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Paddling News


Chicago River Pollution Standards
 Posted by rich on 06/08/2008 06:09PM

Members of the paddling community are being asked to attend a Illinois Pollution Control Board meeting to show support of cleaner pollution standards for the Chicago River and the lower Des Plaines River.

See the Friends of the Chicago River website for more details on how you can help make an impact on our river's water quality. Sample letters are provided along with a list of members of the paddling community who have shown their support.

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Attend an Illinois Pollution Control Board Public Hearing:

Public Hearing
June 16, 2008
5:30-8 p.m.
100 E. Erie St., Chicago
Contact Caitlyn for details: cbolton@chicagoriver.org









June is Paddle-A-Trail Month!
 Posted by rich on 06/07/2008 11:35PM

With warm weather finally upon us, it's time to put those paddles in the water. The Illinois Paddling Council has deemed June Paddle-A-Trail Month, where paddlers are encouraged to paddle a local waterway and report the details of the trip on the openlands.org water trail site for the benefit of all paddlers. Check out the site as they offer descriptions of many great trips.

For more details see the IPC Paddle-A-Trail Month website.


Kayak and Canoe Classifieds
 Posted by rich on 05/10/2008 11:00PM

To aid in my quest of finding a good used sea kayak, I've aggregated a few of the sites I've been searching on. Check out the new "Classified$" link. A few craigslist feeds as well as some paddling.net links have been added -for both canoes and kayaks. I've also added some links to paddling.net reviews for some of the major canoe and kayak manufacturers.

Hopefully this will be of some use to those of you looking for a used kayak or canoe.


New Flood Closures & Advisory Page
 Posted by rich on 04/24/2008 11:01AM

Thanks to all the snow earlier this year compounded with recent rains, many area waterways are flooding or near flooding. To keep paddlers aware of the recent river closures and restrictions I have created a page identifying these located at the following:

http://www.PaddleAway.com/advisory

If you are aware of any other closures, advisories or dangerous situations on a river please feel free to add them in using the form at the bottom of the page above.



Older paddling news



New Paddling Articles/Links



Low angle, high angle? Join Simon Willis as he discusses picking the right paddle with Danny Mongno from Werner paddles.



This article describes the various knots a paddler might need to know.



Atlantic Kayak Tours discusses the effects of cold water on a kayaker. The two main problems are drowning due to initial shock in cold water and the better known hypothermia. Some lesser known problems such as difficulty re-attaching a skirt due to numb fingers is also disccussed. A must read for kayakers!



A must read for new whitewater boaters. This article discusses what to do in various situations once you've become separated from your boat.

Techniques for dealing with eddy lines, strainers, holes, drops, and big water are discussed.



More paddling resources here



Paddling Calendar



Calendar - Monthly View



New Paddling Videos!



Paddling the Boo 2 /The Circus World Reach    
Author: Tom Lindblade

Join Tom Lindblade in his circus adventures on the Baraboo where you'll learn about the longest stretch of a dammed river that has been returned to free flowing. This trip takes you from Giese Park in Baraboo, WI to Rt 113.
Muscoda to Woodman    
Author: kbraband

"Muscoda to near Woodman, April 19, 2008"


 Head over to the videos section to view these and more great videos!



New put-ins!


Clear Water Creek - Camp Verde, AZ     (View on map)
Verde River     
by Vic on 07/04/2008

Popular put-in for shorter trips on the Verde River. Great trip to Beasley Flat and a hiking opportunity to check out the old Indian cliff dwellings.

Beasley Flat - Camp Verde, AZ     (View on map)
Verde River     
by Vic on 07/04/2008

Popular put-in for extended river trips on the Verde River. Sort of a last chance take out, unless you want to do Class II to Class IV.

Apache Lake Marina - Roosevelt, AZ     (View on map)
Apache Lake     
by Vic on 07/04/2008

Camping, store, parking, gas. Pretty remote - access is 20-30 miles on dirt Hwy 88 from either North or South.


View all 214 put-ins here!


PaddleAway.com News!

Help put in the put-ins!

Your help is needed in locating put-ins. If you know of some terrific put-ins, try out the new Google map interface to add in your favorite put-ins. Don't keep them secret, let us all enjoy them.

Click the image below to find some amazing put-ins!

















With the new mapping interface you can view all put-ins in Google Maps! Mapped by GPS location through Google's mapping interface allowing you to see exactly where you are putting in and taking out. You can even get driving directions to the put-in -just enter your address in the start address field and click on a put-in and you'll instantly have directions to your put-in.

Tons of put-ins on the Kish, Nippersink, Des Plaines and Fox rivers as well as many others. Feel free to add your own put-in or email me the details and I'll be sure to add it in.

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Welcome to PaddleAway.com:

A site dedicated to kayakers and canoeists. This site was developed to help paddlers find the information they need to get them out on the water. Illinois has numerous places to paddle and relax. Hopefully this site will help both veteran and novice paddlers alike find great places to paddle.

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What can you do here?

Besides the put-ins list and mapping interface, we have a link to paddling clubs in Illinois, rental links, as well as links to video footage of some local waterways.

Most paddlers will likely be interested in the Put-Ins section which has links to info on the put-in, weather for the specific put-in as well as a link to USGS water data for up-to-date flow and depth levels.

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Upcoming Site Enhancements

(these may take a while ;))
  • Ability to track your trips by creating and saving routes on map
  • Distance between put-ins -on rivers and especially along Lake Michigan lakeshore .
  • Add a video and photo gallery linked to a particular stretch/section of rivers/lakes
  • Allow data to be added and modified from the web by members
  • Link USGS data with geographical coordinates to Google Maps markers
  • Add overlays to google maps easily identifying popular paddling destinations
  • Trip Reports
  • Boat and gear review section
  • Calendar of upcoming paddling trips and events
  • To see what fellow paddlers are interested in, a list of top visited put-ins sorted by popularity
  • Canoe/kayak rentals in close proximity to put-in sites.