First paddle of the year - Duck Season

For the last few years I've bought access to Bull Run Marina, which is a public facility but with essentially members-only access. You pay an annual fee to get the key to the locked entry gate. I go there only in the winter, which makes the annual fee ($65 for a parking pass plus $25 for the key) a little bit of an extravagance, but it's still a lot cheaper than golf or skiing, and it provides me with a very protected place to safely kayak in the winter. Plus, the parking pass is valid at a number of other regional parks, so I generally get my money's worth out of it.

I headed there today, an unseasonably warm (high of 60 degrees!) early January day. I would have kayaked yesterday, New Year's Day, but I had a gig in the evening and didn't want my fingers all tight from having paddled. I expected the place to be empty, but there were quite a few cars there, plus people passing through on the hiking trail which crosses the facility.

I headed up the creek and immediately realized I was out of paddling shape - it took me a little while to find my paddling groove. The water was quiet. Not much wildlife, though there were a lot of kingfishers around, a few of the smarter turtles had figured out that this was a great day for sunning themselves, and I did see one eagle. I was wearing my contact lenses, which leave me with slightly fuzzier distance vision than when I wear glasses (I wear contacts infrequently so my eyes just aren't used to them). At one point I spotted an egret by the shore - bright white and standing motionless as they tend to do. I paddled slowly, taking care not to disturb it (egrets and herons are particularly skittish). It allowed me to approach it and when I finally got close I realized it was actually a white plastic bag hanging from a branch. Like I said, my vision with contacts is less than perfect 😳

Out on the water!

I started hearing gunshots as I was paddling. The creek passes along the boundary of both the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club and the Bull Run Shooting Range and so gun noise isn't unusual - though this was too loud too soon. I realized what was going on when I rounded a corner and saw some hunters in a motorized duck blind (a heavily camouflaged boat) sitting and waiting with their decoys out. I was glad I was wearing my usual garish collection of bright colors - yellow boat, bright orange dry suit, orange PFD, orange paddle. As long as I stand out and look other-than-duck colored I'm pretty safe. I passed a second group of hunters, These guys had cool motorized decoys which would occasionally flap their wings (actually the wings would spin, but with my poorly corrected vision the effect was pretty good). I presume birds fall for it too.

At one point I pulled over to the shore to check something and in the distance I saw a deer bound by. I swear, it was an albino deer - or at least a very very light-colored one. It looked like some sort of magical creature - a Harry Potter animagus animal, or something. It went by so fast I wasn't sure what I saw - maybe it was just the white tail that looked so white - but I it looked to me like a magical white deer. I swear, wearing contact lenses is the best - I can imagine I saw all sort of things 

Not far past the abandoned car which marks the turnaround for a five mile paddle (how did that thing wind up in the woods?) I spotted something I had never noticed before - a dirt road leading down to the water. On a low bluff above the spot there was a level site with a picnic table and a fire ring. It looked to be a campsite with water access. I got out and looked around. I was getting excited about having discovered this little campsite, but after looking on the map I'm pretty sure it's private - on the property of the Rod & Gun Club property. Bummer. Since I was already ashore I took a break and ate one of the last of Valerie's Christmas cookies before relaunching and heading back. Here's the location of the road/campsite.

The mystery boat launch/campsite

Cherry Pecan cookies

On my way back the duck hunters were all gone, but I did spot a single decoy which had been left behind (I should have grabbed it as a souvenier!) and I ran into one guy still loading his camo boat onto its trailer back at the marina. In general, Elmer Fudd's progeny aren't particularly friendly to kayakers, but this guy was very personable. He even helped me load my kayak onto my car. He said the hunters leave at about that time of day because the ducks stop coming by then.

Not a real goose

My total paddling mileage was five and change miles - thought it felt like much more. I think I need to start doing some paddling-focused workouts.