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.