*At the Hong Kong airport. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 40/1.2*

We have been ridiculously lucky with the weather when we travel recently—we seem to miss bad storms and heatwaves at home in Singapore, while we contend with pleasant and mild, mostly rainless, weather when we are overseas. That was the case again when we spent the first week of September around Chicagoland.

*The way the post emerged from the fog. It makes me wish we did a day or two worth of layover in Hong Kong. Sony A7IV + Tokina 90/2.5, Hong Kong International Airport.*

I’ve posted some of the photos here in a previous post on the Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4 that I rented for this trip. I’ve included them again because I thought they might add more to the narrative I hope to weave together here.

Starved Rock

We’ve been to Starved Rock last year when the weather was chillier—this time, we went during their busiest single day of the year, which was Labour Day. The sandstone canyons and outcrops carved by melting glacier and streams eons and eons ago are always an imposing sight to behold. By the time we traced back our path, the sun was dropping low in the sky, and it gave us a beautiful soft light and interesting silhouettes all around us.

*This tree is nursing a lot of youngsters all around it. Sony A7IV + Tokina 90/2.5.*

The Tokina 90/2.5 flares very easily (being an older lens with less sophisticated coating), and I don't have a hood for it either. It's very easy for the lens to lose contrast in strong light, but I guess that's Lens Character for you. That said, it’s one of my most favourite lens, and why it frequently makes it to my travel bag, as well as some portrait gigs. The blend of sharpness and character is just chef’s kiss.

*A wizened dead tree stands tall in the sun near the Starved Rock Lodge. Sony A7IV + Tokina 90/2.5.*

*I think these are mugworts? Please correct me if I'm wrong! Sony A7IV + Tokina 90/2.5.*

On Rivers

The rivers of Chicagoland and Illinois played a huge part in the history of Chicago. The Native Americans used them for travel and portage, not to mention for fishing and food (the word ‘Chicago’ comes from the Algonquin word for wild sweet onion that used to grow along the banks of the Chicago river, and which the Native Americans used to forage). When the French landed in the swamps that were Chicago back then, the Native Americans showed them how to travel from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River via the Chicago River, and then the Des Plaines River, which ultimately joins into the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi. Chicago’s proximity to Lake Michigan and its rivers made it an early frontier for European settlers and hustlers, and eventually a successful candidate to be America’s railway hub.

*Wateriders' rental kayaks by the East Bank Club, Chicago. Sony RX100V.*

I never thought too much about the rivers until we did a historical kayak tour of the Chicago River with Wateriders. I didn’t realise just how often we came across the Des Plaines and Chicago Rivers as we went north, up to Des Plaines, Niles, and Lake County. The river that hugs Starved Rock is the Illinois River, where the Des Plaines eventually pours into.

*This trail at Independence Grove Forest Preserve is adjacent to a calm Des Plaines River. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4*

*These flies are suspended above the Des Plaines river as a profiteering spider's food stash. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4*

We drove a little bit up to reach the sandy shores of Lake Michigan at Illinois State Park. I guess I’ve never managed to wrap my head around just how big Lake Michigan is—it’s crazy how it looks just like a seashore beach, with the crashing waves and the fine sand, and the seagulls flying all around us and bobbing on the water. The woods meets the prairie meets the waterfront in a grassy sand dune. The water was colder than any water I’ve ever swum in, and yet there were people—even kids—playing in the surf. We walked along the shore, our feet sinking into the sand with every step.

*A sandy trail from the beach to the woods. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 40/1.2*

*An oak tree provides shade to some benches overlooking the water. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 40/1.2*

*An easier path along the water if you're tired of walking in the sand. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 40/1.2.*

*I think this might be another native prairie plant, a goldenrod. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 40/1.2*

When we made our way down a little bit more south we find ourselves by the Des Plaines river again, this time at Algonquin Woods. The flood plains of the Des Plaines River along the Lake and Cook Counties have been made into green spaces comprising of a trail, camp grounds, and canoe launch points—this is the Des Plaines River Trail. While the Des Plaines River we saw this time was placid and calm, it can be quite temperamental during rainy season, flooding rapidly along its banks.

Algonquin Woods. The many cyclists who overtook us made me wish I had a bicycle as well. The cycling paths at Des Plaines were a definite improvement compared to Singapore, where there's practically none. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4

Walking in these trails made me realise the appeal of trail running. I haven’t run in a while, but with the beautiful scenery and a climate that actually isn’t an oven, I suddenly understood.

*A closer look at the deep carved bark of the tree. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4*

*The remnant of this tree is a road marker now. Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4*

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to paddle down the Des Plaines River this time, but we managed to get some water time at a little quarry lake at Lake Park—not on kayaks, but on a swan boat. The lake was right across O’Hare airport—we watched planes take off and land with almost no respite while we bobbed up and down on the calm water.

*At Lake Park. Somehow we have never really tried these pedal swan boats before! Sony A7IV + Voigtländer Nokton 21/1.4*

There is a ton of hiking and green spaces to explore at Chicagoland and Illinois—and that’s before we even look up north at Wisconsin. But that was all the time we had for this year before we made our way to San Francisco. I still hope to trace more of the rivers and see where they meet, either by foot, pedal, or paddle. The history of a place is usually the history of its rivers, and its present and future too.

Chicago September 2024: Rivers, Rocks, and Trees

Starved Rock

On Rivers

The Bay Area: September 2024

2 weeks with Voigtländer Nokton 21mm F1.4 E