Marc (L), Dan (C), Dave (R)

May 8th, 2010 - The idea of kayaking came about from the day my friend Dave and I went skydiving in April 2009. We finally put our ducks in a row and made it happen. Dave and I along with our friend Marc arrived at Kayak Morris and proceeded on our kayak adventure a little past 11am. Up until this point the trip seemed like a horrible idea. The weather was around 50, overcast and very windy. But once we launched all was good. The water was warm which seemed to make it warmer in the kayak.

Being the first time I've kayaked I didn't know what to expect regarding the stability of the kayaks. I thought for sure I'd flip it, especially after I got it in the water. After a few minutes all was good. We proceeded NE up the Illinois River on our journey that would take us over 9 miles, a little over 4 hours.


Our journey for the day.

We did also tour the Mazon river, which required a crossing of the Illinois River. The Mazon is a lot narrower than the Illinois River and more scenic.


Blue Heron Rookery

We came across a natural Blue Heron rookery. I never saw this many on one spot. You could hear the chicks chirping.


T-Bone (Marc)

Marc earned the only nickname of the day based on the above picture (taken by Dave). Marc was kayaking with reckless abandon.


Dave giving his approval on the days activities.


Me taking a break.

After 9.77 miles and more than 4 hours it was time to head home. What started as a bad day in terms of the cold, windy weather before we launched ended with rain when we pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. We managed to fit our trip perfectly into the best weather slot of the day. Now we have to figure out when the next kayak adventure will happen. There's more of the river and its offshoots to explore.

Dan