Galesville Park Exploration

On Sunday of Labor Day weekend Tall Tom and I decided to recreate a trip which had recently been written up on the CPA site by Lisa A. & Tom B. We launched out of Galesville in search of the little accesses to parks Lisa and Tom B. had cataloged.

Our track

As I have mentioned in the past, Tom is a bigger guy than I am - let's just say that if the Chesapeake Paddler's Association ever put on a play based on Harry Potter, it's clear who between the two of us would be cast as Hagrid and who as Dobby - and he initially set a fast pace, but we soon settled into a good rhythm.

We headed northeast into the West River out of Galesville, rounded the corner and headed due east across the north side of Shady Side. When we reached Curtis Point (the northeast corner of the Shady Side peninsula) we turned due south. At this point we were out of the river and into the Chesapeake Bay. There was a little bit more of a breeze in the bay (welcome on a hot summer day) but conditions were benign - no significant waves.  We paddled a little further south than Lisa and Tom's track before turning around because we wanted to get a view of the bay around the peninsula.

Tom - Chesapeake Bay at Jack Creek

On the way out we had been taking direct paths everywhere; on the way home we took a more meandering path, exploring into coves and creeks. We first poked into a little creek to explore Jack Creek Park. Then we explored the whole of Parish Creek, pausing at a little beach to stretch our legs. We found the shoreline of Shady Side Park, though it turned out to be an unimpressive, overgrown little stretch of land in what was otherwise a cove of work boats and marinas.

In Parish Creek

 From there we largely retraced our path back. As always, as we paddled we drooled over the waterfront homes. One had a big "For Sale" sign on the end of its pier and there was a family out there looking at it (Tom could tell they were house-hunters from the fact that they were holding the brochure). "How much are they asking?", he yelled. "Eight hundred ninety-five thousand," was the answer. Less than I would have expected for a bay-front house with a deep water dock. I subsequently looked the house up on Zillow - it has a pool too, and a 3/4 acre lot - though the house itself is not huge. Also, it's Shady Side, not Annapolis.

With a dash across the busy boat channel we made it safely back to Galesville. After a quick stop for pizza and to browse the offerings at West Marine we were homeward bound. Total trip length 10.4 miles.

[For those interested, the locale of this trip can be found on p.8 of NOAA Booklet Chart 12263]