and Jason in the States. It was the first time, Jason, Julie and Lennox had been to the farm. It was the first time Hannah and I slept in a tent together. It was our first kayak trip of the season. It was the first time Scott and I used our kayaks in a place bigger than the family pond. It was the first time we used our new kayak trailer that Alan and Scott designed and built. It was the first time any of us had ever kayaked on the Kankakee River.I loved every minute of the trip except for burning my shins. My original plan had been to wear long pants since it was a little cooler and I have a sit on top kayak. I changed my mind at the last second and forgot to put sunscreen on my legs.
Around 10:30 AM, on May 24, 2008, Julie followed me to the boat launch at the State Park just west of Warner Bridge. We found a place to park where Alan would have room to hook the trailer up to the truck after he dropped us off. When we got back to the farm the guys were finishing up loading the trailer. (It is the limousine of kayak trailers! We still need to change the bearings, add new tires, work on the padding, fix one of the lights and bolt a toolbox for all the accessories.) They hooked it up to Alan's truck and we all hopped in. Alan drove us to the boat launch in Kankakee just west of Washington Street Bridge and the dam. He helped us unload and all get launched off. The plan was for him to then take the trailer to hook up to Scott's truck waiting for us at the other end.
Around 11:55am we were on our way! It was a beautiful day! The sky was
blue with beautiful, white fluffy clouds. There was a nice breeze off and on, just enough to keep the sun from making you sweat. We casually make our way down the river. We went under the two bridges and were almost to the boat launch at Bird Park when we hear Alan yelling for us and waving us in. We were worried that something happened to his truck or the trajavascript:void(0)Publish Postiler. Evidently, he was giving us one more chance to change our minds! He also told me that Hannah and Bridget would be going passed on Kennedy Drive in about two minutes. I hung back to wave. I had to continually paddle in order to stay in the one place. Finally, they started to pass and I could see Hannah waving - one of those just in case I don't see them waves - when she spotted me and began to wave her arm out the window wildly. I knew she saw me then! I yelled goodbye to Alan and started to paddle to catch
up w/ everyone else. On my way, I noticed a turtle sunbathing so I went over there and took a picture of him - it turns out there were two of them.After that Jason and Julie taught us the hand signal for turtle that you use in diving, so that next time we see one we could alert everyone without scaring it away. We did use it once. We also made up a couple of other signals, one was for heron cranes. We saw at least a couple of those. There were a lot of Canada Geese with there families and a few turkey vultures.
We often glanced at our map from the book:
Paddling Illinois :64 great trips by canoe and kayak /
English 
Book
Book Madison, Wisc. : Trails Books, ; ISBN: 0915024772 9780915024773
It was pretty accurate and fun to read as we were experiencing it. According to this book our trip would have been 10.4 miles if we would have put in at the Bird Park Launch but we went a little further than that. I would say we almost went 11 miles.
So far we have been paddling slowly off and on just enjoying the gorgeous day and the beautiful scenery. We were going to try to paddle into the Indian Caves but there really wasn't anywhere to go. There was a man there with a lovely German Shepherd. He was throwing a stick out in the water and his dog would run and then swim out to get it. I was in awe by his power and grace.
We took a break at an island about 4 miles into our trip. We stretched our legs and watched Jason swim in the freezing water against the curr
ent. Scott only got in up to his legs. The water was really cold. Considering we take swims in Canada when the air is in the 40s and 50s we really aren't exaggerating. We realized we had not gotten very far and figured we should actually try to paddle a little bit. Reed's Canoe Rental said that the trip from Bird Park was from 3-5 hours. We couldn't take 5 hours, that would just look bad! As we neared different islands the current seemed to speed up a little more each time. By the time we reached the State Park on the North shore there was a series of islands. Some of them had a "whitewater" affect which was a fun change of pace but really not much of anything. When we reached Willow Island, Scott and I decided to each take one side of the island so that we could compare notes. Scott being in the lead was already out of sight when I heard a snap behind me. I looked around and didn't see anything so kept on going. As Jason and Julie got closer they hollered out that Julie's paddle had broken. Luckily we had a spare in my cargo area. I pulled up along side of them and Jason pulled it out and put the broken one in. We were off again and only about a mile or two from the boat launch.
Just after the Rock Creek boat launch came the best part of the river as far as excitement. It was the quickest and the most whitewater we had seen so far. It was fast and fun but again not scary. There were cliffs on either side that were pleasant to look at. After we were out of it, I hea
rd voices on the shore to the south of me. I looked up and there were about 5 people on the horse trail with their horses. You could watch the trail for a little while. I haven't been on those trails in years but I didn't remember being so close to the river in that part of the trail. We paddled about a half of a mile more going under Warner Bridge and pulling out at the Boat Launch.
It had been a wonderful day. Jason and Scott loaded our kayaks up in a matter of minutes and we were on our way home! It had been a day I will remember for a long time!
It was pretty accurate and fun to read as we were experiencing it. According to this book our trip would have been 10.4 miles if we would have put in at the Bird Park Launch but we went a little further than that. I would say we almost went 11 miles.
So far we have been paddling slowly off and on just enjoying the gorgeous day and the beautiful scenery. We were going to try to paddle into the Indian Caves but there really wasn't anywhere to go. There was a man there with a lovely German Shepherd. He was throwing a stick out in the water and his dog would run and then swim out to get it. I was in awe by his power and grace.
We took a break at an island about 4 miles into our trip. We stretched our legs and watched Jason swim in the freezing water against the curr
ent. Scott only got in up to his legs. The water was really cold. Considering we take swims in Canada when the air is in the 40s and 50s we really aren't exaggerating. We realized we had not gotten very far and figured we should actually try to paddle a little bit. Reed's Canoe Rental said that the trip from Bird Park was from 3-5 hours. We couldn't take 5 hours, that would just look bad! As we neared different islands the current seemed to speed up a little more each time. By the time we reached the State Park on the North shore there was a series of islands. Some of them had a "whitewater" affect which was a fun change of pace but really not much of anything. When we reached Willow Island, Scott and I decided to each take one side of the island so that we could compare notes. Scott being in the lead was already out of sight when I heard a snap behind me. I looked around and didn't see anything so kept on going. As Jason and Julie got closer they hollered out that Julie's paddle had broken. Luckily we had a spare in my cargo area. I pulled up along side of them and Jason pulled it out and put the broken one in. We were off again and only about a mile or two from the boat launch.Just after the Rock Creek boat launch came the best part of the river as far as excitement. It was the quickest and the most whitewater we had seen so far. It was fast and fun but again not scary. There were cliffs on either side that were pleasant to look at. After we were out of it, I hea
rd voices on the shore to the south of me. I looked up and there were about 5 people on the horse trail with their horses. You could watch the trail for a little while. I haven't been on those trails in years but I didn't remember being so close to the river in that part of the trail. We paddled about a half of a mile more going under Warner Bridge and pulling out at the Boat Launch.It had been a wonderful day. Jason and Scott loaded our kayaks up in a matter of minutes and we were on our way home! It had been a day I will remember for a long time!
