For all those who know……which is a small handful and for those who didn't…..I am back and alive from a successful trip down the Wild and Scenic section of the Illinois River.

When we started the river was at 3300 cfs and if you know anything about the Illinois is that, that is RIPPING FAST.  The river flows are EVER changing, we figure that you could easily double the speed once we got down in the canyon, and figured that when we hit Green Wall on Saturday it was at an easy 6000 cfs. In fact before we left we had the serious talk about not being able to return on time having to camp and extra day because the water was to high and fast, and if everyone on the trip was ok with that. That's how seriously fast the water was.

The weather gods were very nice to us, we had a little of EVERYTHING, when we started it out it was overcast and became a small rain, then the small rain became a HEAVY down pour Friday night with a little snow flurry, Saturday morning was still a downpour when we got back on the river, but then died off and misted on and off for the rest of the day, once we hit camp for the second night it had stopped raining but was windy and cold, but dry, Sunday morning was sunny clear skies and nothing but great water!

The river gods graced us with GREAT water, high waves, fast flow and didn't take any of our gear, or people, it is always nice to come back with everything and everyone you left with. The Illinois River was EMPTY, we were the only ones on the river, except for some hikers we saw on our first night across from camp. The wild life was not out much, we saw deer, otter, juvenile bald eagle, geese, oozles (SP?), and mergansers, no bears.

The rapids were NOTHING like I have ever seen before except in those rafting videos, big rolling waves that towered over you when you went through them, fast pace rapids, huge holes that would suck the life out of you and your boat. We had three rafts and we got to play as bow paddlers, it was A LOT of work leaning out over the boat reaching into waves to help the oarsmen push through waves. Hanging out over a raft while going through a class 4 rapid with only your feet tucked under the front thwart holding you in is a very un-easy feeling.

So in a nut shell BIG nut shell the trip was AWSOME, and I would do it in a heart beat again, weather and all!! Pictures will be up soon from the trip so keep your eyes peeled for them…….