Trip ID: 911 Back to list of trip reports. This trip report has been viewed 136 times.
| River or Event: | East Branch DuPage River |
| Location: | Lisle to Bolingbrook |
| Start Date: | July 18, 2019 |
| Trip Leader's Name: | Zack Nauth |
| Trip Level: | Intermediate |
| Weather: | Hot and sunny |
| Water Level: | high |
| Cubic Feet per Second: | 700 |
| Gauge Name: | 19 |
| Time on Water: | 2.5 |
| Trip Distance (miles): | 7 |
| Number of Watercraft: | 1 |
| Number of People: | 1 |
| Put in Location: | Parking lot at the Lisle Community Park (enter off Short St). Close to river, but no trail or mowed area adjacent to river. Easy to shove off from the grassy bank, just downriver from the Short Street bridge. River left. |
| Take out Location: | Take out at Historic Trout Farm on river left just before the footbridge (and the exposed pipe a little further down). There is a short path from the parking lot to the riverbank, and you can shoot up it depending on water levels. Parking lot is a short walk. Nice facilities near the bait shop--portas with handwashing, and lots of tables. Chatted with many of the fishermen. |
| Round trip carshift time (min): | 20 minutes one way |
| Report: | I have been wanting to try out the challenging east branch for some time now, and finally got a good rain followed by a hot sunny day. Two inches of rain raised the river by about two feet, and gave it 10 times the flow. The river is very narrow with overhanging branches on both sides. With fast water, you had to stay alert. No rapids or riffles, but plenty of eddys, whirlpools and other flows to navigate that I don't have the terms to describe. Only one major blockage, and that is the iron footbridge in lower Greene Valley preserve (why did they put it so low!? Even the 7 bridges golf course were all high enough to go under--some with laying down in my kayak). I considered going to the DuPage River Park, but didn't feel like crossing that stupid pipe blocking the river, and wasn't sure what the takeout looked like. Trout Farm is a nice takeout and spot. Next time I would like to start further up at Hidden Lake or Churchill Woods (not sure whether there are still obstacles downriver form Churchill, but that spot is sure nice). I will scope it out and report back. You can't see much past the banks and trees along the river, but you are very isolated, and it has a nice feel to be shooting down a narrow running stream. |
| Report Author: | Zack Nauth |
| Report creation date: | 2019-07-19 00:30:47 |