It’s alive.

Openlands not only launched a comprehensive online paddling guide for the key 10 water trails in northeastern Illinois, but set it up to be interactive so the guide can change and update with reader interactions.

And Paddle Illinois Water Trails is now a stand-alone site.

Laura Barghusen, associate greenways director, said the idea was to take paddler input, there is a comment button with each water trail, so that the site would “become a living, evolving guide.”

I like that idea.

“People can report log jams, what they saw, new launch sites,” she said. “We can keep it up to date.”

In quick run through of the three water trails I know the best, I think I got the hang of the site pretty quickly, both on my phone and my laptop.

On a whim, I asked Barghusen what trail she liked best.

“I really like the Upper Little Calumet River,” she said. “You see turtles and birds. There’s no dams, no portages. It’s very beginner appropriate.”

The site also contains connections to other primary water trails in Illinois.

Here is the word from Openlands: