Great Loop Date: 09.19.2010 (Sunday): Goodbye Lake Michigan…

Day #38: 820.0 total miles (42.0 miles 12.0 hours 9.0 mph (from Chicago to Hammond Marina we ran 20 mph)

Port #14 – Joliet, IL

Today we leave the lovely Lake Michigan…tongue tightly in cheek! Sweet Mother Michigan slowed our forward progress with terrible seas. We had six travel days in 25 days.

OB left Columbia Yacht Club at 8:40AM. Todd decided we should take the Calumet River-Sag Channel instead of removing our TV Dish Dome and risking our radar under the 17 foot bridge clearance on the Chicago River. Also, Todd wanted to take on fuel at Hammond Marina (south of the Cal-Sag entrance). The diesel price there was $2.99/gallon.

Our stop there ended up taking more than an hour. First the pumpout was not turned on and we had to wait. The fuel pumps there were rapid flow (1 gallon/second!) so that wasn’t an issue. However, we also needed to take on potable water.

We were given permission to take water at one of their marina docks. The flow was a trickle. We got out the longer water hose and found a functional faucet.

Entering the Cal-Sag Channel from L. Michigan

All our needs taken care of, we were finally on our way to leave Lake Michigan and enter the Cal-Sag Channel. Everything along this channel is industrial. We passed one freighter docked on the north wall early in the channel. All we saw after that were parked barges.

This grain operation seemed abandoned.  Just hard to tell what was active and what wasn't.

Lots of bridges but all were high enough that we didn't need to have them raised.

This looked like scrap bricks...but I don't think it was.  Piles and piles waiting to go somewhere.

This plant didn't even seem operational.

Scrap iron either ready to load onto barges or was unloaded from barges.  Don't know which.  Everything was pretty quiet this Sunday morning.

Hope we weren't drinking any water from here! Everything around it was pretty run down.

Lighted daymarker on the starboard side for mile #276.8.  It's out of order but I wanted to put an example of the daymarkers in.

Navigating the channel and the rivers is a little different that the lakes. Mile markers appear on all the daymarkers. They correspond with charts produced by the Army Corps of Engineers. As we pass daymarkers and bridges, my job is to mark them on the chart so we have some idea where we’ve been and where we’re going. They also correspond with Todd’s electronics. The charts are just a backup should the electronics fail for any reason.

OB came to her first and only lock in the Cal-Sag at mile 326.4. The Thomas S. O’Brien lock. It serves the same purpose as the Chicago Lock just before the Chicago River. It prevents the Calumet from draining into Lake Michigan and polluting the drinking water for millions of people in Illinois. All sanitary waste is carried south eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. Doesn’t sound like a warm, fuzzy from these neighbors to the north!

Anyway, the O’Brien lock (as well as the Chicago Lock) only drops about 4 feet. We didn’t have to tie up and floated free in the middle of the lock with 4 bass boats. Yes, there are bass boats here too! And they buzz around you like bees going to the hive…only to wait at the lock for…US (snicker).

We traveled through the electronic carp barrier without any problems. Signs alerted us to the upcoming barrier and gave us instruction on what we should do. We tried to contact the Coast Guard with no response from them. After many attempts on the VHF radio, someone answered and said to just announce when we enter and when we leave the barrier zone. We did so. Construction trailers were along the south wall but no one was in sight. Throughout the day, we didn’t see one Asian Carp.

A few miles ahead of the Carp Barrier we saw this flashing electronic sign.

As we passed through the barrier, we saw the existing buildings as well as the foreman trailers for the new barrier that is being installed.



These warning signs were present at the barrier.



Exactly 0.7 miles later, the final sign appeared.  This is where we radioed that we were leaving the barrier.

 Once we were in the Chicago River, some of the scenery changed. We saw parks with terraced waterfalls and families enjoying their Sunday afternoon together. The waterfalls were interesting and made for a pretty setting. They seemed to serve as dams for creeks or small waterways in the area.

We also began seeing wild life, small boat marinas/clubs and more of a relaxed river country setting. At last, we were in the rivers and more of the adventure was about to unfold.

A bad day fishin' is better than a good day at work...

Looks like this was a summer swimming spot for the local kids.

I was surprised to see abandoned locks along the way.

This abandoned lock wall became a swimming attraction.  I was glad to see kids are still creative in the country setting.



Saw this smiley face on a bridge along the way.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed it?

 Our second lock of the day was the Lockport Lock in the Chicago River. It was our first real lock and would drop us almost 40 feet. This was my first experience handling the boat on a bollard off the mid-ship cleat. In the Erie, Oswego, Welland and Trent-Severn Locks, we always handled the boat with two lines. The lock would supply a line for the forward cleat that Todd would handle. A line would also be supplied to the stern cleat that I would handle. Now I was on my own and I was a bit anxious.

I’m glad to report lock attendant was so nice and walked me through the whole operation. The bollard was easy to use and the whole operation was a success. Bring on the locks!

Looking forward from the mid-cleat as we were descending in the lock.

Looking aft from the mid-cleat as we were descending in the lock.

I entertained myself trying to identify the artifacts riding down on the bollard.  The small tree sprout was interesting.

We ended the day late, coming into Joliet, IL at 8:30PM. We were both tired and ready to be off the river…which had now become the Des Plains River. We pulled up to the City Free Dock Wall. Phalarope was the only other boat on the dock. Peter and Alex were there with helping hands. Rest at last…until we heard a young gang out in the street. We went to sleep with all the outside lights on and one eye open.