Mallows Bay

My first adventure to Mallows Bay, off the Potomac river on the west end of Charles County in Nanjemoy.  This area is an old sunken ship yard.  Some 200 wooden ships were retired in this spot, making it dangerous for boats to pass through.  Kayaks; however, are well-suited for this type of endevor.  I came at high tide, and my experienxe would have been better if I'd arrived at low tide.  Run-keeper clocked my trip at 2miles.  A short trip to say the least, but a neat experience that will deserve a repeat.

Mattawoman Creek

Sunday July 15 - Only my second opportunity to get out on the water and into the boat. The time commitment of taking two graduate courses for different degrees and having a child really cut down on that free time people like to brag about. But thank God for today! It was a beautiful day, albeit, extremely humid. But when you get the chance to kayak, you need to let go of the privilege of complaining about everything and just accept the fact that it is a good world! Today I risked forewarnings of Thundershowers and braved the Mattawoman Creek in MD. I still retain that this is the best place to kayak in Southern Maryland. It's easily accessible and family-friendly. It has a boat launch for the many fishermen that make their way up and downstream, as well as a soft, rolling launch for kayaks which if you're nice to owners of the Rental Shop, you can also use. Today's adventure took me upstream. Today's goal was to go to the "end" of the stream, to where it becomes to narrow and shallow to continue (the bugs also become unbearable in that stagnant water). With the sun overhead, I set off. Using the Runkeeper application on my smartphone, I recorded the the time/distance of my trip and mapped the path I traveled. Runkeeper also records your splits for each 1/10th of a mile, so I was able to view some of this data at the end of my trip. Roundtrip, I recorded about 6.2 miles and completed that in just over 2 hours. Factoring in a few brief stops and one long reflection, I kept a pretty decent pace for the day. If you're ever using a smartphone app to record your paddling trip, be aware that these programs are battery-draining. It's probably not your best interests to use this if you kayak alone (like myself) or anticipate phone calls. While its convience using my phone, sometimes its best to just use a durable and reliable Garmin.

Up the Creek

8-5-10. Went kayaking today with Bob, Adam and his brother. Adam and Will rented some kayaks from Up the Creek Rental Shop. I thoroughly endorse these people for bringing a nice local business to a great spot in southern Maryland. If you have not gone here, check it out. Bring friends and give these nice people your business! If you're interested, check out their website. Okay, that's my free advertising.

The four of us head upstream which is always a popular choice for kayaking. The scenery is beautiful. Paired with the fact I work close by, this has been my favorite location for kayaking in southern Maryland. The water is almost always smooth and easily to paddle. It's a great spot for learning or just taking it easy. Today, we did a bit of both. Unfortunately last week's beautiful 85 degree weather couldn't last. Today was high 90's but to our luck, we had a steady breeze. As we got beyond the area where the bike trail is visible, we noticed how clear the water was today. For as many times as I've kayaked here, I've never seen such visibility. I saw four bass that were definitely keepers. Its a shame I didn't have my rod...or my license. We kayaked to the end of the stream where it forks in three different directions. We took the middle route and continued in until the shallow waters kept us from easily going much further. It was a nice summer bonding time with some of the guys from work.

Here's a picture of where we stopped to stretch. The water level was low so paddling on would have been more work than it was worth.

Nanjemoy Creek

7-31-10: Saturday. Took a trip to Nanjemoy Creek from Friendship Park. Friendship Park is a nice area. It has ball fields for local sports and a hiking trail. I recommend the trail as it has some beautiful views; however, you should bring bug spray (and based on my last experience, that may not be enough...)

From the dock, I headed to the left and followed the shoreline until I saw an opportunity to turn down a long coridoor. From here, the creek snaked around, this way and that. Its scenic with lots of vegetation. Saw lots of bugs, but they kept to themselves. This area is beautiful...all the noise drowns out and it is utterly quiet, save for a few nature sounds. I followed creek along until it narrowed so thin that there was only room left for my kayak. This made it a bit difficult to back-track. This ended up being a short trip, but a great one nonetheless. Next time I visit Nanjemoy, I plan to shoot out to the far corner to catch the creek on the north end for an estimated 3 hour trip.

The graphic is an image from Google Maps that I edited using Adobe Fireworks to display my travel path.

Goose Bay and Trick Plane

Thursday July 22, 2010. In the midst of moving into my new house, I found little time in the past two months for kayaking. So when I had a few open hours, I packed up and left quickly before anything else could come up. I went to Chapel Point Park, only a few miles from La Plata, and is a place I often go to. It is located along Chapel Point Road near Bel Alton. This park is a common spot for local fishing and crabbing (though I have yet to meet anyone who has luck with either). The park has a soft-water landing which is all sandy beach. From this point of entry, you are on the Port Tobacco River, but not so far downstream, you merge into the Potomac. On today's trip, I started by crossing the river and paddling downstream. Along the way I saw some impressive houses and a personal airstrip. Yes, and airstrip. As I followed the water's edge, I wrapped a corner and saw a marina full of boats. Always the curious type, I continued until I found out this area was Goose Bay, an area I'd long heard about but never been. Once I cleared all the boats and made a wide turn to head back, I heard something up in the sky. Looking up, I saw a small plane similar to a crop duster, though I can't answer specifically to its model, flying close by over the fields adjacent to Goose Bay. I watched for about 20 minutes as this plane did loops, drops, twists and turns. I'd like to think he saw me passing by the airstip in my kayak and put on a personal show for me, but whatever the case, it was a neat experience. I tried taking a picture with my phone, but the resolution was too poor to even see the plane.

This picture is of Chapel Point Park. I got this from Google Earth (picture by JessicasStudent). If you want to visit Chapel Point Park or Goose Bay, here are the coordinates for that location: 38° 28' 14.49" N 77° 1' 53.31" W

Old Story, Older History

For this first story, we're going back to late July 2008. I just brought my kayak down to Maryland and was ready to get started. I didn't know where to go at first. There are so many different bodies of water surrounding southern Maryland that the possibilities seemed endless. Let's say for this first trip, I was inexperienced. Now I had kayaked before, so it is not to say I looked at the paddle with curiousity, but most of my experiences were on small creeks or still-water ponds. With that being said, allow me to take you to Marshal Hall Park in Bryan's Road, MD. I knew it was close to the school where I work, and I wanted to go somewhere with a boat launch. Marshal Hall has all those things, and it sits directly on the Potomac River. The Potomac River is not like the aforementioned creeks and ponds I'd tried. The water is choppy and made paddling difficult. I had a goal: to reach the other side (Virginia). After about 30 minutes of paddling both across and upstream, I realized I was very close to the historic site of Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington (he was the first president). I'd been there once before, but I was excited at the chance to see if from the water's edge. As I get closer and closer; now able to see the warf that ferries people on a tour through the DC area, a man steps out onto the dock with a megaphone and shouts "Kayaker, a storm is coming. Paddle over here and get your boat out of the water!" What a strange request I thought as I looked around, seeing no harmful clouds in sight. I started paddling his direction anyway. Within minutes of his say so, the wind changes; dark, ominous clouds roll in, and I find myself paddling as hard as I can. By the time I got the kayak up on the dock, the rain started, with buckets of water falling from the sky, followed by deep rumblings contrasted against the bright flashes. For as much as I had been looking forward to being in the water, I was never so glad to be out of it. As this continued for the next 25 minutes, I got a full tour of the warf control tower (which actually only took 6 minutes) and had my own personal history lesson from the man with the megaphone. After the rain had passed, it was back to the beautiful day I remembered. I jumped back in the kayak and headed further upstream. While paddling I found a neat little spot under the bridge past the old GW Memorial Highway. A small residential area with houses right on the water, docks and boats all over. Such an quiet and calm spot. My first trip out was certainly a memorable one.

The image you see is from that small neighborhood over the GW Memorial Highway. The image was borrowed from Google Earth (Photo taken by Laura). If you ever want to travel here yourself, the gps coordinates are 38° 42' 46.92" N 77° 4' 24.72" W. Happy paddling!

Introduction

My name is Patrick Kennedy and I live in southern Maryland. Two years ago I received one of the best presents: an unused kayak from my father-in-law. After transporting it from New York to Maryland (a trip that made me extremely nervous), I took to the water as often as time allowed me, quickly becoming one of my favorite hobbies. It seems as if every time I go, I find a story worth telling. For that reason, I decided to start this blog to record some of my memorable events. For the first few weeks I may backlog a few of my more memorable expereinces! I hope you enjoy.