Aurora Dam and Canoe Chute

East Side: (Satellite)

West Side: (Satellite)

This is a view of the east side during a heavy river flow in July, 2017.

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This is a comparable view taken during Nov 2020. The water is shallow enough that the bumps in the river bed show on the surface. The river bed must be bedrock here. 

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(new window)  High Flow

(new window)  Low Flow   

This is another video taken on the day of the high flow that shows how the back current of a rolling dam can trap something near the face of the dam.

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The rest of these photos are from the high flow visit.

The Fox River Trail under the Galena Blvd. Bridge was flooded.

The water level in the canoe race was rather low because...

...the gate at the upstream entrance was closed.

There was water flowing in the canoe race because water was flowing over the wall between the river and the canoe race.

As this satellite image shows, the river water level is normally significantly below the top of that wall.

3D Satellite

I walked North along the west side of the river, then East on the New York Street Bridge, then back South along the river and East on the Galena Blvd. Bridge. I took this photo of the east side from the New York Street Bridge. The two diagonal signs on the sides of the dam say "DAM KEEP BACK." That struck me as similar to the bumper sticker that was popular when I was younger of: "If you can read this, you are too close." I hope that every outfit that rents canoes warns their clients to stay on the west side of the river.

All of the photos I took during my walk around of the two sides of the dam are in my photo log.

I still want to make another trip if we have a draught to catch a low water flow.