Traders Bar & Grill

Terrible service, disrespectful people and unsafe shuttles!!!  This place does not deserve your business!!  We rented canoe equipment from them, purchased an additional shuttle for another canoe and purchased wood, ice and breakfast there.  So we spent a decent amount of money with them.  Their shuttle was horribly unsafe.  It started uncontrollably smoking shuttling us to the river.  We thought it was going to burst into flames.  What was worse, the door handle was broken and we were trapped in the back of the vehicle until the driver got out and went around to open the door for us.  Our safety was seriously compromised.  Then they left us on the side of Hwy 19 for an hour and a half, when the facility was only 15 minutes away.  The owner, Terry, had a terrible attitude and treated us like garbage when he finally picked us up. They used our drinking water for the trip to pour into the smoking vehicle and he did not purchase water to replace what was used.  He said he would reimburse for the water and give us a discount on our trip.  Half of our group had to argue with him to get the reimbursement and discount following the trip.  When I called to get the discount he promised, he went off on me and called me an ignorant bitch.  I could not believe he had the nerve to talk to me like that after putting me in harms way.  Do not do business with this place.  Do not ride their unsafe shuttles!!

A group of 9 of us recently camped on their campground and canoed the river for the 4th of July weekend. The owner of the bar and the staff that took us up river with the canoes were extremely friendly and welcomed us.

At the time there was a bunch of firewood, probably a half face cord already there and they didn't charge us for it. There wasn't a grill but the owner lent us a grate from the bar that we propped up on some logs to put over the fire.

The costs involved was extremely cheap for the campground and canoe rental. We stopped into the bar a couple mornings for breakfast and Bloody Mary's all of which was excellent and very cheap compared to Chicago prices. Two breakfasts and a Bloody Mary totaled out to about $14! I'm used to paying more than twice as much for this.

After our canoe trip the staff stopped by check on us to see if we needed anything and hung out for a while. Which in my experience with private campgrounds is pretty rare. It was definitely appreciated.

I would definitely recommend this place to anyone and look forward to coming back here in the future.

We headed up from Chicago to do a little camping and canoeing and had a great time. Traders came recommended by a friend and I can see why. When we arrived on Friday there were thunderstorms so we were advised not to head out to the river and start our trip. Instead, we were escorted down to a campground a few miles from the restaurant, down by the river.

(Bonus points awarded for Traders taking our best interests to heart and not allowing us to head out into the storms, as they would have made more $$ if we had paid for a night of canoe rental vs. just campground rental).

The campground was fine ($15/night), had very clean porta-potties and firewood available at the bar ($5/bundle). The next day we headed out on our canoe trip. The staff was helpful in deciding how far of a trip we should take (20 miles), picked us up from the campground (where we left our car) and dropped us off upstream. Canoe rental was $45/per canoe /per night (we made our reservation ahead of time).

Once you start your canoeing you can stay overnight essentially anywhere. There are lots of sandbars and islands along the way, you just need to pick your spot! This clearly is a popular adventure for lots of people, don't come out here if you're expecting solitude and isolation. I'm not saying it was over-run, but there were definitely always people within eyesight. If you pick a big sandbar you'll probably end up with neighbors, just fyi. Everyone we encountered was friendly and fun, so we didn't mind... it just wasn't the back-country I was expecting! A lot of people also bring their dogs along, so feel free to do that if you have a dog-friendly canine companion.

Staying on an island or sandbar means finding wood / kindling is difficult. I would recommend bringing your own or buying it from the bar. Dry bags (waterproof bags) are definitely a good idea. We didn't tip, but it wouldn't have been hard to. The river really varies in depth - one minute it's uber shallow, the next there's a sudden drop-off. Rumor has it the current is deceptive and pretty strong, so have those life jackets on or really close by.

How far you should choose to go is dependant on the weather. We did 15 miles against the wind and it took us about 6 hours... but most people said it was windier than they'd ever seen before; usually I think you can do a lot more floating and the current carries you. Day #2 we did 5 miles in a little over an hour... I think that's a better indication of how fast it can go by (that was with paddling most of the way, not floating).

BOTTOM LINE: I would definitely go back and definitely use Traders again! Fingers crossed for better weather next time.