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!