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Floating The Illinois River: Awesome Kayaking Adventures in OK
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Updated: April 9, 2024
Back at it on the Illinois… All of my time floating the Illinois River over the past 3 years has been on the Arkansas side. I finally ventured onto the Oklahoma side to see if floating the Illinois River in Oklahoma is any different. Here’s what I found…
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Floating The Illinois: Where to float?
Step one is figuring out exactly where we want to be floating the Illinois. Since we live very close to the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, we want to get in a good float but stay as close to home as possible.
I pulled up a river map and scanned the route to get an idea of the access points available. Illinois River Outfitters (IRO) is the first outfitter that caught my attention.
Illinois River Access Points
all public access points with map locations!
Floating The Illinois: How far and much to float?
Checking out their webpage gave me some good information about floating the Illinois River, but not everything. They offer shuttles to 3 locations, at a decent price ($I5-$25).
Since the price is right and we don’t know the area well, we decided a shuttle is the way to go.
The information we couldn’t find is how long each float is. For this, I pulled up MapMyRun and traced the river to each access point.
Edmonston Public Access Area is a 3.75-mile float and a $15 shuttle fee. Peavine Hollow Public Access Point is a 7.7-mile float and a $20 shuttle fee. Round Hollow Public Use Area is a 12-mile float and a $25 shuttle fee.
float guide
Illinois River
Everything you need to plan your Illinois River float!
Floating The Illinois: Which floating route?
We figure our average pace at 2mph. So we would cover 2 miles in an hour of floating, not accounting for stops. Edmonston would take just a couple of hours to float, Peavine would take at least 4 hours, and Round Hollow would be at least 6 hours.
It will be pretty brutally hot today, and it’s a holiday weekend (4th of July), so we chose the Peavine float and plan on it taking 5-6 hours once we factor in stops (lunch, swimming, and shaded breaks from the sun).
Floating The Illinois: Shuttles
Our next task is figuring out how the shuttles in this area work. I called IRO and they gave us instructions to drop our kayaks and group off at the starting point, one person drives the vehicle to IRO and catches a ride back up to the drop-off point.
We prefer this method (versus the $80 vehicle shuttle we had to use on the Buffalo River). We were told the latest shuttle time to Peavine is 11 am.
Floating the Buffalo River
What to expect on this bucket list worthy kayaking trip.
Time for Floating The Illinois River!
Launch
We arrived at Peavine Hollow Public Access Point at 10 a.m., drove down the gravel bar, and unloaded our kayaks. I stayed with the kayaks, while my partner drove the vehicle to IRO. I spent 25 minutes at Peavine, waiting for him to return.
In the meantime, I scanned the shoreline and picked up some trash (Leave No Trace!). Once my partner was back, we spent a few minutes prepping the kayaks, tying things down, and putting on sunscreen before we launched.
Leave No Trace
7 Principles to live by when exploring the great outdoors
River levels are always a concern in the summer months. However, with no decent amount of recent rainfall, the river still flowed well. Floating the Illinois River was slow and scenic.
The biggest difference I immediately noticed (compared to our Arkansas floats) was the amount of fish in the water. And the SIZE of the fish… Some of the carp were easily as long as my arm.
We spotted a few alligator gar as well. This section of the Illinois River was, however, missing the eagles I had become accustomed to upstream.
Since it was a holiday weekend, we were never alone on the river. At a few points, while floating the Illinois River, we had to weave through large groups of rafts.
We encounter other rivergoers of all ages, in kayaks and rafts. We floated by a few other access points and resorts, with the banks loaded with people, and swimmers in the river.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves without many issues. GRDA made a couple of overhead fly-bys and was posted up underneath a bridge to keep an eye on things and keep everyone safe.
Landing
The landing zone is always a concern when floating a new section of a river. I always worry that I will miss the stopping point.
As we closed in on the end of this float, we noticed a small inlet to one of the outfitters, and a little further down river we saw 2 other outfitter’s signs, one of them being IRO.
We realized too late that it would have been easier to float into the inlet we saw upriver to land at IRO.
My partner managed to paddle horizontally across a small, strong section of the river to get to the landing spot for IRO.
I wasn’t so lucky and had to paddle down a little further to land, which wasn’t easy since employees were all in the water and seemed to be blocking the landing.
Once I finally managed to get across the current and stopped at the bank without running over anyone, I was questioned by the employees of the 3rd outfitter at that section, who let me know that IRO landing was upstream.
Although, at that point, I had no choice and had to stop there (and carry my kayak up the bank a little ways).
Final Thoughts on Floating the Illinois River (in OK)
If you don’t mind company on the river, this is a good float to choose. This section of the river is more populated with people, outfitters, and businesses than the Arkansas side.
Even if we hadn’t gone on a holiday weekend, I think we still would have always had company.
The downside of more people floating is less wildlife in the area (although the fish didn’t seem to mind). The upside or more people: entertainment and companionship.
I look forward to floating the Illinois River in this area on a non-holiday weekend to see the difference in activity level.
And with the affordable $20 shuttle prices, we will definitely return!
Float the Illinois in Arkansas
What to expect on this beautiful adventure.
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Buffalo National River
Everything you need to plan your adventure on the Buffalo.
Kayaking seems like it’s really fun to do. Thanks for sharing. I am always looking for fun adventures.
It’s been a long time since I have been on a float trip. You reminded me of the good memories and how much fun they can be. What beautiful pictures here as well. Thank you for sharing.