Back on the river with Pocket
last update: 07/28 @ 20:22

Pocket was good, she asked “When should I meet you to go to the river?” Not “Should I meet you?”

(Actually, that’s how it was relayed to me. Pocket said she was less forward when talking to SZap.)

It was hot but not horribly humid.

And certainly cooler on the water.

We paddled up from Angler’s Inn to Rocky Island — I don’t recall doing that when there was so little current in the gorge. It really is pretty low.

But there are smiles on everyone’s face.

Angler’s Inn
last update: 07/07 @ 21:30

Another hot day on the river.

The level continues to drop a bit as we’ve not had much rain.

But we’re still taking advantage of the river in our backyard.

We heard that yesterday the river (at least the parking log) was pretty full.

Today, parking was easy.

We did see a few other folks out on the river.

But not very many.

On theory: all the Fourth of July visitors were on their way home.

We did see a couple of these guys.

I believe that’s a northern water snake or banded water snake.

Nonpoisonous but, we’ve been told, bitey.

It was hot enough that they were stretched on the rocks just under the water.

When it’s cooler, they sun themselves on rocks (sometimes).

Lower water…
last update: 06/29 @ 22:24

… Still plenty of fun

Sarah and I made it back to Angler’s Inn this morning. It was hot but not nearly as hot as last weekend. And while the river was a bit lower, it was still very nice to be out.

This evening, we were able to watch the Seattle Cascades win their Ultimate game which sets them up for the post season.

We got to paddle with Pocket!
last update: 08/14 @ 19:35

Pocket said she’d like to join us on the river this summer. It’s taken until now for both Sarah and I to feel healthy — pesky summer cold.

So we paddled up to my new favorite selfie spot — but that rock ledge needs to be more level…

Our heron was further downstream for this trip.

Playing in Angler’s Inn
last update: 08/14 @ 19:34

David and his canoe running the Maryland chute (photo by SZap).

It was pretty low, about 2.9, making it pretty much perfect to introduce Pocket to this part of the Potomac.

She’s done a lot of flat water boating (she joined us in storming the castle a while back) and expressed an interest in getting more comfortable in rapids.

Sarah opted for her paddle board for this trip.

Fortunately, the electric pump she picked up a couple years ago continues to serve us well.

It would have been hot work to pump up both inflatables in the 90 degree heat.

Fortunately, the water was still cool and the sky a perfect blue!

Keen eyed observers will note that Sarah’s and Pocket’s runs are both the Virginia chute.

We pulled the boats over the rocks to paddle up to the gorge, came back down and they ran the Virginia chute an extra time before we headed back to the Maryland side for one more run (after a brief portage).

Both of us on the river!
last update: 06/12 @ 22:19

No, that’s not us under the overhang…

Sarah has a busy start to summer: She was down in Decatur last week. Home for a few days around the weekend. And is off in Seattle this week.

All good travel: she was able to help out the newest additions to the Williams clan, Margot and Billie Mae. That gave Sarah a chance to hang out with really little babies (weeks old) and gave their parents and grandparents a little bit of a break.

And now she’s getting to see Robert’s new summer dorm (having just missed helping him move — up 5 flights of stairs — by about 48 hours).

We took advantage of those couple days she was in Alexandria, with very nice weather, to get out on the river. Where we saw those two climbers in the gorge. New to me, they weren’t going up or down the wall, they were crossing horizontally.

We saw our favorite heron and a few ducks and a lot of fishing cormorants.

Another beautiful day
last update: 08/08 @ 22:53

Sarah and I got back to Angler’s Inn this afternoon. Robert is getting over a summer cold and napped most of the afternoon away. We’ll get him back out before schoot starts.

Nice day on the river
last update: 07/25 @ 22:25

The traditional trip to the Lego store followed by Sushi-go-round was yesterday.

Robert spent most of the afternoon and evening building the Mustang set. Pictures to come of that.

And we watched some Olympics yesterday.

And again this morning.

But it was time to get out of the house by this afternoon.

Robert met up at a volleyball court for some outdoor volleyball (and injured his knee a bit).

Sarah and I headed to Angler’s Inn and paddled up the gorge.

It was a perfect day for it.

The occasional slip off the board or attempt to roll the canoe were felt great. And the threat of rain held off (we did hear some distant thunder).

For the record, it looks easier to roll a canoe on Youtube than I found it to be. That is still a work in progress.

Still getting used to it…
last update: 07/19 @ 17:52

Robert had to work yesterday afternoon. Sarah and I did some errands in the morning and then headed to the river in the afternoon.

While it’s low, it’s still a lot of fun.

And very pretty to be on the Potomac by Angler’s Inn. I’m sorry Robert missed it; maybe next time.

Fall day on the river
last update: 09/05 @ 22:30

Another beautiful day on the river.

But the new camera is not yet used to us.

Or we’re not used to it.

We’ll see if the self-timer pictures get better over time.

This picture of Robert turned out well.

He’s been having so much fun playing in the wave, surfing this one and a bit at Maryland and Virginia chutes, that he’s talking about getting back into a hard boat to have more fun.

We may be back on the river tomorrow. Maybe the self-timer will work better then….

Perfect Day!
last update: 08/11 @ 22:43

We had a perfect afternoon on the river.

The level was low but not too low; the Maryland chute was fun and it was easy to get back up and even drag the boats over the rocks and paddle down.

And the humidity has broken for the weekend — truly amazing to have such perfect weather for a weekend in August.

We packed up the boats and headed to Angler’s Inn.

And we even got a parking space before we were completely unloaded.

I guess we happened to time it all just right today.

There were others on the river, including a river dog, but mostly they were in one spot and we were in another.

Speaking of spots, I didn’t get a picture, but golf ball is huge now. Space for two or three helicopters :)

We’ve likely seen the last big water for the year, so it may stay huge until next spring.

After a day like today, I’m sure we’ll be back to check it out.

Summer in earnest
last update: 06/23 @ 11:04

We took our flotilla back to the river on Saturday. We had plans to actually paddle downstream: Angler’s Inn to Lock 10. In the modern age, we figured Lyft could be a part of the shuttle.

Unfortunately, when I tried to get a lyft back from Lock 10 to meet up with Sarah and Robert at Angler’s Inn, they were having credit card processing issues.

Fortunately, there happen to be a Barwood taxi driver who was enjoying the day at Lock 10. He was just leaving when I was giving up on Lyft and so that was perfect, urban boating — taxi for shuttle.

Unfortunately, I carefully left my paddle in the car at Lock 10, and realized it as I was walking to the river, waiting boats and Sarah and Robert at Angler’s Inn.

Fortunately, there are only a couple rapids on that stretch. After trying out Robert’s beach shovel as a paddle, I decided to hand paddle instead.

Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of flatwater, but the downstream breeze helped keep those of us without a paddle moving.

Fortunately, we discovered that rafting up, we could have the two outside boats paddle while the inside one held on.

It was a fun day on the water with an extra dose of adventure tossed in.

And a ropeswing break; Robert dropping in above; Sarah showing off below.

Feeling a little like fall…
last update: 09/10 @ 22:34

We headed back to our standard Angler’s Inn stretch of the Potomac.

Sarah borrowed Robert’s new inflatable (to show him how it’s done).

And then Robert followed in her footsteps.

I missed Sarah running the Maryland chute on her SUP.

And I had the camera with me when I ran it in the canoe.

It was a very nice end to a pretty weekend (in our part of the country, anyway).

Another pretty day on the river
last update: 08/20 @ 18:44

Today we decided to actually go downstream.

So we put in at Angler’s Inn and headed down to Lock 10.

I swear there have been way more open boats on the river since we got back from Idaho. We saw two in parking lot.

There was a handy rock for the camera and it’s timer just past Offet Island. I’ve Got to remember to bring a dry towel to wipe the lens with :)

We found the rope swing again. This time, the water was a much better temperature and so we all took several swings.

I’m biased, but I think I got the most distance.

Robert got the most splash.

And with our new addition to the fleet, we all paddled back into Yellow (or is it Stubblefield) Falls a couple times.

It really was a beautiful day on river. And a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I’m sure we’ll do it again soon.

Addition to the Flotilla
last update: 08/06 @ 21:18

On our last day in Lewsiton after the Salmon trip, we drove up to Moscow, home of NRS, and picked up an inflatable kayak.

(Moscow Idaho is way closer than the more well known Moscow.)

Robert chose green over blue. It’s very green.

We call it the Green Machine.

It’s a lot of fun.

And we discovered it’s very stable.

Which is an interesting look on the river.

Robert and Sarah are now fighting over who gets to paddle the Green Machine.

Or, should that who gets to stand on the Green Machine?

Our silly standing boaters showing off :)

A little tune up…
last update: 07/03 @ 20:17

The weather was nice (hot but surprisingly dry) yesterday so we took our water craft to the Potomac.

Robert has outgrown his sit-a-top kayak (we’re pretty sure) so Sarah give him a ride on her paddle board.

With a Salmon trip coming up, we expect he’ll get a chance to try out a ducky and decide if that’s the next boat for him.

Robert got in the canoe briefly and looked pretty good; Sarah got in and pronounced it tippy. I don’t think it’s any more tippy than her SUP.

Potomac
last update: 08/28 @ 22:06

Warm day on the river
last update: 07/31 @ 18:44

With the river up after storms the last couple days (mostly around rather than over us), we were able to sneak back down the back channel (normally dry in the summer).

This was a little bit of the Potomac by Old Angler’s Inn that was new to Sarah and Robert. It’s always fun to do a bit of exploring.

Addition to the fleet
last update: 07/02 @ 17:58

We took it out to Angler’s Inn on the Potomac today and she had a ball. We would have made it to the Virginia Chute, but there was a snake sunning himself on a key rock.

The Maryland side was fun.

We’ll be taking this to the beach next week :)

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