The second week of the new year looked like it would stay on the 7 day cycle of gorgeous weather during the week when I am away on travel, then cloudy/rainy weather on the weekend. However, the weather pundits were about as accurate as the election campaign pundits - both Saturday and Sunday were perfect for kayaking and hiking respectively.
On Saturday I joined CPAers Cyndi, Dave, and Marshall in launching from the Columbia Island Marina off the Potomac River just north of National Airport. Dave and Marshall were going to practice some cold water rolling, but Cyndi decided to stay dry and convinced me (who currently can only do the first part of the roll that puts you upside down with your head under water) to jon her in doing some fast paddling down the Potomac and up the Anacostia. The weather was so nice that several other paddlers were launching, as well - almost all of them in beautiful hand-built wood kayaks. We all donned our drysuits, anticipating the fine steam box effect that we were going to soon be feeling.
Cyndi was in her Nemo, while I was still pushing my P&H Capella, as it looks like my Kayakpro Marlin won't be delivered until late February or early March. That meant Cyndi had to dial down her speed (in races like the 10 mile Broadkill I've noticed she typically beats me by a little more than 1 minute per mile) but we did manage to average about 5 mph over the 11 mile paddle. When I do get the new boat (the Marlin is basically the boy's version of the Nemo) I will lose any excuses for being slower - but I'm sure I will think up new ones.
We paddled across the empty Potomac into a slight breeze out of the south, under the bridges and around Hain's Point. I thought they had already moved it but the Awakening statue is still there and it looked like the nice weather had brought out a lot of bicyclists, maybe replicating the Potomac Pedalers World's Most Boring Century - 30 laps around Hain's Point. We headed up the Anacostia - I've paddled down from Bladensburg but never seen that side of DC from the water. We came across some six person outrigger canoes, one of which had Susanita in the number 5 position. We stopped to chat for a while and then headed up past a battle ship docked at the Navy Yard, and past the site where the new Nationals stadium is emerging. It doesn't look that far from completion, but there were a bajillion cement mixer trucks parked outside it. I had thought they were going to emulate the San Francisco Giants new stadium and have an open outfield where you could sit in your kayak in the river and try to catch a home run ball, but no dice.
We continued up to the bridge where the coal cars had fallen into the river a few weeks ago. The water gets more trash-ridden the further you go up the Anacostia, definitely doesn't look as attractive for rolling as the Potomac does. This area brought back memories of when I worked for the Secret Service and we had a number of facilities along the river - back then I would have never assumed I would ever want to boat in the Anacostia. We turned around at the bridge and paddled back to the Marina into a freshening wind. I hadn't done any longer than a 6 mile paddle in over a month, and I was starting to flag - so I pretended to want to do a scientific investigation of drafting in a kayak and grabbed a ride. However, without a rudder it is tough (for me at least) to stay positioned right - all the steering strokes and edging canceled out the advantage.
We got back to the Marina just a few minutes after Dave and Marshall, marveling at some of the gigantic yachts still in the water. I drained about a gallon of sweat out of the feet of my dry suit and demurely changed into dry clothes behind the door of my pickup truck. I was later told that the Marina parking lot was a known meetup place for gay people, but for some reason watching me stand around in my soggy underwear emptying sweat from my drysuit didn't act as an aphrodisiac for any of the many guys sitting in their cars pretending to read the Washington Post...
A little under 11.5 miles in about 2 hours and 20 minutes for about a 5mph average - Googleified map below, some other analysis here.
The next day Carl and I went up to Hereford and hiked a loop around the Panther Branch Trail along the Gunpowder Falls river. This is about a 5 mile loop that starts on the north side of the river at York road, passing by loads of evidence of serious beaver activity and a nice waterfall. The river snakes through very picturesque gorge with lots of pine trees, holly and mountain laurel on the southern slopes. After crossing over the river on a bridge that is under construction, we worked our way east and then headed south on the Panther Branch trail. This takes you gradually up hill, past many ruins of old mills and sluices, until you cross a field and enter a pine forest along the ridge.
As we headed down from the ridge, a woman with what appeared to be an overly large, overly protective beekeeper hat covering her entire head was working her way up. I asked her if she was trying to get her instrument rating (they cover your head) but it turned out she was doing some kind of set-up for a night time trial of K9 rescue dogs. I still don't get it but she went on her merry way and we went on ours. This hike doesn't reach any great altitude, but has enough up and down to keep it interesting, and many great views of the river. Interactive map below.
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