Exploration of the Amaquonssippi

So, last weekend I traveled with 17 others down for 40 miles down the Amaquonssippi (Spoon River). We put in at London Mills and went to Bernadotte. This was a continuation of a voyage started last year where we went 52 miles from Dahinda to London Mills. Next year we will finish the trip going from Bernadotte to the mouth of the Amaquonssippi at Havana, crossing the Illinois River.

***Take Notice, this is not the kind of trip that most people would think of as a "canoe trip." The organizer of the trip, Wil, along with most the rest of us in the Illinois River Scum, portray hunters. For us, this would be a trip where we are scouting for game, or maybe mapping locations. So for us, we do a lot of floating and don't spend a huge amount of time trying to cover as much distance as possible. This concept was hard for a few people on the trip to understand. They are used to paddling the whole trip, like the French Voyagers hauling freight up and down the river.

They were working WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY too hard.***

Anyway, this year's trip. Friday morning we met in London Mills an got the boats ready to go. After shuffling all the vehicles to the take out point, I brought everyone back and parked my truck. About 1:00pm we were headed downstream. Our goal for the day-Ellisville. One of the traveling companions has a co-worker who's family has a spot along side the river and had offered the site for us to use.

L to R: Me, Ark Builder, Contagion at the first night camp site

Saturday morning after breakfast we reloaded and launched boats again. About 1:00 we made a planned water stop and continued along our way. Finally, about 5:30 we found a little feed creek just big enough to get the boats into and on shore. After some landscaping (using canoe paddles to cut the nettles), we were in business for the night.

The boats on shore. Feeder creek behind them, river to the far left.

My friend D-O, resting under a tree in Saturday night's campsite. If the landscaping hadn't been done, the nettles would have been about a foot over the top of his head in this picture.

Sunday morning, we were back on the river by 7:30. Which was a good thing, as the nice breeze we had on Saturday was gone and it was getting warm. About 10:30 we arrived at Bernadotte to get off the river. The take out point was a little tricky, as if we missed it we would probably go over the flood dam and have a good chance of drowning. But, at least from what I saw, it worked pretty well.

When we came in, none of were any worse for the wear, just a little bit of sunburn.

The entire group right after taking the boats off the water.

All in all, it was a dang good trip and I think everyone is looking forward to next years trip.

For another perspective, go over to Contagion's and read.