Chicago outdoors: Chicago River, Chicago Lock to Wilmette

Click here for today’s column, the words of a unique boat ride on the Chicago waterways; inside here is the journey in photos.

We launched out of 31st and entered through the Chicago Lock (above).

Here’s a bit of a sampling of the rest of the trip.

Some of the downtown area has sharp reminders of its industrial past (and present). I forgot how much

One of the best fishing spots is at the confluence, where the North Branch flows over a dam and joins the North Shore Channel.

Then into the wildness within the urban area, the quiet removal of the North Shore Channel. What a sharp contrast to the downtown stretches of the waterway.

Though there are plenty of reminders of the modern world, even if they have an illegal beauty to them.

In Wilmette, at the end, there is the international beauty of the Baha’i Temple.

[REWRITTEN} We couldn’t make it all the way to the sluice gates–they were working on them–that connect to Lake Michigan in Wilmette. But that is not a lock at any rate.

That’s a taste of a wonderful morning and early afternoon of exploring.