Today's trip was a Sunday Paddle on a Memorial Day Monday, chased to that date by befuddled & lying weathermen, who'd predicted huge rainfalls upstream on Sunday. In fact when the rain came it was up in Ellicott City, where the Patapsco rose from 350 cfs to over 6,000 overnight, landing the flooded city on Page One of the WaPo. The day was mid 60s & overcast.
Our level on the Goose was a medium high, pleasant 479 cfs, which scooted us right along, allowing us to be home by 2:00, having started at Kephart (T.O.) Landing at 9:30. We were: Wayne, Gordy Lang, Pam White, and Alf. Pam, aboard a red sit-on-top, is a frequent paddler on her home stream and knows it intimately. Leaving Wayne's car at Kephart, we came up to Sycolin Rd put-in, which was new to Pam. For Gordy, the Goose was a PFD.
Into the reservoir via the tiny canal next to Sycolin Rd (we need this access to be maintained), and down to the Fairfax Dam, where we descended the right side of the dam (need stone steps for here). River was muddy, but full, as we negotiated the five major rapids - the sit-on-top did fine on the Golf-Course and final Rapids. Pam says that the Golf Course itself is to be transformed into a housing development (can the tree-fringe be kept?)
The Kephart Bridge Landing take-out was unusually muddy, and the parking lot almost full-up - probably from fisherfolk and hikers - only one other pair of paddlers was seen, putting in at the Golf Course in rec-kayaks. Other fauna were an eagle, and a loon doing his underwater thing. Without having messed about in the shopping center as on the earlier trip, we were able to reach and paddle the Goose in 5 1/2 hours - Beltway-to-Beltway. This quick turn-around and the stream's large (340 sq mi) catchment are what made this such a popular paddle before the 9/11 closure. We need to keep working to maintain this run - even as Loudoun Parks works on constructing the long-missing put-in.