Pecatonica

Matt, I am in rockford and just getting into paddeling after a long time off. I have never done whitewater, for the obvious reason I am from rockford. Would love to chat with someone from the area that is into it.

The Zen wave can be a fairly decent playspot and indeed Zen-full. Though, correlation between the feature an the gauge can be tricky. After three years of coming here, it seems that anywhere from 600cfs-1300cfs will have you play. But that is only true if the marshland below the Sumner park rapids have been given proper time to drain. If the river drops too fast, the marsh cannot drop as fast and the features get swallowed up, even if the upstream gauge only reads 1000cfs. A more gradual drop in the water (I would say no more than 100cfs a day) means the correlation between the upstream gauge and the feature will be more precise. It was perfect at 1100 cfs today, as the drop in cfs has been gradual and the marshlands have had ample time to drain. The wave/hole that forms at 1100-1140cfs is challenging, but smooth. It was just deep and retentive enough to throw righty blunts, cartwheels, godzillas, etc. Its harder for flatspins due to the irregularity of the feature. But it can also be looped if you're spot on and stick it, (but I washed out 39 times out of 40) I think more Rockford area boaters should come here. Its a great spot to bring first timers due to the flatness and huge eddies below the feature. No regulations either. I imagine that the last of the play would dissappear around 1300-1400 cfs, which the Pecatonica is frequently higher than. Updated 9-9-11 by Matthew Cooper

Ive been to the Zen Wave twice this summer. Once at 1650 and today at 1080cfs. 1650 was COMPLETELY washed over with no flow. 1080 today just presented tiny features, except for a very nice long eddy line. In fact, as long as the entire rapid isn't drowned, there is always a very long eddy line. Given todays pitiful waves and holes, but nice eddy line, I decided to fill my playboat 2/3rds the way up with water and go SQUIRT boating. Turns out its alot of fun doing a bunch of pirhouttes and stalls. The river is dropping fast considering the massive drainage area. So I imagine that 1080 today will not be like 1080 a week from now, when the swampy flats down river drain a bit.

For the meantime, Im gonna rig up a low volume squirt boat with some plywood and pink foam. Should be fun!