Fall Foliage kayak trip

Way, way back in January my friend Tom and I put a Fall Foliage trip on the Chesapeake Paddler’s Association calendar. We set it up so long ago that we kinda forgot about it until just a few weeks ago. I did a quick update to the listing to say more than the “check back later for details” that had been there since January. We both fielded some calls. Then Tom headed out on a succession of business trips. With this smooth and thorough level of preparation, it’s completely surprising that we got only a small turnout. We got one last minute dropout, so the group turned out to be only five people.

We had judged the weather, if not the foliage, just right. It was a glorious day. I brought along my dry suit – normal gear for mid-November – but given that it was pushing up near 70 degrees, and that we were paddling a totally calm reservoir, I opted for lighter gear. Good choice – in the dry suit I would have been safe from hypothermia, but would probably have succumbed to heat stroke instead. As to the leaves, we were probably one weekend past peak. The trees were still colorful, though the drive down was actually prettier than the view along the reservoir itself. You know what was a beautiful foliage day? Election Day. Maybe it was just that I was in such a good mood anyway, but that really seemed to be a peak day, at least in Arlington.

We launched at about 9:20 AM and- paddled from Fountainhead up towards Bull Run Marina. As we approached Bull Run we saw a chaotic cluster of rowing shells. Imagine the battle of Trafalgar being reenacted in slow motion by high school students in 8 oar shells, and you’ve about got the picture. It turns out it was the first day of crew practice for a local high school and the coaches had the kids out on the water learning the basics. The kids had very little boat control or coordination but a lot of enthusiasm. Nobody swam, but it was a far cry from the powerful, well-tuned college teams we see in Georgetown.

After a quick break at Bull Run we headed back towards Fountainhead. I borrowed my friend Cyndi’s wing paddle for a while. Wing paddles, which were developed for racing, has a really peculiar feel - totally different from Greenland or Euro paddles. They require a totally different stroke. I’m not sure I’d want to use one on a regular basis, but I’ll tell you – when you execute a stroke just right it puts out a lot of power! I’m thinking that in the Spring I may borrow one for a while to play with.

The total trip was 10.5 miles. This wasn’t a stretch for four of us. Our fifth paddler, while pretty experienced, had never gone over five miles on a single outing before, and so doubled her max trip length! Good for her. She was slowing down at the end, though – I’m betting she consumed some serious amounts of Advil later in the day.

Once we got off the water Tom left quickly. He had gotten back the night before from a business trip to Barbados (the poor dear) and wanted to get home to unpack and unwind. Joan headed out too. Dave, Cyndi and I toyed with the idea of going out for lunch, but ultimately all admitted to each other that we were watching our pennies. Valerie and I already had plans to go out with friends for dinner, so I was just as happy to forego the socializing and keep a few extra shekels in my pocket.