The Illinois River

Kim’s Korner:

The day after Labor Day (Sept 5th), we started our 333 miles, 5 locks, 7-day journey down the Illinois River via the Calumet and Chicago Rivers. We are back into the river system which means barges and tows! We saw more in this one week than we’ve previously seen the entire trip. We were held up several times while the tows would move a barge from one spot to another. In one instance, we had just passed one barge, was passing another, had another really big one headed our way and the one in front of us took a sharp 90 degree turn into what looked like the river bank. We thought he was just getting out of the way for the others when we finally realized he was actually pushing the barge into a small industrial channel. Did I mention he wouldn’t answer us on the radio? It was a bit stressful. Another day, we saw a tow that was pushing 15 barges run aground in front of us. After watching him try to bulldoze his way through, he had us go around him. We heard over the radio that he finally got through only to run aground again. I guess that’s one way to dredge the river.

Our first stop was the town wall in Joliet where 16 Looper boats tied up for the night. We enjoyed docktails with everyone, caught up with old friends and met new friends. The following morning, five boats traveled from there to Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa where we had the best dinner at their onsite restaurant. Six Looper boats left bright and early the next day. Four of us planned on staying at an anchorage. We were a little concerned as the water level looked really down from normal but after calling a lock master, he assured us the water was within 1/10” of normal. The first boat began his approach to the anchorage and ran aground. And he was stuck – no getting out of it. Another boat tried to pull him out and didn’t have enough power. So the most powerful boat (Islandia) of the six tried and was eventually able to pull him out. See the video – I’ve seen lots of boats that have gone aground but this was the first time I’d ever seen one pulled out – kind of scary. Needless to say, we ditched that anchorage and headed to the nearest marina which ended up being the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria. We stayed there a couple nights and enjoyed some very good food and company at their onsite restaurant.

The LaGrange Lock has been closed to traffic for several months now except for nights and Sundays. We were trying to reach this lock for a Sunday passage. We stayed overnight tied to a barge in Beardstown which was about eight miles from the lock. Yes – we had to actually pay to tie to this barge – no power or water, just a tie. Which at this point, we were glad for as we were a little too nervous about anchoring since we didn’t trust any of the depths after our friend ran aground. The first thing the following morning, eight Looper boats left the barge and headed for the LaGrange lock where we had to wait less than 30 minutes before we were able to lock through – Yahoo!

We had 80 miles left on the Illinois River. At this point, we saw much fewer barges and the river was really beautiful! We enjoyed viewing many birds - bald eagles, white pelicans, snow geese, white egrets, blue heron and lots of seagulls. The Illinois River is known for its Asian Carp. These fish jump out of the water like crazy as you go by. I saw a small fishing boat go by close to shore and hundreds of these fish were jumping all over the place in his wake - really weird to see.

We stayed overnight at the Illinois Riverdock Restaurant in Hardin with three other Looper boats. We enjoyed a really nice dinner at the restaurant with everyone and turned in early – we were exhausted! The next day, we slowly made our way to Grafton Harbor Marina enjoying the beautiful fall weather. We saw no barges – it was nice to be able to just relax and enjoy the ride! Grafton is the meeting point of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. When we leave Grafton, we will officially be on the Mississippi River.

Pictures!