The last 2 Saturdays I have gone for a paddle on the Des Planes River.  Each day I paddled about 16 miles. That was not doing it for me. I needed more.  Yesterday 10-16-10 I ask my wife to be ready to pick me up when I called to tell her where.  At 10:00 I took off up the Des Planes as most of the duck hunters were leaving.  At noon I portaged down Ogden Av. stopping at a restaurant for lunch. Hay when those trucks blow by you better be holding on to your canoe.  The sidewalk is with in ½ of a canoe length of passing trucks.  Getting back into the river up stream of the dam proved to be more difficult than I would have expected.   I got on by going up stream about ¼ mile and going down a driveway and into a strip of woods leading to the river.  From there I headed up stream to Salt Creek.  The first part of Salt Creek was very nice paddling. Eventually the creek got shallow and required many get out and drag to get past some kind of obstruction.  I unexpectedly came across something that quicken my cadence. There is a large Concrete structure on the North side of the creek with water pouring over the edge into a abyss (deep tunnel I think). There is no protection on it you could be pulled in by the current.  I saw 3 deer that did not seem to know what to think of me.  They would run about 10 Ft then stop and watch till I was past.   The last 3 hours of the trip was paddle a little then get out and drag.  I finished at Grau Mill in Hinsdale about 7:30 in the dark.  When I called my wife she was waiting at a lighted gas station about 2 blocks away.  It was 22+ miles and about 10 hours.  I have had my paddle fix that will last till next week.  

Mastertangler
Where do you put in? Down where I am much of it is a channel but with woods on both banks.  I have been out after sundown a few times and the coyotes come out. I have had them doing there greeting yips 50 feet from me.  There is a old pull path which is slightly raised and they were just on the other side.