Occoquan Reservoir

Sunday July 12, 2015

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.

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.

River and Roots Festival

Friday June 26th-Sunday June 28th

We spent this weekend at Watermelon Park Campground in Berryville, VA on the Shenandoah River.  We were there for the River and Roots Music Festival which featured Split String Soup, Woodshedders, Furnace Mountain Band, Town Mountain and David Grisman's Sextet (among others).  Amazing weekend of music and friends.

We typically bring our kayaks for music festivals here but due to the weather forecast we opted to go the easy route and float instead of paddling.


It rained for about 18 hours straight, starting around midnight Friday, but on Sunday we were able to get in a float on the river.  We piled into the newly christened "H.M.S. River Hummer" for a relaxing 1.5-2 hour float.  The river was moving pretty fast after all that rain.

We put in at Locks Landing about a 5 min drive from Watermelon Park and floated to our campsite at the park.  Easy peasy.

Annapolis day 2

Sunday, June 14, 2015--Beverly Triton Beach Park, Annapolis, MD

http://www.aacounty.org/recparks/parks/community/beverlytriton.cfm

After having to carry our kayaks a good distance yesterday, we were looking for a place that had easy water access.  This place lets you pull up to the beach, unload everything then you can move your car to the parking lot.

Similar drive from DC as yesterday's trip, about an hour out Rte. 50 east towards Annapolis.  Along the way there were plenty of gas stations, ice, food options.  Chad wants to stop at Chad's BBQ whose sign advertised "best chicken wings in MD."  There were also a handful of other BBQ options along the way.  We arrived around 1:15 pm and were probably in the water by 1:30 pm.

The beach at the launch site was really nice, lots of families enjoying the water.  We put in and paddled to the right towards the Rhode River.  The shore is protected most of the way by breakers which protected us from the waves and wakes of the larger boats farther out in the Bay.  Most of the shore had small beaches and we got out at a few to rest, eat, swim.  This area was a lot less populated than yesterday's trip.  Some of the swimming spots we stopped at were a little murky but overall I would say there are good swimming options.

We did have to be cautious of the nesting Ospreys and various other birds.  They build their very large nests on the ends of docks and breakers.  It was pretty clear they were watching us as we paddled by.  We were both wary of getting dive bombed by an aggressive bird but luckily that didn't happen.  Very cool to see them flying overhead at such close distances.

We continued along the shore line into the Rhode River.  There is some sort of camp there and we took advantage of their swimming hole/beach as no one was using either.  There were some small sailboats out and some larger boats going up/down the river.  We didn't venture too far into the river as our arms were so sore from yesterday.

On our way back we paddled past the launch beach towards the opening of the South River.  This location is a good spot as you can paddle either direction for some nice scenery.  Playing in the waves was also fun and we probably would have lasted longer had we not been so exhausted from the day before.  A storm came in as we were leaving but we got out just in time around 5:30 pm.  This is a good place if you are short on time as you can customize the trip according to the amount of time you have available.

First paddle of 2015!

Saturday, June 13, 2015--Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis, MD

http://www.aacounty.org/RecParks/parks/quietwaters/index.cfm

Late start to the kayak season but the first paddle was definitely worth the effort of getting on the water.  About an hour drive from Washington, DC taking Rte 50 East.  We left midday Saturday arriving shortly after 2 pm.  The park entrance was easy to find with plenty of gas stations, stores, etc. nearby.  Park fee was $3 per vehicle but I think the sign said the fees were going up to $5 as of July 1, 2015. 

Once inside the park drive about .5 miles to the parking lot, staying to the right at the forks.  From the parking lot you need to unload and carry your gear/kayaks about 1/3 of a mile to the boat launch.  Although it doesn't sound too far, it was very difficult to carry our kayaks and gear.  At the end of the path is a kayak rental place with a dock.  The non-rental launch is to the left of the dock/rental shop.  No launch fee, easy small beach type of launch.

After launching, we paddled to the left which was a small cove type of area with houses/docks on the opposite side and parkland on the near side.  Lots of boats of various sizes docked with people swimming, lounging, partying, etc.  We saw some very large yachts, sailboats and small fishing boats.

The cove opens up to the South River.  We paddled out of the cove along the shore where there are some very nice houses and what appeared to be small private beaches.  We continued past the houses to a small beach at the tip of Persimmon Point.  Stopped for awhile for some swimming and lunch.

We ended up going back to the cove area and Chad got out to swim next to the boats.  Very relaxing but very populated area.  After awhile we decided to head back and mentally prepared for the trek back to the car.  The trek back was slow as we had such sore arms we had to take a lot of breaks.