Kayak: Chicago River

Kate an I went up to Chicago last week. When we got to town, the first thing we did is go kayaking. Kate set us up with a kayak place called "kayak Chicago". We got there and it started to rain as we were pulling in. Anybody that's been to Chicago knows their rain is pretty chilly. We set up a 3 hour, 5 mile "architectural tour" on the Chicago river. After a short postponement due to a heavy downpour, we got in our boats and started our journey. There were about 15 people kayaking of all different skill levels (very apparent). I never realized that people would not understand how to turn, stop, go in a kayak (I grew up with them). Some people were pretty bad, constantly running into each other/me. The tour started off going by the Morton Salt Factory, then one of the Chicago newspapers. We then worked our way into downtown. It was pretty cool when we turned a corner and all of a sudden were engrossed in skyscrapers while paddling. Our journey started on the north fork of the river but we quickly joined up with the main part of the Chicago River. There was some tour boat traffic to contend with, but nothing too bad. It is good to go with a guide your first time on the river as the waterway "rules of the road" were unknown to me. And it is good to go in numbers. The tour boats are less likely to run you over. We went all the way to Michigan Ave where you could begin to see Lake Michigan. We then worked our way back to the launch point. The river was slow moving, so going"up river" didn't feel any harder that down river. Hopefully I will post some pics as soon as I get them developed (from our disposable camera).