Summer 2000

The Des Plaines runs 95 miles through four Illinois counties, changing along the way from prairie creek to a suburban stream, to a large urbanized river, to a major industrial waterway

Lake, Cook, and Will Counties, Illinois

The people who lived in the Chicago Wilderness before there was a Chicago called it "Sheshikmaoshike Sepe" the equivalent of "full of water." They weren’t referring to the region’s propensity for floods, but rather the sap-filled maple trees along many river banks.

The Des Plaines River begins in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, and flows south into Illinois as a small, shallow prairie stream. It runs approximately 95 miles through four counties in Illinois to its confluence with the Kankakee River at Channahon where the two form the Illinois River. Along the way its character changes from a prairie creek, to a suburban stream, to a large urbanized river, to a major industrial waterway.

Fortunately for paddlers, the Lake and Cook County Forest Preserve Districts have protected long stretches of the river by creating a nearly continuous greenway though all of Lake County and the northern section of Cook County. Several forest preserves in Lake County have developed canoe launch sites that make it easy to explore that part of the river. Cook County has several launch sites but there is a 23-mile gap between the first at Allison Woods in Northbrook and the next downstream in Plank Road Meadow at First Ave. & Ogden. The lack of ramps for trailered-boats makes this long river a quiet, family-friendly river.

A complex of natural areas on the lower Des Plaines provide a rich experience for paddling naturalists. Several Illinois nature preserves lie along the banks of the Des Plaines including some of the highest quality and rarest types of prairie. Cormorants, egrets, and great blue heron soar above while several kinds of water-loving rodents share the river with your boat.

You can put-in at the canoe ramp at Columbia Woods Forest Preserve in Willow Springs (use the side of the ramp, not the corrugated concrete ramp to launch and land). Paddle 6.5 miles to the Lemont Road Bridge. Wooded banks along this stretch give little indication of the industry and residences behind the riparian buffer.

The 5.5-mile section between the Lemont Road Bridge and historic Isle a la Cache offers several attractions. Along the right bank of the first two miles of this stretch is Black Partridge Forest Preserve. Its marshy river frontage is prime real estate for fishing birds and paddling anglers. Approximately 3 miles downstream is Romeoville Prairie Nature Preserve on the right bank all the way to Romeo Road (135th St.). The take-out is on the left just after you pass under the Romeo Road bridge on the west side of Isle a la Cache, one of the only islands in the river. It was used as a storage place by the first fur trappers and traders in this region more than 200 years ago. A small museum on the site interprets the local fur trade era history and provides an interesting destination at the end of this trip.

Canoe rentals and shuttles are available from Will-U-Canoe in Willow Springs. Call (708) 937-4945.

— Gary Mechanic