A group of friends decided to rent kayaks at the boat rental at Lake Ridge Park in Woodbridge, VA. The park was about a 50 minute drive from DC. The park opens up onto Occoquan Reservoir. There are other places to rent in the vicinity but this was the cheapest of them.
I met the group with my kayak around noon and had to pay a $3 launch fee, carrying my boat from the parking lot to the ramp (very short distance). The park charges $6 if you unload the boat at the top of the ramp. The distance between the parking lot and the top of the boat ramp is minimal so it is odd that they charge you that extra $3. You can also rent john boats, SUPs, paddleboats, canoes.
The people I was with did a 2 hour rental so we were somewhat limited on time. Next time I go here, I will venture further. Apparently you can paddle to Fountainhead from where we put in. One of the other paddlers with us used an app called "Strava" (I think) that maps the route you paddled/time on the move. We ended up paddling for about 45 minutes, going a distance of 2 miles and floating the rest of the time. The app looked interesting and I will research using it.
Once you get out of the little cove where the boat launch is, you can either go left towards Fountainhead or right towards Sandy Run Regional Park. We went left. If you go right, you will eventually hit the Occoquan Dam which limits the distance in that direction. Because this a reservoir there is no swimming as it is a source of drinking water. Also, there is no current so you have to paddle to go anywhere.
The area was much more populated than yesterday's trip down the Monocacy, however since it is such a large space you didn't feel cramped. There are some nice homes you paddle past and we saw a family of Canadian Geese floating by. We also saw an impressive dive by an Osprey catching a fish.
Definitely will go back here.
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