Lusk Creek is the most well-known whitewater run in Southern Illinois. It is one of the most pristine waterways in the state and is up for consideration as a National Wild & Scenic River. It is currently protected as a National Forest Wilderness area and sections as an Ecological Area.
The creek starts out in woodland bottoms with relatively minor gradient but soon is surrounded by rocky hillsides and cliffs. The culmination of these cliffs come in Lusk Creek Canyon where the
cliffs rise from water's edge to heights over one-hundred feet. After the canyon section, the cliffs recede and the creek is surrounded by forest for the final mile.
Rapids on this creek are Class II in nature (at normal, low-to-moderate levels). However,
this is not a good beginner run. This creek flows through forests before entering the canyon. With regular flash flooding,
this run is strewn with wood. Much of the run is boat scoutable but
quick eddy turns or upstream ferrying may be essential to avoid strainers. Routes around these strainers can generally be found, but be alert! There is
one mandatory portage at the end of the canyon where two large boulders seem to catch every log that has ever floated into them. The safest portage is through a small boulder garden on river right.
A fine video of an early season run is available:
*Lusk Creek Run 2/24/2016*
(FWIW, looking at historical gauge data, it peaked at 1400 cfs 6AM that day, and by 1PM had dropped under 1000 cfs, and was low 700's by sunset at 5:45PM.)
For a look at a run of this river in flood, check out this footage reportedly at
3000 cfs!
https://youtu.be/IgR\_bqCBpIE
Editorial note: These boaters handled themselves quite well at these flows, but take careful note of the log they had to limbo (at 0:10) and all the trees and branches they had to dodge and duck. Before doing this creek at moderate or high flows as this, carefully assess whether your skills are up to negotiating such hazards. And, yes, we would have preferred to see helmets on all these boaters. Protect your heads!
We also can't help but notice . . . the paddler in the blue boat (with yellow paddling jacket) initially has a paddle (seen around 1:00 - 1:14), and later is paddle-less (around 2:18 - 3:07). While he may have just decided to stow his take-apart paddle to handpaddle the rest of the run, it seems just as possible he broke it or lost it to the river. In either event, he does a fine job of negotiating what is shown of the remainder of the run. However,
it does bring up the opportunity to discuss the possible loss of equipment when doing rivers in flood! (As is also echoed by the comments and a photo at the bottom of this page!)