D) Yorkville: Marge Cline Whitewater Course (PnP)

Quick Facts: Location: Downtown Yorkville (Approximately 12 miles southwest from Aurora, 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago). Shuttle Length: Carry up (park-and-play) Character: Free "playpark" in an engineered channel around a dam on a fairly large watershed river. General Overview In the interest of full disclosure, it should be made clear that _this is not a 'full-length' multi-featured whitewater course_ like the East Race in South Bend, Indiana (at ~2090' long) or the Wausau Whitewater Park in Wisconsin (at ~1930' long). This is a canoe-bypass and fish ladder, and a couple of playspots. That disclaimer given, it is a wonderfully convenient place for N.E.Illinois (and perhaps S.E.Wisconsin) boaters to paddle moving water with playable features, and is likely to hold sufficient flow to be boatable almost 24/7/365! (OK, a bit of exaggeration -- it should have adequate flow all summer for at least some mild play, but it is likely to ice-up and be unavailable in the thick of winter.) Additional facilities in the 'Bicentennial Riverfront Park' (buildings/retail/concessions) make this a fine training area for beginner-whitewater boaters, and allow more experienced boaters a chance for a close-to-home workout during the week, between trips to more challenging rivers. There is parking adjacent to the bottom of the course (on the South side of the river, East of Hwy.47), and a more limited amount of parking at the top of the course. We will note that the Yak Shack is no longer in operation at the top of the course. At this time we have no awareness regarding the status of the building and its adjacent parking area. (HELP OUT YOUR FELLOW BOATERS by adding a comment if you can provide any info on this!) The major impetus for construction of this facility was that the former dam at this location had caused more than a dozen deaths, including three Memorial Weekend in 2006 (at a level around 2250 cfs). During the winter of 2008/2009 the dam was reconstructed (so as to not create a 'killer hydraulic'). Summer/fall 2009 (continuing into 2010) saw construction of the adjacent bypass channel as a fish ladder, downriver canoe bypass, and as a whitewater playpark. The ~1100' long course was initially designed to contain two separate channels -- one being more tame and straight-forward to allow downriver paddlers (flatwater canoes and recreational kayaks) to safely bypass the dam (and allow fish-passage upstream and down), the other being a "challenge" channel containing one or two more difficult features (class II-III) to allow whitewater boaters a place to practice and play. The implementation is not so much separate channels as it is a single channel, with rock-islands splitting the flow in two locations, creating a few choices of routes. As with many man-made channels and engineered courses, there are strong currents and some squirrely eddy lines, so even well-experienced paddlers may find themselves challenged to roll when flipped by the currents. Being an engineered course it is relatively safe; however, folks should not forget it is still real water, real current, and real rocks, so swimmers should exercise appropriate caution (i.e. defensive swimming) when they find themselves out of their boats. There is an annual Illinois Whitewater Festival (IWF) with a Cardboard Regatta provided by the Yorkville Chamber on Friday evening, and a Buttercup Slalom Series & Boatercross sponsored by World Kayak on Saturday. This happens about the middle of July, in conjunction with a "Ribs on the River" event. More info is available at: https://www.yorkville.il.us/Facilities/Facility/Details/Marge-Cline-Whitewater-Course-37 There is also a facebook page for the course: https://www.facebook.com/MargeClineWhitewaterCourse The following drone footage YouTube video shows a good overall view of the course (though the vid gets a bit repetitive): https://youtu.be/MVlXH77Wo74 And this video shows that there is still some play available at 5,100 cfs! https://youtu.be/1PqYA1947YA