Calumet River Boatwatching Sites?

[southsideriverrat]

A boat ride on the Calumet sounds like an excellent idea and I will contact you to plan that. But first, as to how to predict when the lake boats will be calling on the Calumet River, I would have no idea. Where are these schedules posted? Can someone point me to someplace where the schedules of St Marys Cement, LaFarge, KCBX, etc are available?

Thanks.

Dan

[Guest]

I have a 36 foot boat at the Obrien lock. Ample secure parking also. Bring some Coke and Ice and we'll go for a spin. Almost anytime is good. I dont follow ships' schedules too closely tho so it would be your call. yachtsman36 at comcastdotnet

[southsideriverrat]

Thanks...I'll take a close look around the 92nd St Bridge for a place to hang out & watch the water.

After posting my question I read through the older threads & found that my question has come up and been answered several times before. Sorry about that.

Dan

[Guest]

Hi Dan,
The bridges are the best place to watch the river. They usually have an adaquate pull off area for the bridgetender to park his car and it is usually large enough for my truck.
92nd (Ewing) bridge has a Chicago city office and ample parking.

[southsideriverrat]

Hi. I'm a first-time poster here although I've been surfing around Boatnerd.com for a few years now. I just read through the fabulous "Chicago History Teacher" thread from earlier this month. Fascinating. Most of the mid-20th Century history pre-dates me but I grew up in the 1970's watching the industrial economy collapse all around the Great Lakes area from my childhood vantage points of Cleveland, Muskegon, and Chicago's south side.

Recently on a few hot summer evenings I've taken to motorcycling down to the Calumet River area (from the south loop area where I live) just to go exploring. I'd like to find one or two spots along the Calumet River where I could park the bike, sit down, and just see what's going on with river traffic. The bridges don't seem ideal for this. As far as I can see there are no parks on the river. There are no restaurants on the river that I can find... at least not in the part of the river used by the lake boats. The old South Works area is heavily barricaded. All of the commercial properties on the river are heavily posted with "No Trespassing" signs. Etc., etc.

Any ideas? A small pleasure boat might be a good solution but would raise the hassle-factor pretty high for me and it seems there are no marinas located near Lake Mich on the Calumet River.

Thanks

Dan Vandenberg