Like many Ozark Rivers, Oklahoma's Lower Illinois River offers scenic limestone bluffs, clear water and gravel bars.
I like it between 3.5 and 5.5 feet deep.
Choose river shoes that will keep out the gravel rather than
sandals.
The Illinois River offers camping, cabins, fly-fishing, tubing and float trips from two
hours to two days long. Many outfitters are only open during the
May - October season, but private boaters paddle the river all
year long. Leave the sprayskirt at home and bring the camera on
this easy paddling river.
A large number of canoe outfitters, campgrounds, cabins and
float trip operators on the Illinois River are listed below. Renting
a canoe, kayak or raft is easy.
Enjoy the easy highway access to many canoe outfitters and
lots of public accesses from Scenic Hwy 10 near Tahlequah, OK.
We like to take a 9-mile from Peavine Public Access to
No Head Hollow Public Access. We also take a 13-mile trip
from No Head Hollow to the Highway bridge. Both are perfect for
self-shuttled float trips.
Launch early and paddle quietly to see: Osprey, Whitetail Deer, Trout and
Herons on your float trip. Look for great Summertime concerts at
area nightspots. Scared for your camera? Take along some of
these
handy waterproof, single-use cameras.
A new law has been passed which states
that all coolers on the Illinois River must have a locking
system or they must be held shut with a bungee. Hopefully, this new law
will help cut down on the littering that occurs when coolers
are tipped over in the water.
The Lower Illinois River is a designated trout
fishing stream. Anglers find rainbow and brown trout, stripers,
crappie, catfish and bass. Winter is a good time of year for fly
fishing on the Illinois River as the water is often quite warm in
the summer.
Every person fishing MUST have a trout license from the Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife and a fishing license if 16 or older. The
river is stocked every other week in July through March and once a
week in April.
The Designated Trout Area on the Illinois River is from
Tenkiller
Dam to Hwy. 64 bridge near Gore in Sequoyah County.
The folks at
MarVal Resort promote trout fishing in the area and are open all
year long.
For detailed maps and directions to Oklahoma's trout fishing
resources, you can't beat the
Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife's trout fishing page. The sign below
lists the dangerous river levels for the upper & lower Illinois
River.
Enjoy Birding & Eagle Watching
With more than 250 species of birds,
Tenkiller Lake is ranked as one of the best in Oklahoma for bird
watching. Bald Eagles winter in areas such as Carlisle Cove and the
nearby Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.
Thunderbird Resort Camping, Lodge, House
(918) 456-4747
(800) 749-4700
Bring your camera. Bald Eagles are frequently seen on Tahlequah Oklahoma's
Illinois River.
Trip Report -
5/31/09
The Illinois River
Dianne and I joined up with Yakker for a
self-shuttled, Friday kayaking trip down the scenic Illinois River .
At just over 4 feet, the river level was perfect for our entire
trip. We put-in at the public access at No Head Hollow and
paddled down to the public take-out at the Highway 62 Bridge. I
think it was about 13 miles, but I couldn't say for sure. The water
flow was so good that we only needed to paddle when we wanted to
pass a canoe or negotiate an obstacle. For a full list of public
access points on the Illinois River, download a copy of the Floater's Guide from the Oklahoma Scenic River Commission.
Just about 15 minutes into our trip, Dianne saw a Bald Eagle hunting
from a tree top. It even let us get close enough to take some
pictures before flying away. Since we launched around 9am on a
weekday, we saw only a few canoes and two kayaks paddling the river
with us. The weather, like the water level, was perfect at 70+
degrees and little wind.
We saw lots of large carp, several large blue herons and dozens of
turtles. I saw one canoe turnover, not due to an obstacle, but
rather a poor launch. Although there are no real rapids on the
Illinois River float trip we took, there are some downed trees to
avoid and barely submerged root balls from past flooding. Although
you watch out for these, you are bound to get the occasional
unexpected bump. Be prepared and don't paddle alone if you can help
it.
I took my old Perception Swifty kayak, Dianne paddled her
12 foot
Vapor Angler kayak and Yakker had his newly purchased Dagger Edisto
touring kayak. Despite paddling a somewhat tippy 15 foot boat,
Yakker admirably managed the few obstacles the river threw at us.
Dianne's Vapor performed well and my old Swifty just about has this
river memorized. We stopped on a random gravel bar for a brief snack
and again at Todd Public Access for a bathroom break.
After we made it to the take-out at the Highway 62 Bridge, we were
all eager to find some grub. However, my priority was to rummage
through the outfitters stores for some kayaking t-shirts. I grabbed
some decent canoeing shirts from the stores at Diamondhead and War
Eagle, but alas...no kayaking shirts. Thankfully, right next to War
Eagle's outfitter store we found Fatty's BBQ!
We enjoyed Pulled Pork sandwiches and Potato Salad Alfresco from
Fatty's BBQ. The pulled pork was delicious. It was a perfect day on
the water.
Trip Report -
5/25/05
The Illinois River
The Illinois River provides the introduction to paddling given to most every Oklahoma boys. We floated it twice on the same weekend as the Buffalo River Trip via Falcon Floats and
All American
Floats. Both outfitters are right on the river, but the take out point for
Falcon Floats is a little tough to find due to some fallen timber. In fact, we paddled right past it!
Illinois
River Float Trip Tip: Although Ziplock bags are better than
nothing, they are NOT waterproof! Smart
paddlers get Dry Bags - a smaller one to hold wallet, keys, camera, cell phone, etc., and a large one to hold a change of clothes in case you go in during the colder months.
The folks at the next take out (All American) were real nice and helpful and had such a well marked take out point, we took another short float via their Sit-On-Top Kayaks.
It was our first time on any kind of kayak and we found them to be great fun. They are supposed to be faster than canoes, but since Dianne and I tandem canoe, the one man kayaks didn't seem much faster. We were passing loads of canoes and rafts, but that isn't unusual. We are certainly eager to
try out some
Tandem Kayaks
one of these days.
-- Tom & Di
Trip Report - 5/15/06
The Illinois River
Take This Boat...and Shuttle It
With so much new rain in our part of the world, we had to
think hard to decide where to dip our paddles this weekend. I
wanted to rent a cabin. Since it was also Mother's Day, it
didn't seem right to make the long-suffering mother of my
cherished son sleep in a tent. Finally, we both decided that we
would like to take the opportunity to paddle the Illinois River
again before the Memorial Day rush.
Shuttle Skuttlebutt
More Illinois River outfitters were open this weekend than were
open on our last
journey down this river. However, this weekend we insisted
on bringing our own kayaks. We had a fun trip as usual. We saw
the Eagle again, but didn't manage to capture a
good picture like last time.
I spoke to several outfitters on the phone and time after time
they told me that they didn't want my business. I have heard
that there are insurance problems with hauling non-outfitter
owned boats, but that sounds like a lame excuse to me. I wonder
if there is any enterprising folks running a taxi service in the
area? Ultimately, I just needed a ride back to the put-in where
we left the family car and kayak trailer.
(Warning: unqualified
opinion ahead!)
Paddling outfitters beware, the growing trend of not shuttling
private boats and passengers divides you from some of your most
avid supporters and proponents. Tourism is a business that only
thrives in the midst of strong support business networks. You
don't build a strong network by isolating the largest nodes. The
current strategy appears to be based on hoping I'm willing to
wait in line to rent their leaky boats. Better cell phone signal
quality, more campsites with Wifi access and
respecting the need for and value of services like shuttling
private boats would gather much more of my coin than the current
strategy.
Green River Floats is an exception to the rule. We called them
on my cell phone from our take-out at War Eagle Landing. They
arrived quickly and were happy to take us AND our two kayaks to
our put-in at Riverside Resort. We gladly paid $20 for the
service. Riverside Resort provided us with a decent cabin, but
the lack of services for my boats means I may not choose their campground next time.
Can Your Hear Me Now...Good!
Although everywhere else I tried my cell phone on the Illinois
River was a deadspot, I had full signal at War Eagle / Green
River Landing. If I find out they have WIFI internet available
there, I may have to come back and camp near there.
Speaking of wireless internet camping, I got word from Tom,
at K-River Campground on the Kiamichi River, that you can
now get Wifi access to compliment the camping at his paddle
resort. Stop by KRiver.com for details.
One of the things I really love about the Buffalo River in
nearby Gilbert, Arkansas is that my cell phone worked well
everywhere I checked both on and off the river. IMHO, this now
represents and important safety and commerce infrastructure need
for Oklahoma's scenic rivers.
Memorial Day kicks off the official paddling season on the
Illinois River, but so much warm weather has the outfitters
opening up on weekends. With this weekend's rain The Illinois
River rose to a high, but safe, level with excellent current.
When Sunday's forecast called for plenty of sun, we dashed east
with little more than our camera and some sunscreen.
Of course, you don't need much more than that to have a great
time on Oklahoma's most popular paddling river. Outfitters line
the road on scenic Hwy 10 from just outside of Tahlequah to
Kansas, Oklahoma. You can rent canoes, kayaks or rafts and take
float trips in a wide variety of sizes. No water falls or
significant rapids are there to worry the novices, so most Okies
paddle this river at some point. In fact, during the heat of the
summer vacation the river can be downright crowded.
War Eagle Floats was the first float trip outfitter that we found open for
business. Two kayaks and shuttling cost us around $40. Since the
amount of paddlers was so small, the shuttle was immediately
ready to put us on the water. This was unexpected. We normally
sit around waiting for 20 to 30 minutes for an outfitters
shuttle bus.
In fact, their speed was such a surprise that I rushed through
gathering up my cargo and changing my clothes. When I started to
step into my kayak, now miles from our car, I realized that I
had forgotten to leave my dry shorts and wallet in the car. Even
worse, I had left with one river shoe on and one street shoe on.
My shoes didn't match and I am wearing both a swimsuit and
shorts! Oh well, I figured that if I kept my butt in the boat,
few people should notice.
The two Old Town Otter kayaks we rented were pretty beat up and
mine leaked a lot, but it was worth it to be able to get on and
off the water quickly with no planning. Since we arrived right
after the biggest rain shower of the year, the river was as
swift as the shuttle bus. You could literally float down the
river, paddling only to steer.
The
usual cranes, squirrels and turtles were abundant, but we didn't
see as much fish action as on our
last trip down the Spring
River. I assumed this was due to the high water, but my Dad said
that the Mayflies were hatching the day we paddled the Spring
River. The one day feast makes the fish go crazy. You can see
pictures from both trips on my Flickr Pics page.
This Sunday, we were blessed to have the Illinois River to
ourselves. Instead of seeing wild living, we enjoyed wildlife
like I have never seen on that river. Dianne and I spent about
20 minutes watching and taking pictures of a Bald Eagle! It was
the first one I had gotten to observe in person, and it seemed
proud to give us a long look. I think all raptors possess a
uniquely fierce beauty, but that Bald Eagle just left me
speechless. You could practically hear the National Anthem in
the background when he chose to fly away.
As usual, we paddled about 10 miles and got some good sunshine
and exercise. About halfway along the trip we had to stop and
dump the water out of my kayak and I was reminded why we decided
to buy our own boats.
The Illinois River originates near Hogeye, southwest of
Fayetteville, and flows west, crossing the Ozarks into Oklahoma five
miles south of Siloam Springs. Eventually it flows into the Arkansas
River near Gore, Okla.
The
usual cranes, squirrels and turtles were abundant, but we didn't
see as much fish action as on our
last trip down the Spring
River. I assumed this was due to the high water, but my Dad said
that the Mayflies were hatching the day we paddled the Spring
River. The one day feast makes the fish go crazy. You can see
pictures from both trips on my Flickr Pics page.
- a smaller one to hold wallet, keys, camera, cell phone, etc., and a large one to hold a change of clothes in case you go in during the colder months. 
