We had 5 paddlers join us for our Thursday evening run on the Potomac River from our put in at Old Anglers Inn to our takeout at Lock 10. After shuttling paddlers back and forth we left the beach at Old Anglers Inn at about 6:15. The weather started out sunny, but a front moved in towards the end of our trip and the skies turned cloudy with an increasing threat of rain. The temperature was 95 degrees, but a slight breeze over the water took some of the edge out of the heat. The water level was at 4.1 ft, and the discharge was 10,300 cfs at the time we put in according to the Little Falls gauge. The group consisted of Gayle Zheng, Greg Landrigan, Logan Hoffman, Bob Hartford, and Dean Hawes (TC).
As I stated above, we launched at about 6:15 PM and made to Lock 10 by about 8:15. After launching, we convened the group on the beach just off the put in for introductions and a trip briefing. This trip was a PFD for 1 paddler. This water level was a nice balance for this run. The Offutt waves were running good enough for a fun ride down with some goofing off in the waves, but not high enough for surfing. Most of the mid channel rocks were still under water. Yellow falls was fairly spicy going over the first ledge, but the secondary ledges are still washed out. And Stubblefield falls were a little washed making them more subdued than usual, but still a fun ride down. We managed to get some good play time in the Offutt waves and Yellow Falls, but we kind of ran through Stubblefield Falls to beat the loss of daylight (the TC has a real problem with managing time effectively on this run). The highlight of this trip is that everyone had a fun time, and no one had an out of boat experience. We also had a lot of successful practice rolls – most were due to the need to cool off.
In terms of statistics, we had 5 happy paddlers, water level = 4.1 ft, CFS = 10,300, Temp 95 degrees, 1 PFD, 0 out of boat experiences, and 0 injuries. We’ll call it a good day 😊
Unfortunately, Next week’s Wednesday Evening Paddle will be cancelled due to a schedule conflict.
Submitted by
Dean Hawes