Kayak Trip 2012 ‐ Industry and Locks

2012-05-01

tl;dr: I've made it through Peoria's industry and barges. Finally, some sandy beaches.

I was very sore last night. And some sort of night bird that I've never heard before kept squawking. Maybe I should have taken drugs.

Lake Peoria is big. I try to stay close to shore because when I'm far out I have no frame of reference and I don't feel like I'm moving at all.

I came across a boat in the shallows making a large zig-zag pattern. It moved at a leisurely pace while two of its occupants were banging metal pipes against the gunwales. A while later I came upon a net stretched across part of the lake. It seems they were herding fish into it. I can only imagine they were after carp, as that can't be legal for any other fish.

I stopped at the Walmart in Peoria to re-stock. My timing was good, because it stormed the entire time I was in there.

I eventually made my way through the rest of Peoria. There is a lot of industry here. At the dam I radioed the operator and asked if I should just portage. He didn't like that idea, and he brought me through the lock. It wasn't all that exciting. Although they did refer to me as Skipper over the radio. That lofty title was diminished somewhat when they next referred to me as Mr. Kayak.

While in the lock it began to rain. Again. It was a light rain, but it lasted an hour. Once out of the lock I finally had sandy shores! But very little extra current.

Once the rain stopped, the wind started. It was a nasty, bucking wind right out of the south. By 4 pm the wind was really kicking, so I decide to stop for the day. I found a sandy beach (which wasn't hard for once) and pulled up. Soon after I set up camp a boat shows up and starts running up and down the river. Right in front of me. It's very annoying. Then the boat actually beaches a hundred yards from me and its five occupants spend the next few hours goofing around on the beach; a beach that goes for miles in both directions. They must have considered their boat to be too overburdened to carry all of those beer cans home.

Not long after I have camp set up the sun comes out and the wind dies. And those kids are still playing. I was tempted to pack everything back up and paddle for another hour. But that would have been too much work.