap at the landing and ended up going for a swim. The wind picked up slightly during the return trip and a very light misty rain started but not strong enough to warrant fishing my rain hat out of the dry hatch. Back at the put-in/take- out, I worked with Darria to successfully complete her first wet exit. She did great. We were all packed and on the road before 2:00 pm.



Afterward I stopped by Geneva Kayak to purchase a Yakima Boat Loader (slide out pipe stored inside crossbar) so I wouldn't damage my new car while solo loading. The thing is great! While there, I learned that a group regularly paddles out of the Ferson Creek park every Wednesday evening. Maybe Ryan could provide the details?



Jim Berg

Hi everyone,
I've been away from my computer lately and am a little late in writing this report about our beautiful Fox River paddle last Saturday.

13 of us met at Cornish Park in Algonquin and noted the high water and rushing current passing the usual put in site, so we moved farther downstream where there was an eddy of quiet water that provided a safer launch site. We did the car shuttle and was back to the put in by 10:30 and had everyone on the river by 11. With a stiff wind at our backs and a push from the current, be made it to the Carpentersville Dam in no time. Unknown to me, I had dropped my camera at the put in. A couple walking the bike trail nearby, walked to Cornish Park and noticed the camera in the grass. Looking through some of the the pictures, they determined that the camera must belong to an old man with grandchildren who does a lot of activities involving boats, so they tracked us down river to the park at Carpentersville Dam and asked if any of us had lost a camera. Needless to say, I was very pleased to get the camera back. This couple went far out of their way to get this camera back to me-I'm so overwhelmed by their good deed.

Instead of eating at the dam as planned, we decided to continue the paddle to Voyagers and eat there. We made it to Voyagers by 2, ate lunch together on a couple of picnic tables while Brooke entertained us with her story about being taken to court over a misunderstanding about her cat.

Thanks to all who came to make this another memorable time on the river. Special thanks to Kristine who drove the pickup to the take out so it would be there for us when we ran shuttle.
Dan

First Wednsday Night Elgin Paddle.

The group resembled long time lost cousins as we met at the launch site catching up on the quests we had, since the last time we paddled. The wild animal exhibit was Black Swallowtail Butterfly chrysali. We forced ourselves to splash a little after 6. The air was warm and the water was cold. There was barely a breeze as we paddled to the Rookery. We had thoughts about taking a side paddle or two ,but we recoginized our time constraint. We saw a couple of Great Blue Herons around the nests. but no squawking of chicks. We paddled around the loop. Dan recovered an antique metal firelog holder that was unearthed by the spring floods after centuries of entombment. In fact the group did come back with various artifacts floating on the river including a shoe we are sending to CSI, Whatever happened to the message in the bottle..Doug? ??.... Our thoughts are with Doug Brannon,as he deals with family concerns.... You were truly missed today....We were off the water by 7:30. We then headed to the infamous Vans..As everyone knows it is so COOL to be in a parade of kayaks on the road. We entered Vans only to see Officer Law doing a crossword puzzle.One look at us and he was out the door and on his Motorola. We were even honored by a couple that approached us and said " WOW are you the Kayak People???" Yes the Muppett Children can be amusing. Special thanks to Dan, Doug, Linda,Pat and JO-Jo for sharing the Fox with me tonight.

Hope to see you next week

See you on the water

Joe

Saturday's first official trip of the season was once again at Busse Woods. Our group of seventeen included longtime and founding members, as well as new members and guests. The meeting time was 10:00 but when I arrived at 9:15, almost half the group was already there. This group was anxious to get out on the water!

The wind was already fairly strong by the time we launched so we enjoyed a tailwind paddling out into the lake. A few of us were very close to a Great Blue Heron, but other than Mallards and Canada Geese the only other wildlife I saw was the Cook County Sheriff's crew cleaning up the park. I noticed the water level was high in comparison to one of the dams, and that let us paddle through the cattails coming in to the place we usually stop for lunch. This area usually doesn't have enough water to get through, but this year there was just enough to do it.

The lunch stop was a welcome break, with many of us trying to adapt ourselves to the cockpit of a kayak for the first time this year. Part of excitement of spring paddling is simply trying to stand up after spending a couple of hours in the boat, and after success with that skill we made our way over to the shelter to eat. And eat we did. In true Prairie Coast Paddlers style, we easily had enough food for a week on our day trip, and an impressive percentage of this was chocolate-based. It was windy out there; we needed our energy...

After lunch some of the group headed for Salt Creek but I headed back in with others. That evening many of us met up again at Geneva Kayak's Customer Appreciation Night, where we had the opportunity to promote our club and hear about what they have coming up this year. Tom Bamonte also gave another presentation on his trips to Georgian Bay for those who may have missed him at Canoecopia last month.

It was good to see everyone again and I'm looking forward to a lot more paddling this summer. Steve K has posted some pictures from this paddle and I'll add to that soon.

Steve

Season Opener 2010

Recipe for a great time. Eighteen paddlers add 1,ooo,oo2 cups of water.