South Branch, Ping Tom & the Canal Street RR Bridge

The South Branch of the Chicago River is a working river. On Saturday we mostly saw other tour or pleasure boats as we headed south, but I've seen barges of various kinds on the waterway over the years, including enormous long vessels carrying loads of crushed rocks or sand or other materials. The water is supposed to be cleaner than in previous decades, but still not free of heavy metals and bacteria that will mug your GI tract. We saw a few fish jump and a number of ducks using the water.

It's also home to the occasional alligator. Channel 2 (WSBT) reported last month on the capture of a young 'gator in the North Branch, and ended the story with this: "It was not the first time an alligator has been captured in or near the Chicago River. A larger one — weighing about 45 pounds -- was caught in June 2008 in Bubbly Creek near the site of the old Union Stockyards. The creek is a tributary of the river's South Branch."

After the Chicago Water Taxi dropped us off at Ping Tom Memorial Park, I had a few moments to take pictures. I'd visited the park once before, during its dedication ceremony in the early 2000s. It has everything a pleasant little urban park should have -- greenery, shaded places to sit, a playground -- along with a Chinese motif.

Even better, it has a great view of the Canal Street railroad bridge, the only vertical lift bridge on the whole river, and a fine work of iron sculpture. Next time I'm down that way, I'm doing to make a point of taking a closer look at it.

This fellow took a much longer trip down the South Branch than we did, under his own power, and he took a lot of good photos too. I'm not sure I'd have the stamina for that, and I'm certain that any camera I took on such a small boat would find itself wet and damaged before long.