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DK-Top Ten Chicago Guide Book:
"Exercise your mind and your muscles by kayaking down the Chicago River while learning about the city's history and architecture"




New City Chicago:
"It's amazing how much information can be absorbed during a kayak work-out."




"...Wateriders offers the opportunity to experience the City of Big Shoulders while developing some of your own."

Delta's Sky Magazine


"...adventurous sorts can kayak down the Chicago River to get a duck's-eye view of the Windy City and its splendid high rises."

American Airlines' American Way Magazine

The Early Show on CBSSpecial to The Washington Post Sunday, July 24, 2005
"A Kayakin' Kind of Town"


The Early Show on CBSAS SEEN ON CBS......
  "THE EARLY SHOW"

The Best Of The Windy City

View Wateriders photo album of recent tours!



paddling movie

click on image to view paddling movie - "Angel"

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Wateriders kayak tours on the Chicago River.

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Call us today! 312-953-WATR (9287)


Kayaking the Chicago River Kayaking the Chicago River

Chicago Architectural and Historical Kayak Tours

Experience Chicago's magnificent architecture and history from the peaceful platform of a sea kayak. Wateriders offers Architectural and Historical Kayak Tours of Chicago that give you a different perspective. The city was discovered by explorers who paddled through the region when Chicago was a portage on a great inland water route, and the tour places you in the same sort of boat paddling the same water Marquette and Joliet navigated in 1673. On the tour, you will:

  • Learn exactly how the Sears Tower stands up, why it is four buildings in one, and why the Sears Tower is a legacy of the Chicago Fire.
  • Find out what David Letterman said about the busts in front of the Merchandise Mart.
  • Discover which landmark Chicago building's floors were initially not level, causing pencils and chairs to roll across conference rooms until the problem was corrected.
  • Understand how Chicago's river and railroads contributed to the grain, lumber and livestock markets that made Chicago and remade the West.
  • Learn why Chicago writer Nelson Algren described Chicago as the " broker's portage."

Shady Chicago: Ghosts and Gangsters of Hustlertown Tour

"They were out to make a fast buck off whoever was standing nearest." Nelson Algren.

With the coming of the railroad and canal to Chicago in 1848, the city began its unprecedented boom. Along with the growth of business came the explosion of the city's shadier side; Chicago was where the phrase "underworld" was first coined. On the tour (for adults only, please), you will:

  • Float over river's most haunted site.
  • Find out the amazing connection between Al Capone and O'Hare Airport.
  • Learn about Chicago's diminutive first crime lord, and the one who said, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Tours run at 10:00 am and 2:30 pm during Saturdays and Sundays & on Monday, Wednesday, Friday's by appointment only through autumn. They are approximately three hours long and the price is $60 per person ($55 per person for groups of four or more). Private groups of 6-20 by appointment.

Fireworks Paddle:

Enjoy paddling at twilight to Navy Pier and watching their spectacular firework display and return through the concrete canyon of Chicago. Some experience is recommended ,but not required. These trips are on Saturdays from 8:30-11:30 and Wednesdays from 7:45-10:45 and the cost is $50 per person.

Rentals:

Singles- $15/hour
Doubles $25/hour
Day rate $50/day for singles or doubles

"To the east were the moving waters, far as eye could follow. To the west, a sea of grass, far as wind might reach." Nelson Algren.

"All boats should be called Panacea." - Charlie Chaplin


Call for info: 312-953-WATR (9287)

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