June, 6 (Arrival at Middle Fork and Illinois Rt. 49)
Today the 13 of us including 4 adults drove from Champaign - Urbana and
arrived at the put in site a little west of Potomic at about 6:15 PM. We
loaded the canoes and canoed about a hudred yards to our first camp site.
Our camp site was a slightly wooded plot with a shallow bank. Everyone
wanted to get their tents set up because the sky promised rain. We were
supposed to have eaten before we came, but everyone was still hungry so
we had marshmallows and graham crackers as a snack.
June, 7 (Armstrong to Just Above Higginsville Bridge)
Last night it did rain causing the river to rise nearly halfway to our
tents and raising doubts as to whether the canoe trip would continue. Breakfast
consisted of sausages and french toast. We had all the the gear packed
by nine but it was another forty minutes before we had all the canoes in
the water because the adults had to go over saftey and signals with us.
Not
ten minutes after having departed the "Three Man Sub" as it was
later called hit a log head on and tipped. This delayed us about fifteen
minutes because the boat was completely filled with water and the occupants
wanted to change clothes after dunking in the cold water. Three miles downstream
from our first camp we ran into a log jam. It was decided the log jam was
too dangerous to canoe through, so the canoes were to be walked through
by their painters. Luckily no one tipped right at the log jam, but immeadiately
afterwards we had our second spill of the the day. At this time we estimated
we were making about a mile an hour so at this rate we would reach camp
at two in the morning. In the afternoon we picked up the pace and reached
camp at 5:30 PM. Most of our tents are wet, but hopefully it won't rain
tonight. Our camp tonight is a grassy bluff overlooking the river which
the owner kindly mowed for us. Dinner was be hot dogs, potato chips, and
pudding. At about eight thirty it started raining forcing everyone to retire
early.
June, 8 (Higginsville Bridge to Just Above Confluence With Salt Fork)
Last night it rained quite hard and the river rose even more. In the morning
it cleared, but it was still overcast. We had oatmeal and dry cereal for
breakfast and were on the river by ten. The forecast for today was partly
sunny and 70 °, but it turned out to be about 60 ° and we didn't
see the sun until this afternoon. The morning passed uneventfully and we
made good time. We stopped at Kickapoo State Park for a lunch of toasted
cheese sandwiches and a long break. While most of us rested the saftey
commitee drove to check out the dam that we will have to portage tommorow.
After the saftey commitee returned we set off again and the afternoon too
passed uneventfully.
After
leaving Kickapoo, we encountered another log jam where trees had piled
up against the base of an old railroad bridge. From the river, it didn't
look like it would be possible to canoe through, so we all pulled up to
the side while one canoe went ahead to scout things out. It turned out
that there was a good sized channel, so we didn't have to portage, but
we did have to watch out for the standing waves.
I
had heard horror stories about the mosquitos at tonight's camp site from
last years crew, but this year it must be too cold for them. The campsite
is a sandy swampy woods. Just before dinner it sprinkled a bit inciting
certain scouts to run and hurriedly ditch their tent because they had not
expected rain and had not put out a rain cloth. We had spaghetti for dinner.
After dinner some of us stayed up and played Trivial Pursuit until quite
late.
June,9 (Middle Fork/Salt Fork Confluence to Forest Glen County Preserve)
Last
night it did not rain, much to the relief of all of us, and the water level
went down a couple of inches. Today we canoed about 8 miles to the dam.
The dam did not look like I or many of the other scouts had imagined it.
My expectation was a tall elaborate dam, instead we encountered a small
6 foot concrete ledge. It took about two hours to portage but we had no
accidents. After the dam we canoed another mile to an Interstate bridge
where we stopped for a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, chips,
and cookies. The afternoon was long and boring and everyone was looking
forward to the nice camp site at Forest Glen. When we finally did arrive
most everyone was eager to use the showers. The campsite was a grassy site
about a mile from the rangers office. We had fried spam and macoroni and
cheese for dinner.
June, 10 (Return Home)
Today we had a breakfast of pop tarts, dry cereal and everything else left
over. We got in the cars around 8, dropped the canoes back at Camp Drake,
and drove home.
