Illinois River Trip

It was my second river trip. My first was two years ago on the Mississippi River, from IL to MN, where we had a great time until we hit Lake Pippin with a 40 mph headwind, which kicked up huge waves, way too much for my small 20’ deck boat. One local told me that Lake Pippin is where the Mighty Mississippi meets the Great Lakes. We were humbled by the experience, humming the Titanic’s “Nearer Thy God to Thee” in the roaring waves.

This week’s trip up the Illinois River, from Peoria to Chicago was not quite as eventful as that adventure and with only 163 miles and six locks to traverses, it looked pretty simple. The weather forecast showed clear skies and mild temperatures. We thought that we would make the first leg from Peoria to Joliet in about 6 hours, doing so at a leisurely pace, and then shoot up the Des Plaines River, Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal and finally the Chicago River. The signs on the Sanitary Canal warned us not to touch the water. Touch! The Water! No wonder we only saw one other pleasure boat on it.

The locks on the Illinois River were rebuilt in 1933 and don’t appear to have been markedly upgraded since then, compared to those on the Mississippi River. We cruised thru those in between 15 and 30 minutes. The Illinois River locks took us from an hour to three hours each. Our planned six hours turned into eleven hours, with the last six running full-out. With the sun down, running 45 mph and a slight wind in our face, it got downright cold. My crew, my wife and sons, were not happy campers.

Virtually every boater that I know suffers from “Twofootitis”, a desire to get a new boat that is two foot longer than the present one. After this trip, my crew not only doesn’t think that I need a longer boat, but questions whether we need a boat at all. Their question is, “What river is he going to put us on next?”

I was disappointed with the activity on the Illinois River compared to the Mississippi. Other than at Peru (one of my agurbs®), Peoria, Joliet and Henry, we didn’t see much to entice boaters off of the river. I think that most of the other towns are missing an opportunity to create a special “sense of place” along the river.