Reviews: Kaskaskia Lock Wall

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Kaskaskia Lock Wall

,
Kaskaskia River 0.5

Lat / Lon: N 37° 58.900' / W 089° 56.635'

4.15

(13)

4.15 out of 5 stars

Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Kevin Williams, m/v Blue Tortuga, on Oct 2, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 3.5'

Rating: 4

As others have stated, a great stay over spot. Secure, protected and good depths. Virtually no current. Wide wall makes a great location for docktails with fellow boaters. Very gracious of USACE to allow useage of this facility.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Lance Williamson on Oct 1, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 3.8'

Rating: 4

This is a great place to spend the night. We had 9 boats tide to the wall and one boat rafted to a buddy boat. There is plenty of room for several boats to anchor below the dam.The cleats were a little far apart but we had three lines tide to cleats. The boat in front of us had one line on a cleat we used. Be sure to call the lock on channel 14 for permission to use the free wall or to anchor. As Captain Sam said, check your AIS before going back out into the Mississippi River (a tow was approaching on the big river when some of our group were getting ready to leave and we warned them about the tow).

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Captain Wes, Toscana, on May 30, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 44'
Draft: 5.0'

Rating: 5

A must stop location on this section. We were here with tornado warnings and nasty storms shortly after tie up. Well secured to this wall behind the dam was the safest place you could thing of with severe weather coming in. Lockmaster just wants to know your boat name and where you are going to/from. Very thankful the USACE allows us this stop!

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Kevin King, High Tide, on Oct 22, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 3.0'

Rating: 4

Great free place to tie up off the Mississippi, lock master directed us on where to tie , 8 boats on the wall a few more anchored in the pool on other side of parked barges , good place to tie up for the night

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Capt Sam, WhatYachtToDo, on Oct 22, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 50'
Draft: 4.5'

Rating: 4

14 Oct 23 Sam at GreatLoopAcademy.com on the lock wall here on a training trip with a 430 Mainship with a 3' 8" draft. About seven boats here. One rafted. I noticed a lot of space between boats as I disembarked for a walk. Three boats (non-loopers) refused to tighten up spacing. Checked in with Lock Master and slept soundly. Left before the sun came up. Check your AIS for tows before entering the river.
Some T-Mobile and Verizon service. Sam from WhatYachtToDo ?

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Robert, Slow Dancing, on Mar 2, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 3

Great free wall tie up location. You tie up on the wall, opposite side of the lock - so lock traffic will go past on the other side of the wall.

Secure tie up, out of the wake of passing barges, and with essentially no current to toss you around.

Not sure what the review is talking about that says the cleats are massively far apart. In 3/2023 I stayed there to wait out some bad weather. Cleats are spaced about every 30 feet on at least the first two sections of the wall. Might be a little further apart on the section closest to the dam.

I got busy coming in, and paying attention to the barge coming out of the lock. The lockmaster hailed me on CH14 to find out what I was planning. I should have called before turning up to head toward the lock.

I had initially thought about heading up river to a marina in Evansville, IL - but it seems to be out of business. All the phone numbers I could find were out of service.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Capt Maria Langer, Do It Now, on Dec 23, 2022
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 32'
Draft: 2.5'

Rating: 3

We stayed here on 11/29/22. We called the lockmaster and was directed to a portion of the wall to tie up. We were the only boat there.

The cleats atop the wall are designed for much larger boats and are very widely spaced. Signs all over the handrail atop the wall warn you not to tie to the rails. I managed to secure my boat to just one of the cleats positioned midship. Heavy winds were forecast for that night but everything seemed to hold well -- until just after I went to bed. That's when the wind kicked up with a vengance and we had to move the boat to utilize two cleats. Unfortunately, with the cleats so widely spaced, it was difficult to run lines effectively for my small boat. In the end, I added a midship line to the bottom of one of the handrail posts -- I honestly think the boat could not have been secured safely without it.

Because I travel with two small dogs, I asked permission to walk my dogs along the top of the wall. I was given permission but told to keep them on a leash. If your dog will only go on grass, he/she will be very disappointed because there's no access to land at all.

Although I was glad to have a free place to spend the night in an area without any marina options, this stop was not one of my favorites.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Graeme Walker, Confirmed Aquaholic, on Oct 24, 2022
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 54'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 5

We had a great time with Dock Tales with 8+ boats tied here. No facilities, good location.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Patricia And Steven Stanley, Calypso, on Sep 24, 2022
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 39'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 4

Dredging operations are underway at the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam, so we were not able to tie to the lock wall. Instead, the lockmaster allowed us to anchor near the dam. The dredge moved his rig so we and a buddy boat could get through. There was not much room between the shore and the dredging pipe, and at times the water depth was only about 5 feet. We made our way into the anchorage with some difficulty. We dropped our Rocna Vulcan in 10 feet of water with 60 feet of chain. By nightfall, there were 4 boats packed into the tight area. We felt lucky to get a spot, but it might have been a better idea to drop the hook at Kaskaskia bend anchorage. Unfortunately, we don't know the water depth there but we were told at Hoppies that all anchorages on the Mississippi River are low.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Linda McCormick on Aug 28, 2022
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 39'
Draft: 3.5'

Rating: 4

Location, location, location! A very quiet stop just off the Mississippi. With permission from the lock keeper, you can tie to the buttress between dam and lock. No services whatsoever but it is possible to walk along the buttress to stretch your legs. Thanks to the Corps of Engineers for offering this service to pleasure craft.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Mike Worsley, Islena, on Oct 20, 2021
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 5

It is nice to tie up on the clean nice wall with electric. Public bathrooms on park next to lock available by dinghy to ramp with a nice trail on campground. Call lock master ahead and be careful coming out barges will send a wake to the mouth of entrance,, a sailboat got some damage when mast came down after a big wake from barge while coming out.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Robert Webb, Doc's Aweigh, on Aug 5, 2021
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 54'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 4

Great stop. Call lockmaster to ask for permission. Keep to right of lock/dam floating concrete divider wall [do not follow the sign at the large piling pointing to the Lock unless you want to lock through] - you must dock on the right/dam side; good cleats on a high wall; with mild current, so better to tie port side into current; no rocking/chop as on the Mississippi itself.

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Review for Kaskaskia Lock Wall

Reviewed by: Greg Youngberg, Blurred Lines , on Jul 29, 2021
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 38'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 5

Second time staying here (last June 2017 and October 31st, 2018) both times during flooding on Upper Mississippi. Courtesy call to lockmaster appreciated. 6 Loopers tied to floating concrete pier on dam side of the lock with room for a couple more on rainy Halloween. No current or debris to worry about overnight. You can stretch your legs a bit walking back and forth on the pier but no access to shore without a dinghy. Easily dinghy to shore at campground boat ramp (no facilities). 110 power receptacles on pier but limited use (Resetting individual GFCI will not reset breaker circuits to the pier after overloading one trips them all)...power management required if you use it.

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