Mason Neck Lotuses

I launched my kayak from Mason Neck with two goals: (1) since it was lotus blossom season, to visit the grove of lotuses (can an area of water flowers be called a grove?) I discovered last year, and (2) to get in a ten mile paddle. It's hard for me to believe, but it's mid-July and I have neither broken ten miles on a paddle nor practiced rolling this year. Sheesh. Anyway, I succeed in my first goal, but there were so many distractions that I didn't nearly achieve the second (according to Strava my trip totaled 7.1 miles). 

There's not much to say about Mason Neck that I haven't said before, so this post will be mostly pictures. Mason Neck remains my favorite local place to paddle. The big, open bay, the birds in the wildlife refuge, the easy launch - all great. 

On this trip I didn't head across Belmont Bay towards the Occoquan (and therefore didn't check on my geocache). Rather, I followed the shoreline with the goal of heading to the lotuses and then out into the river. I was surprised on the paddle out that I saw not a single eagle, but they must just have been on coffee break or something, since on the way back I saw so many that I eventually gave up photographing them.

Sticking the nose of my boat into the lilies.

The lotus grove (or whatever it should be called) sits behind some breakwaters near where the bay opens out into the river. I was a week or so early - the lotuses were just starting to bloom - but with the lotus flowers and the water lilies, it was still pretty spectacular. The lotuses at Kenilworth Gardens are pink; these are yellow.

That bee appreciates the flowers too!

A sunny day - the flower looks illuminated.

After nosing around the lilies and looking at them from both sides of their extent (see, I avoided using the word "grove"), I continued on, around the corner into the river, where, it appeared, the eagles had finally shown up for work. There were a lot of eagles in immature plumage mussing around like the teenagers they are, plus plenty of eagles in mature plumage. Every once in a while an eagle would fly past low to the water like something out of Top Gun. I couldn't get pictures of these high speed maneuvers - by the time I'd get my camera out they'd be long gone - but it was fun to watch.

Here's a subset of my eagle photos. I didn't even bother photographing any other birds - heck, as I mentioned above, I couldn't even get all the eagles.

I think this is an immature bald eagle

Because I had spent so much time looking at flowers and birds, I turned around well before the five mile point. On the way back I stopped at the paddle-in campsite, which seems to be little used and poorly maintained. There are three campsites, each with a gravel pad. The whole place, including the campsite pads, is now overgrown with weeds. Two of the campsites site right next to each other, and the third is very close by as well. Best used by friends, or neighborly people. Up the hill there's a Portapotty, which means there must also be a road back to civilization. The landing area is a small beach. From the beach there are some crumbly steps up to the campsite, and a wood ramp which looks intended for people to slide their boats up to campsite level (there's really not enough room at the bottom to securely beach them).

I had brought my good camera with me (hence the better than usual eagle photos). This camera is not fully waterproof, but it is supposedly splash-proof - can get a little wet. I always carry the camera in a dry bag, but on this trip I was a little sloppier than usual about keeping water off it. It never got really wet, though. Still, when I got back to the launch I found that the viewfinder screen wasn't working. I thought I must have shorted the whole thing out. Plus, there was condensation inside the eyepiece. I figured the camera was toast. Fortunately, once it dried out it resumed working properly. Lesson-learned: splash-proof, not so much. I still managed to get a few pictures, including a little head sticking out of the marsh. I thought it was a frog, but was informed that it was a turtle.

Turtle (or maybe a frog) in the marsh by the put-in.

A snake which swam past my kayak,