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Hello thread, I decided to take my kayak solo down the Chicago River, managed not to die nor contract anything (this is about a month ago) and I didn't even get my kayak stolen! I put-in at Clark Playlot Park on the north side, and parked my truck at the curb. Free parking, no time limit.  Paddled southbound for about two hours until I hit the city. This was by far the most enjoyable part of the trip, nice and calm and even some spots of trees and wildlife in the middle of the city.    Took the dog-leg east toward Lake Michigan, By that time I had to piss something fierce, and being surrounded by seawall and other people, there wasn't really a good place to do it. Until I spotted it... a construction barge with a portapotty! Pulled up, got out, and used the hell out of that thing. Afterward I floated around by the Lakeshore Drive bridge and ate some of my picnic lunch.    Headed south through the canyon of buildings, which petered out to just seawalls and industrial areas.     Floated under this railroad bridge in operation, didn't get to see it raise but I did hear it's horn go off while I was about 1/2 mile away and around a few bends. A couple minutes later, I saw the barge it had opened for. I pulled to the side, acknowledged the pilot, and he slowed as they passed to not upset the kayak. Fucker was MASSIVE and there's no way it would stop or avoid you if you're just tootling around in the middle of the channel.  Finally pulled up to Park No. 571 and got out, locket the kayak to a bike rack and headed out to the nearest CTA station to make my way back to the truck.  All in all, pretty fun trip! Pretty safe I'd say, unless you're a complete moron and don't keep your head on a swivel for the tourist barges and other boats.
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Jul 20, 2020 19:40
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 02:34 |
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prom candy posted:I poo poo talk trucks all the time but I would really like to have one every time I'm loading my kayak (which isn't often since it mostly lives at the cottage) Loaded mine and my gf's kayak onto the top of a honda pilot all last summer, and it was a real pain in the rear end the entire time. 1) gotta buy the correct crossbars ($100) to attach to the load bars, oh wait there's a model year split from '08 to '09 or whatever that was, we've got the wrong ones 2) gotta buy the dual kayak carrier ($100) ohh cool the fasteners aren't stainless so now there's rust drips all over the roof 3) loading the yaks up over head height one at a time, then getting the straps around the right way, and cool you keep dropping the buckles on the roof so that's scratching the paint up 4) did we really get the straps cinched the right way? better get out and check, oh great one slid sideways, good thing we stopped 5) did you remember to fold the J-hooks down before you drove into the garage? hope you never forget! Compared to loading into the back of a little Colorado I picked up cheap last year: 1) flip the tailgate down 2) toss the suckers in 3) one strap goes from one side of the box, through the yaks' end handles, to the other side of the box. ratchet it snug and yer done. Also now that you have a truck, you can haul your bicycles around, pick up and get rid of furniture & appliances, bring home a bunch of stone, sacks of concrete, a mixer, pavers, dimensional lumber, car parts, yard waste... I used to just use a station wagon for everything and thumb my nose at pickups, but this little thing has been well worth the $3.5k I put down. If you can, go get one. Power nothing, 2wd, 5-banger, contractor white, it'll go.
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Jul 28, 2020 04:32
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lovely tuna snatch posted:A friend has a midlife crisis so I am going along to support his aspirations. It is on a river and we need to carry the kayak over 4 dams or so as well. At least during the day it will be 6-7C so should get better. And I do brazilian jiu jitsu so hoping all the pulling movements from that have given my back muscles some work. FYI rivers are twisty and windy, and often go far, far from where people are. Two miles of river might be one mile as the crow flies, 62 miles of river might take you a week. Getting to you might be difficult to impossible in a lot of spots. Goonspeed, pack some sunscreen and a snack.
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Apr 20, 2024 04:25
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