June run on the Poplar and the Cascade. Get some.

We were blessed with some rain in Cook County, bringing up the levels of some prime whitewater. AndyMac and I headed up on Sunday morning and started with a quick run on the Poplar. It was pretty low, but everything was runnable. This is a 2 mile run with a lot of boogie water and two major drops. The first one is a big slide, and the second one is a technical ledge sequence that could get hairy at high water. Below these drops lies the Lower Poplar - I can't wait to go back and hit this solid V. It looked pretty high for the lower section with a hole at the bottom recircing into a cauldron.

Andy polishes off the slide.


The author bumps his way down.


Fore!


The Cascade is a northshore classic with nonstop IV-V action. From the standard get-in this run starts with a bang! Hidden Falls, the first rapid, is a massive slide with water just cookin' down it. The Cascade was at a manageable -7" this day.

It can be hard to capture the size of drops on film, but I think this pic does Hidden Falls justice.


Click here to see video of Hidden Falls.

Hidden Falls is followed by 3 miles of continuous IV-V and it is awesome. Drop after drop after drop, this river has some serious gradient and just keeps going and going - never slowing down. There are tons of drops, most of which I don't know the names. If not my favorite, this river is definitely in the top 2 or 3.

With only 2 guys and the continuous nature of the river we didn't get too many pics, but I'll post what I've got.

8 foot falls.


Andy rides the pillow at the bottom of Long John Silver.


Get some.


Taking out at the top of the cascades.