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Fountainhead Foliage

I am a glutton for fall foliage. This year I've already sought peak foliage hiking in Shenandoah National Park and Sky Meadows State Park, not to mention the not insignificant foliage pleasures of driving to rehearsal through Rock Creek Park in DC and biking the W&OD Trail through Bluemont Park. But still I wanted more. Part of my foliage addiction is always trying to re-capture peak foliage experiences of the past. Fountainhead is always a sweet spot for foliage paddling, and in 2016 I hit it just right and experienced some truly sublime beauty on the water. I was pretty sure that today, a cloudy day slightly past peak, wasn't going to equal that day, but I decided to give it a try.

I hit the water about 9:10 AM. The reservoir level is very low; for those familiar with the boat launch, the water line is about a a foot short of even touching the rubber mats at the ramp (these mats usually extend into the water). I launched and got in about fifteen minutes of paddling before it started raining. The rain, which wasn't supposed to have arrived until evening time, got harder and harder. I was wearing a Hydroskin top, which would have kept me reasonably warm even when wet, but rather than being wet and kind of miserable I decided to head back and grab my "splash jacket" (rain top) from the car. So I paddled back. Does it even need to be said that by the time I got back it had stopped raining and not a single drop more fell from the sky after I put on the splash top?

I had the place almost to myself. Two fishing boats, a couple of other kayakers, and a whole lot of quiet. Not much wildlife, though. I saw one eagle and a handful of great blue herons, but that was it. The foliage was, as expected, a little past peak, but still quite beautiful. Interestingly, the colors looked more vivid while it was cloudy. Late in my trip the sun started to peek out from the clouds and the brighter light washed out the colors.

I did try to take a break at my turnaround point. With the water level so low, the normal shoreline is unreachable and what's exposed is a bunch of mudflats. I tried to get out of my kayak and immediately sank calf deep into mud. Fortunately, I was still straddling the kayak and so I just sat back down into the boat before the mud pulled my shoes off. I then had some coffee and a granola bar while floating around the cove with my feet hanging out of the kayak, until I finally spotted a rocky area which was solid enough to support me. It was nice to stand up and take a relief break.

When I got back there was absolutely no one around at the normally busy boat launch. As is my usual practice, I loaded the boat then used the yucky bathroom you pass on the way out to change clothes. The park was so deserted that I was tempted to treat the bathroom as a locker room and change clothes in the middle of the bathroom, but I figured that with my luck someone would walk in just when I had all my clothes off, so I changed in the cramped stall.

A stop along the way. Colors pumped up in Photoshop? Maybe. ðŸ™„
 
View of the reservoir. Colors pumped up in Photoshop? Maybe. ðŸ™„



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