Paddlers float the Kankakee River in Indiana just shy of the Illinois line at an event two years ago with the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association. The group helped to gain federal status for the river as a National Water Trail. Tribune Photo/JOSEPH DITS
The Kankakee River gained status over the weekend as a National Water Trail. The National Park Service and the Department of Interior conferred the status on the historic ditch that paddlers can access near Crumstown, following a straight, channelized line of water as it widens, then wiggles naturally as it crosses into Illinois.
We know its peculiar past, once part of a nearly million-acre marsh that teamed with wildlife. Paddlers know that, even though it was dredged in Indiana a century ago, the river still boasts fish, birds and wild shores.
Now the federal status will draw extra attention to its 133 miles in two states. Eventually that could mean more access and better care for the Kankakee, says Dan Plath, president of the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association, which started work eight years ago to map and mark the river and garner support, pulling in dozens of letters of support from cities, parks, industry, historical societies, conservation groups and others.
The Kankakee now appears on a federal website with just 19 other National Water Trails (nps.gov/watertrails). The next closest ones are the Huron River passing through Detroit, the Rock River in northwest Illinois, the Mississippi River through St. Louis and the Miami River watershed through Dayton, Ohio.
People still ask me about my funky paddling trip three years ago on the Dixon Ditch, the closest part to South Bend. Putting in at the St. Joseph County launch near Crumstown, I kayaked past irrigation pipes and through high, grassy riverbanks where it’s nearly impossible to climb on shore for a break. (There’s a current, but I still managed to paddle out and back to my car.) Flowing downstream, it’s a long 12 miles to the next launch site at the Kingsbury Fish & Wildlife Area. To find the Leo Jasinski Public Access Site near Crumstown, take Indiana 23 west of South Bend, turn right (north) on Crumstown Highway. Look for the sign and access on the left.
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