An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

A bald eagle watches over Fletcher's Cove Deer graze near Fletcher's Cove Another Sunday morning paddle using the wing on the way up and the Greenland paddle on the way back. My trip was from Columbia Island to Fletcher's Cove, about 9 1/4 miles round trip. I wasn't running a GPS but from my timing and distance estimates on Google maps it appears I made about 4.9 MPH with the wing (upriver, but into the wind - both very small influences) and 4 MPH with the GP. That's a significant difference, enough to cut 10 minutes off of my upriver trip vs. my downriver trip. My speed on the return trip was has a little more uncertainty in it (it might be more like 4.1 MPH) as I stopped at one point to photograph some nature. I couldn't resist pulling out the camera - I had deer grazing to the left of me on the DC side and a bald eagle up in a tree on my right on the Virginia shore (excuse the crummy iPhone photos). You might say that even my pictures are "wing...

The easy trails at Schaeffer Farm kicked my butt. There, I've said it. Back in April at SK102 Susanita clued me in to Schaeffer Farm Mountain Bike Park, a set of trails maintained by MORE (Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts) in a park near Germantown, Maryland. That's not far from where I work, so I've had it in the back of my mind to one day head to the MTB park for a spin before heading home. It only took me 2 1/2 months to put this plan into action, which isn't too bad in my book (actually I had brought my bike once before intending to do this but was foiled by a rainy evening). After a later-than-expected departure from work, a couple of wrong turns and a quick change of clothes in the parking lot I was ready to ride. I'd read up on the trails - the white trail was the "easy" warm-up trail and was the one which connected with the parking lot and so I figured I'd start out riding the white loop then maybe move on to more challenging stuff. ...

On Roosevelt Island Does six feet make a difference? I have written ad nauseum about paddling on the urban section  of the Potomac up and around Roosevelt Island. How is it that a walk on that self same island – a few feet onto land rather than a few feet out into the water – feels at first like less of a noteworthy adventure? But an adventure it was – or at least an outing worth writing about. It was a warm, sunny Saturday morning. On Saturdays our usual destination is the Falls Church Farmer’s Market, however this week we knew we wouldn’t be eating many meals at home so we decided to forego the usual acquisition of fruits and veggies in favor of a trip to the river. We grabbed some food and folding chairs (and of course a mug of coffee for me) and headed for Roosevelt Island.  First we ate breakfast along the shore, watching the myriad watercraft go by – kayaks, SUPs, outrigger canoes, shells, and powerboats. Then we headed across the foot bridge and walk...