2023 Annual Fall Float

It was a beautiful day for a float on the Sangamon River!

This past Saturday, Menard County Trails & Greenways (MCTG) hosted its Annual Sangamon River Fall Float from Gudgel Bridge to New Salem.

Approximately 30 paddlers launched their canoes and kayaks in the afternoon and wound their way down five miles of river, taking in blue skies, crisp air, the beginnings of changing leaves, and even a bald eagle!

The river was a little low, but we managed to navigate around those really low spots.

Immediately following the paddle, everyone enjoyed a toasty campfire complete with hotdogs and s’mores.

The float would not have been possible without the help of many, including: Gudgel Bridge property owner, MCTG volunteers, the PORTA school district (who kindly provided our shuttle bus), our bus driver Tiffany, the New Salem State Historic Site staff for cleaning up the shelter before our event, and the American Canoe Association. A special thank you to Dave Hedrick for setting up the campfire and making the roasting sticks!

We hope everyone had a great time! See you next year!






Life and Times of the Sangamon River

River valleys have a great many stories to tell. History is revealed in riverbanks all over the world. It is written in sediment, fossils, and artifacts. In some places, rivers expose ancient land and waterscapes created long before the river. Today, many rivers are refuges, tiny bits of what once was a far-reaching ecosystem. Life at the equator, colossal glaciers and the birth of rivers, megafauna, the arrival of people, earthquakes, a profound transformation of the landscape, but no dinosaurs, all these stories and more are told by the Sangamon River as it meanders its way across central Illinois. This video, History of the Sangamon River Valley by Michael Wiant, reveals some of the stories the Sangamon has to tell.

History of the Sangamon River Valley – HD 720p.mov from Treetop Productions on Vimeo.