Rollin' on the River

On Thursday, August 7, we departed Michigan City. Dunes on the shore changed to an industrial skyline and after thirty miles we left Lake Michigan and entered Illinois at the Cal-Sag Channel just south of Chicago. We were not able to cruise through Chicago because our boat could not fit under some of the fixed bridges, so the best we could do was a long-distance and very hazy view of the skyline.

Chicago in the mist

Cal-Sag is short for "Calumet-Saganashee". Sixteen miles long, the channel was dug in 1922 for the purpose of changing the flow of the Calumet River to help divert sewage and waste away from Lake Michigan toward the Illinois River. Ugh. The first few miles of the channel were heavily commercial. Interesting in its own way, but definitely not scenic.

Derelict and abandoned buildings

Lots of bridges, lots of barges

After a few miles the scenery became more suburbanized and greener, and we stopped for a couple of nights in a friendly, but also-not-scenic, marina (it's hard to be too scenic when the view to the west is of the adjacent landfill). On Saturday (Aug. 9) we continued our travel into Illinois. 

The "green" side of the Cal-Sag

After we passed the junction of the Cal-Sag and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal the greenery gave way to what some have referred to as the "12 miles of hell." This is a very narrow section of waterway, lined with industry, and utilized by lots of commercial tugs pushing lots of barges. 

Barge staging area

Meeting a tow pushing barges

Barges line the bank, making a narrow channel
even narrower

There were a couple of spots where we had to jockey our way by commercial traffic, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. This section of waterway also contains an electric fish barrier, a measure to try to prevent the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes. Since none of us fell in the water, passage through the barrier was a non-event.

Entering the electric fish barrier

Pat tending the midline in the
Lockport Lock

We had a bit of a wait to get into our one lock of the day--Lockport, with its 39-foot drop--but after that we were soon at the Joliet city wall, our stop for the night. We shared the wall with Illinois resident Ted Swartz and with fellow Loopers Rolfe and Harriet Wall. 

Lon and Rolfe Wall on CARIB II

Ted Swartz & Harriet Wall

As has been mentioned before, travel days are difficult to plan when they include locks. What is different about the locks on the Illinois River compared to the locks we have done to this point is not only their much larger size, but the greater quantity of commercial traffic and how long it can take for barges and tows to "lock through." Timing is everything.

Today we covered a 45 mile stretch that contained three locks. After an early call to the lock master at the first lock on our route, we and the Walls made a quick getaway from Joliet at 6:45 a.m. and got through the lock fairly quickly. Fifteen miles later we had to wait approximately 30 minutes before we could get into the second lock. Not wonderful, but still not too bad. At our last lock of the day--only two miles from our destination--it took us two hours to get through the lock due to barge traffic. The same barge traffic made for an interesting entry into the lock, as we had to steer a slalom course to get around barges that had just left the lock.

We had to navigate behind these barges
in order to get into the Marseilles Lock

As we exited the lock a strong current created by the props of the tow waiting to enter grabbed the boat and slid us sideways a few feet before we powered past. By the time we docked at Heritage Harbor Ottawa we were more than ready for a rest. 

Lock challenges aside, today's cruise was quite pleasant. River cruising is much more to our liking than the larger bodies of water. It is less weather dependent and the proximity to shore makes the scenery more interesting and engaging. 

There were lots of duck
 blinds along the river

Kayaks and camping

Lots of trees along the river today, and because
it was Sunday, the local pleasure boat
traffic was pretty heavy, too

Deer on the riverbank

When we went through the locks today we thought of our Canadian deckhands, Frank and Roman. However, we now feel that our new trainee will be able to fill the gap they left.

Zipper in training at the Dresden Lock

We hope to continue cruising down the Illinois River tomorrow if the predicted thunderstorms don't materialize.