Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi and other Natural Wonders


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Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi and other Natural Wonders

Chicago River Expedition - Monday, September 3, 2001

A trip down the North Branch of the Chicago River from Foster Avenue to Lake Michigan, by kayak and bicycle.


Digging in with the paddle, I was determined to make progress against this headwind. There were no trees along the shore to break the wind, but finally I crept ahead to momentary shelter behind the embankment of the North Avenue bridge. Cars whirred across the open deck above, affording a peeping-tom view of their undersides.

And then there was no avoiding the windy, wide pool ahead, the North Avenue Turning Basin. At 800 feet across, this is the widest part of the Chicago River, and also one of the most polluted. The river branches here around Goose Island. I set my sights on a little dot on shore far across the basin and pulled hard on the paddle toward the channel on the right.

In time, the shore came closer and I could see Sue standing on a tiny waterlogged dock barely above the water. A friendly man working in the Lincoln Park Boat Club boatyard let her in to wait for me. When I finally reach the shore my arms are spent, so we switch places again and she continues on against the wind down the channel.

Hurrying along on the bicycle, I reach our next meeting point, the last of the few landing points on this stretch of river, at Slow Down Life's Too Short bar. The place is a crazy aglommeration of signs and junk cluttered on a ramshackle complex of a building above the river. There are multiple levels of decks and chairs and umbrellas leading up from the river to the rooftop. The whole assemblage is most reminiscent of some tourist bar in a Mexican resort town, which may explain the odd collection of patrons: aging frat boys, bikers, hipsters, barflies, bewildered families. The boat dock was in heavy use on a Labor Day, with sunburnt sea captains blasting heavy-handed classic rock from their testosterone-engorged speed cruisers as they took on supplies of beer and burgers. We dock the Red Rat and tie it up in a secluded place behind the boat dock out of fear that it would be squished and popped by all these clumsy diesel monsters coming and going in the narrow channel.

After a shady, relaxed, but overpriced repast (how could they be out of Goose Island? Its right there across the river!) we are ready to head out on the water and roads once again. Again its my turn to take the paddles, but from now on there are no other landings until we are through downtown. From here on the speedboat traffic will only increase, until the speedboats are are accompanied by big tourist ferries. Its going to be a bit of a challenge for an inflatable boat to play in the same water as all those big boats and big wakes, but now its time to go!

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Copyright 2001 Matt Bergstrom.