Brunswick to Point of Rocks

August 20, 2016

This weekend a group of 6 of us met at the Brunswick boat ramp for a float down the Potomac to Point of Rocks, MD.

We started just before noon, paddled up river from the Brunswick boat ramp until we got tired and then paddled about 7 miles down river to Point of Rocks (MD side; there is a POR VA side too).  It took us a little less than 4.5 hours with lots of stops.

The river was very crowded, more so than usual.  We passed a large group of tubers who ended at Lander's Lock as we kept going to Point of Rocks.

We saw a bald eagle swoop down to grab a fish.  We also saw some danger noodles (aka - snakes).  Perfect weather day.

Monocacy

Saturday July 11, 2015

Our friends Jeff and Christa recently moved to Frederick across the street from the Monocacy Blvd. boat ramp.  Since Chad was at the beach, I decided to join Jeff/Christa for a trip down the Monocacy.

We started shortly after noon.  Three of us put in at the boat ramp at Devilbiss Road.  We then leisurely paddled about 6 miles to the take-out point at the Monocacy Blvd. bridge.  Both the launch and the take out were easy.  The river was high and moving faster than normal but still somewhat slow.  It was also very muddy.  We brought along a floating cooler, named Boozey, that we towed behind us.  I did notice a slight drag on the kayak from towing the cooler but it wasn't too bad.

The trip took us about 3-3.5 hours.  We saw some cool rock formations along the banks.  Part of what I love about the Monocacy is that it feels like a private river with no distractions/light traffic.  We saw some Kingfishers, Osprey, Herons.  A train crossed the bridge right as we were going under it so we wave to all the passengers.

Overall it was a very easy paddle and one that would be good to do on short notice.