The Middle Fork of the Vermilion River is a tributary of the Vermilion River near Danville, Illinois. I paddled the area near Oakwood, Illinois, on Friday, June 11, 2021, ending at the Kickapoo State Recreation Area where I was camping for the weekend.
The Route
Since I was camping at Kickapoo State Recreation Area for the weekend I was looking at nearby paddling options. There is an outfitter located within the park, Kickapoo Adventures. They offer rentals of canoes, kayaks, bikes and river tubes, as well as full shuttle services. I expected this to be a solo trip so inquired with them about shuttle service with my own canoe and gear. They’ll take you and your private canoe or kayak up river for $20, then you make your way back down to your car at their shop. The river passes right by, making this an easy option for the solo or single car paddlers.
My brother-in-law, Steve, decided he’d join me on this trip so we had his truck and my Jeep, allowing us to do our own two car shuttle.
We decided we would start at the Kinney’s Ford Access Area (top marker on the map) and end at the Kickapoo Road ramp (orange marker at bottom), a little over 12 river miles.
I usually use CalTopo to plan my backpacking trips, but did use it to make the river trip. It didn’t work as easily as hking as it didn’t recognize the water ways as a ‘snap-to’ feature, so I had to manually follow the river. Worth it though! You can access my map if you’d like!
We had been getting a decent amout of rain in the area earlier in the week so kept a close eye on river conditions. The river data comes from the bridge at our takeout, and was flowing right at 1.8 feet at our departure time. 1.5 – 2.5 feet is the sweet spot. Less than 1.5 and you’ll be dragging your boat. 2.5-3.5 and it’s moving a little fast, experience here helps. Over 3.5 and I’d not recommend it, this is considered flood stage on this river.
Floating the River
On Friday, June 11 we left my Jeep at the takeout on Kickapoo Road, then drove Steve’s truck about 15 minutes north up Newton Road to the Kinney Ford launch point. It’s easy to find, tons of parking, but the launch area itself is a bit messy. However, the river was at most knee-deep here and there’s a really nice sandbar across the river, so I ultimately ended up wading cross and loaded up there (after I had to run back to the truck for my sunglasses, of course).
Steve loves to fish, so he had done some research and learned the river is home to some varities of bass and catfish. He brought two poles rigged up and his other gear loaded into a Big Tuna fishing kayak.
I was in my Old Town Discovery 119 Solo Sportsman canoe, I just picked it up over the winter and so far really enjoy it. It’s a completely different boat than Steve’s…his is a very stable fishing platform, while mine is stable but quite a bit more waterdynamic (is that a word??).
We set off at the same time as another group, and a single guy. We never saw either of them the rest of the day.
I use an app called Natural Atlas on my iPhone to track my paddling adventures. For hiking I use AllTrails, this is close in features and covers all sorts of activities. I’m still learning the features of the app, but for now I use it to track the entire trip, and I’ll add pictures or markers along the way. Since my phone is in a dry case, I have to remove it to use this feature, which isn’t always possible.
According to Natural Atlas, we traveled 14 miles, and it took us from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm ~ 5.5 hours.
Overall the river was easy to navigate, no real sweepers or strainers that would cause anyone concern or issues. At 1.8 feet gage height there was not enough of a current to push you into anything you couldn’t overcome with a light paddle.
We took our time, stopping a few times for breaks to reapply sunscreen, or cast a line out. It was HOT that day, mid-90’s and in typical Illinois fashion: humid. There is little to no shade on this river, so we took advantage of the little bit we did find.
And the cicadas!! Apparently there is a 17-year locust invasion going on and they were in full force during our paddle, it was so loud, non stop, all day.
Approximately 5.5 miles past Kinney Ford we hit the next launch site. It takes just over 2 hours to get to this point, so makes for a great short day. You’ll need 2 vehicles or to pre-arrange a shuttle pickup through Kickapoo Adventures if you leave your vehicle here, or get dropped off here for the 7.5 miles downriver to Kickapoo Road. Either section would be a nice, shorter trip if you don’t have all day to be on the river.
We floated on by this launch point, there were several kids in the water cooling off. This area of the park houses the equestrian campgrounds. We saw horse trails accessing or crossing the river in several locations throughout the day – I’m sure that’s a great way to spend time!
From here it’s just over 6 miles to the Sportsmans Lake launch. This is where Kickapoo Adventures starts their upper tubing trip. There is a large sandbar here where people hang out, sit in the river and ‘tailgate’ as well as a new batch of tubers every 30-minutes. Expect this area to be congested, so take your time and be patient.
From Sportsman Lake down river to the Kickapoo Road takeout expect there to be tube traffic. They can’t steer those things, and most are drinking quite heavily, so expect they’ll just be in your way at some point.
We finally made our way the 1.5 miles downriver to the Kickapoo Road takeout where we had left my Jeep. It’s a concrete ramp and shallow water, so easy to find your way out. Expect it to be congested with tubers (this is the short trip takeout), other boaters, and people just hanging out in the water. We found it really helped to have a bow line to navigate the ramp area.
Since both boats didn’t fit on my Jeep we pulled them up and unloaded our gear, then used a cable and padlock to secure them to a tree for the 30-minutes it would take to retrieve Steve’s truck from the launch point.
All in all it was a great day! Very hot, but lots of fun. I’d not want to try it with the water any lower, so watch the gage closely when planning a trip. Poor Steve got one bite the entire day, and sadly landed nothing, so he was disappointed.
1 thought on “Canoeing the Middle Fork River”
awesome recap of the middle fork trip. great tips and hints too. thank you!