Rollin on the Rivers

Day 110  |  Chicago to Joliet  |  6.7 Hours  |  36 Miles  |  2 Locks

Four Looper boats departed DuSable Harbor Marina this morning at 7:00 under a heavy cloud cover. A short trip north put us at the entrance to the Chicago Harbor Lock, which was constructed to prevent the Chicago River from flowing into Lake Michigan (less eloquently, it keeps Chicago's sewage out of their source for drinking water). The view right out of the lock is amazing, even on a gray day. The boat in front of us, Magic, is dwarfed by its surroundings. We passed several historic landmarks, including the Wrigley Building.

Marina City's unique twin towers were also easy to spot. There were many bridges this morning (too many to count) and several of them were tight squeezes with less than a foot of clearance to spare. An El train passed overhead full of folks heading off to start the work day. By the time we curved around to reach Willis Tower (better know by its original name, Sears Tower), the upper portion of its 110-story, 1450-foot structure was concealed by low-level clouds. For 25 years this building was the tallest in the world. Today it is the second-tallest in the United States, behind the newly constructed One World Trade Center building in New York City.

Once clear of downtown, we transitioned into the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal and met up with commercial traffic. Tugs pushing up to six barges at once were traveling up-river, full barges were docked on the down-river side, being unloaded, a narrow little passageway remained for our little caravan's passage. Freight traffic moved by rail as we passed underneath their tracks.

At the confluence of the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal and the Cal-Sag Channel in Lamont was an interesting waterfall feature. The Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration Stations were recently constructed to oxygenate the canal water, improve water quality, and support a healthy wildlife population. The Confluence Lighthouse marked this point of land. Judging from the number of waterfowl we spotted, the simple system must be working.

In interesting contrast to the aeration efforts, the electric fish barrier we passed through is designed to repel the invasive Asian carp and keep them out of lake Michigan. We passed more herons and egrets along the way to our final lock of the day in Lockport. This lock serves as a connector between the Chicago River and Des Plains River. The chamber is massive, built to accommodate commercial vessels, and has a 40-foot drop. Although we had a bit of a wait to enter and it was raining heavily, all went well ... until ... a snake swam in front of me. A shrieking yell came from my mouth and, needless to say, I wanted nothing to do with my watch station from that point. Thankfully we exited the chamber soon after that and only had three miles, and the three lowest nail-biting bridges of the day, to go before we tied up for the evening on the wall in Joliet, IL, across the river from Harrah's Casino.

By the time we were tied up, chafe guards applied to the lines, power cord relocated to the bow and plugged in, fenders positioned, and dock lines cleaned up, I was cold and soaking wet through three layers of clothing. After a hot shower and some time under a blanket with a book, I finally warmed up.

Joliet has some interesting history and stories: Prison City, Route 66, birthplace of Dairy Queen and Lionel Richie. Unfortunately most of these cannot be explored by foot from where we are tied up. Tomorrow we will continue to head south down the inland rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. Three locks will be cleared on our way to Ottowa, IL. The remains of Hurricane Gordon are tracking our way and more heavy rain is forecast. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will stop before we tie up for the evening.