An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

My plans to paddle last Sunday with a Meetup outing were foiled when the trip got cancelled at the last minute due to high winds. The guy who was leading the trip says in his Meetup profile that he loves waves. I guess the kind of monster waves that get kicked up by light 9-10 knot winds are too much for him though. OK, I'm being snarky. It had indeed been quite windy overnight but the forecast for the day was for the winds to drop -- and indeed the data from the sensor at Thomas Point Lighthouse showed quite benign conditions. But better safe than sorry, I guess, particularly once the water starts getting cold. Bald Eagle over the Occoquan Reservoir  The Meetup group's backup plan was to head to one of the reservoirs in Maryland where they planned to paddle with another (slow!!) Meetup group, so I decided I'd just head out on my own to Fountainhead Regional Park. I arrived at Fountainhead expecting to paddle solo, but to my pleasant surprise found my friend David...

On what turned out to be the final day of the 2013 Federal government shutdown I headed to Sugarloaf Mountain for a hike. The national parks were still closed by the shutdown; I figured that Sugarloaf, being private, would be safe. There was something ironic about driving up I270 - basically my regular commute - during the furlough. I waved to the building as I passed Shady Grove and continued on up to the mountain. Bessbug Beetle on the Trail As I pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 a group of Asian ladies was just getting started on their hike. They reminded me of my days of traveling to Korea. I used to deploy technology to South Korea's equivalent of Cheyenne Mountain: a national command center inside a mountain. The funny thing is that the mountain itself seemed to be a popular hiking spot. Every day, our bus would stop at the first of several checkpoints so the heavily armed guards could check our IDs row by row.While I sat and waited I'd see hordes of hikers pass...

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If you wind up furloughed because the Federal government is shut down, GO PADDLING! I worked the first week of the current government shut down, then the second week was almost unrelentingly rainy and dismal, so when Monday of week three dawned warm and sunny I had no choice but to throw my boat onto the car and head for the water. One consequence of the shutdown is that the urban Potomac marinas, being National Park Service concessions, are all closed and so I had an incentive (a requirement really) to go further afield. I had scoped out Allen's Fresh Run at the head of the Wicomico River but the description of the access was that it was down a rutted, unpaved road and given all the rain we've had I was a little concerned with making it down that road. Instead I went with Plan B instead: a trip up Mattawoman Creek from General Smallwood Park (named after Maryland's fourth governor and the highest ranking Marylander in the C...

 I'm doing my best to use my involuntary furlough days to do some fun things. Today I biked the W&OD trail from Leesburg to Purcellville, about 25 miles round trip. This westernmost segment of the W&OD offers a range of scenery: horse farms, preposterous McMansions, and a long, tree-lined ride through the country (with just a hint of fall colors). And bountiful porta-potties! The ride out went by pretty quickly. Almost before I knew it I found myself at the western terminus of the trail. I had planned to do some geocaching along the way (there are a number of caches along this segment of the trail) but once I got going I really didn't feel like stopping. The W&OD Trail in Loudon County I spent some time wandering the antique shops of Purcellville, checking out a couple of nice Eastlake chairs including a pedestal rocker similar to my living room chairs (which were a find at a country auction in New York years ago). After a cup of coffee and a granola bar I...

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart (what, you didn't know this?). Seinfeld had the " Summer of George ". Around these parts, we just came to the sad conclusion of the month-ish-plus of Farewell to Jen. From the moment in August that Jen announced that she was leaving us until the truck pulled out this morning every event involving Jen became a farewell event. All well deserved - don't get me wrong. This past Thursday night was our final finale for Jen, as it was her last opportunity to paddle with the Pirates of Georgetown, the Thursday night paddling group which served as the gateway into many Jen-friendships. The paddle almost didn't happen: the Federal government had shut down days before, forcing closure of our usual launch point (which is a National Park Service concession) as well as just about every other nearby water access point. Fortunately, due to its uncertain title and relationship with the NPS, the Washington Canoe Club remained open. The...