Oswego: Stone Gate Park to Fox River (0.54 - 2.2 miles)

Quick Facts: Location: Oswego, IL (just south of Aurora, IL). Shuttle Length: commonly 0.4 miles / 3 minutes drive, plus 0.25-0.3 mile walk (or up to 1.8 miles / 7 minutes drive) Character: An short and sweet run on a small intimate stream in an urban setting. Uppermost likely put-in is approximately 645' elevation. Take-out is approximately 598' elevation. Thus total elevation change is approximately 47', making overall gradient of 21.36 FPM. Drainage at gauge: 19.1 square miles Drainage at uppermost put-in: 20.43 square miles Drainage at most likely used put-in: 27.5 square miles (Thus actual flow at this point could be 1.44 times gauge reading.) General Overview The Waubonsie is a small creek in Oswego which (with adequate water) comes up to a class II-III run. Upstream of Hwy.25 (AKA N.Madison Street), there are several distinct drops or rapids. Below Madison Street, especially at moderate-to-high flows, the gradient picks up making the final quarter-mile or so into almost continuous action. Before we go further, a note about the name ... there seems to be discrepancy as to whether it is Waubonsie or Waubonsee. I've seen both spellings (looking across various maps and websites). We also have minimal (and sometimes conflicting) information about the access points (and consequently the length) for the usual run. (See 'River Features' for more complete discussion.) Craig Carlson provides (2006-10-22): *The third of the four drops in Stone gate, when the water is up develops a nice little hole with good eddies on ether side. The fourth drop should be scouted before running. Depending on the water level, there may be several large rocks just under the surface and the chance of logs or large branches that tend to gather throughout the drop. Below the last drop, the creek makes a slight right turn with some riffles and a couple small holes, then leads under the Hwy. 25 bridge where for a couple years was a large strainer before the park service cleaned it out, but still should be checked out.* *After Hwy. 25 the creek makes a slight left turn and into a small canyon with small ledge drops and waves. In the middle of the canyon, when the creek makes a slight right turn, there are a couple of ledges that stick out of the left wall at head height. Just past the railroad bridge is a low bridge and when the water is up you‘ll only have about 3 feet clearance.* For what it's worth, one area of *potential interest* lies upstream of our listed run. A spillway/dam may offer some 'park-and-play' potential at some flows. (See 'River Features' for location and description.) Additional information about the watershed may be found at the IL USDA website.