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"The Mysterious Calumet"

6/2/2010

The start of the bike ride was looking grim due to overcast skies and intermittent light rain. But by 10 o'clock, 17 riders departed from the entranceway of Harborside Golf Course for a 15 mile ride through the remote areas behind Lake Calumet, roughly from the Bishop Ford Expressway to Torrence Avenue and back.

There were bike enthusiasts from Pullman, Roseland, Hammond, Indiana, and the south suburbs. Most were visiting this serene, little-known area for the first time. They experienced seeing marshes, landfills, the Calumet River from different vantage places, Lake Calumet, legitimate and illegal landfills, and a variety of birds and waterfowl.

The rain had long cleared by the time the group reached their last stop: the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District's SEPA (Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration) Station at 124th & Torrence Ave. This series of waterfalls was designed to add oxygen to the Calumet River to improve water quality.

Thanks to Ed deLeon and Howard Pence for providing frontal & rear road protection, as well as for bringing water and snacks. Tom Shepherd was the organizer and lead rider, in addition to narrator.