Fox River Canoe and Kayak

Enjoyed a leisurely float from Elgin to St. Charles on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. We left at 9 a.m. which was perfect — the river was quiet and peaceful, save for a few boats and jet skis we encountered on the latter half of our trip. Joe was incredibly nice and helpful.

Great trip! We rented 4 canoes and did the long trip from Geneva to north aroura. I called and reserved the canoes a few days In advance. The owner was waiting for us at our scheduled time. He was very helpful! Gave us a map of the river and explained the trip for us with helpful details! The route was beautiful! Very tranquil and relaxing. We almost had the entire river to ourselves minus a few fisherman and fellow kayakers. One this particular trip we had to get out if the canoes and walk them around the Batavia dam, the owner said he could meet us there if we needed any help. He always has his phone on him and we could call him anything we thought we might need help. He was there waiting at our destination when the trip was complete.
Can’t wait to do this trip again on the fall! $ 60 for a canoe with pick up and drop off is a great deal. I highly recommend using them for canoe rentals!

Took the 5 mile trip from Elgin to St. Charles. Interestingly enough, we made the trip in early October, even though rental was advertised as «April through September.» It was nice weather and they were still putting people in the water in October. They seemed to operate their business via telephone, so if interested, best to call them.
Outfitter Joe (a part-​time businessman with a pickup and some boats) met us as agreed at Ferson Park North of St. Charles and spotted us upriver to an Elgin park in his Pickup truck. Joe was friendly, he was on time and Kayak and life preservers were in decent condition.
First part of the trip, near Elgin was very scenic. However, the portion of the Fox river north of St Charles had more than it’s share of Motor boats and jet ski’s. Also there were several homeowners manicuring their lawns with the aid of very noisy weed wackers and mowers. Not really what I was hoping to hear. Perhaps it was too nice a day as it attracted too many others to the water also!
I could have used (and expected) a map of the river as part of the rental service. Joe must have had a paper shortage as we also should have received a copy of the release form I signed (instead of common petition style release form signed by dozens of others that he himself retained).
Fortunately there was no incident and that minor legal point didn’t matter.
I’ve rented many boats. This was the most expensive hourly rental as well as the first river canoe/​kayak I’ve rented where the operator didn’t supply a complimentary map. Suggesting only (from the side of the river) «it can be downloaded from internet». Of course Too late at that point. So… Bring your own river map.
The $ 60 fee seemed a bit high to me, but included the transportation fee and was the same price saw at another outfitter along the Fox.
I’m spoiled by Wisconsin prices I guess (where I paid $ 25 for entire days rental only a few weeks ago).
The outfitter was friendly and on-​time and the trip was at least partly scenic. For $ 60, however, I expected a map and my own copy of the release form that I signed. 3.5 stars.