We left
Chicago excited about paddling the Shipping and Sanitary Canal, located about
20 miles south of Downtown Chicago. However, after talking with some
locals, calling multiple people who called other people who then called us
again, and talking with the U.S Coast Guard, who just happened to be boating
past, we quickly realized this was not going to be feasible.
There were
several barriers (literally) preventing us from being able to paddle the canal.
First, the canal is constructed from huge limestone walls that at times
are 10+ feet above the water level, preventing quick access out of the canal.
Second, the Army Corps of Engineers built several electric barriers to
prevent the spread of invasive carp traveling through the Canal into Lake
Michigan. You can’t safely travel through the barrier in boats smaller
than 20 feet (our canoes are about 17 feet) and we learned our only option was
to portage 2 miles around the barriers if we were going to paddle the Canal. I’m glad the Army Corps is taking steps to prevent
the spread of Asian Carp. However, I was
disappointed to learn they didn’t think about paddlers in smaller boats coming
from Chicago that may need to travel around the barriers.
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The group before we launched for our first day on the Des Plaines |
With
electric barriers and limestone walls preventing us from paddling down the Canal
we decided our next best option was to launch from the Des Plaines River paralleling
the Shipping and Sanitary Canal. When we arrived, we were happy to find a
nice place to launch our boats on the edge of a prairie preserve. A man
approached us who was there with a group picking up trash in the area. He
told us there is a group of volunteers maintaining the small picnic spaces in
the area along the edge of the preserve by the water. He said his hope for the area was to
provide a nice spot where anyone could come down and enjoy the water.
During
our days on the Des Plaines we experienced the contrast between beautiful
natural spaces and industry on the Des Plaines. We had stretches of
paddling where we were overwhelmed with the beauty of the River. Egrets,
Kingfishers, Cormorants and Blue Herons were frequent visitors on the river
bank and large stretches of the river included beautiful prairie, forests, and
wetlands.

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The Lockport Lock and Dam from on top of the Canal |
-By Liz Just
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