Classic Autumn Days

Somewhere between Riley's Lock and Great Falls

This past weekend offered up two incredible back to back classic Falls days.  The weather was perfect, lower sixties, blue skies, and plenty of sun.  The nights were crisp and cold.  Kerry and I woke up on Saturday morning, and decided to head out on a new adventure.  We were tired out from being on the road the weekend before at her cousin Elizabeth's farm, so we wanted to stay local.  I had the idea to grab the canoe and head up to Riley's Lock and canoe down to Great Falls, walk around the Falls and then canoe Mather Gorge to Old Angler's Inn.  We were not sure how long it would take, but after a leisurely morning finally got up to Riley's to put on around two o'clock in the afternoon.

We only had about three and half hours of daylight, so I knew we had to keep a steady pace.  The first part of the trip offered some great canoeing through the George Washington canal.  There were four or five quality class two, maybe three rapids with some interesting tight maneuvers through log jams and big boulder gardens.  We made our way out to the main Potomac and headed downstream for some beautiful calm flat water paddling.  There was a surprise five or six foot cobbled ledge about half way down that offered a quick thrill as we found the only open sluice with enough water to keep us from hitting bottom.

Sunny Waters on the Potomac

We spotted a Bald Eagle along the way, and after about two and half hours made our way into familiar territory.  We started recognizing some of the trees on river left, the big sycamores that line the River Walk trail in Great Falls Park.  It was getting dark quickly by the time we took out above the Falls and the temperature was starting to drop quickly.

The river was low, and the Gorge was calm, but S-turn is always full of squirrelly water, and it was the one part of our trip that I was a bit nervous about in the canoe.  Mogul was joining us, and was not too much trouble, but any sudden movements would be enough to tip us on a strong eddy line.

Kerry was a bit panicked when we got to the entrance of the gorge, so I came up with a quick plan 'b' and walked us along the cliff wall down below the rapid about one hundred feet downstream.  Getting back in the canoe was difficult and the canoe sat directly next to a strong eddy line.  Mogul jumped off the cliff into the boat and we held onto the wall and pulled our way away from the stronger current, dug in, and paddled out into the main flow.  We paddled through the Rocky Island wave train and floated the rest of the Gorge with ease.  It was completely dark, and a half moon sat overhead.

We were frozen by the time we took off the river, but it was an awesome spontaneous adventure on a beautiful fall day.  

Mogul in the Canoe