by Tim & Alf
We had 19 people come to our 2020 Memorial Paddle for our departed paddlers - given a sad inflection by the news that our friend Kay Fulcomer had passed just that morning.
The river was at a somewhat beefy 4 feet, so the more vigorous descended from Violettes via Seneca Breaks, the GW Canal being blocked by new cross-channel logs. Meanwhile, 10 of us made a personal first ascent of the bottom end of the Pennyfield Reach - this section is almost never paddled, as the river next to it is almost as tranquil.
The paddle up to Blockhouse Point transfer trail is an utter rarity, only recently open to navigation when the C&O NHP closed Pennyfield Lock and waste weir due to CCA request.
Crossing the Potomac, we found Steve's Island vanished, but another set of raised pebbles available just upstream. The wings of the armada converged on the beach at approximately the same time. Beautiful weather. After lunch a few persons spoke with lots of reminiscing about departed paddlers. In addition to Kay, we remembered our friends Dr. Bob Dobrzynski, Valerie Rasmussen, Dave Singer, Ed Grove, Cay Hathaway, Rick Tegethoff, RC Forney, Glenn Pearcy, and Steve Ettinger.
K1s Alf Cooley, John Snitzer, Barb Brown, Miki Komlosh, Louise Saulnier, Mike Aronoff, Lisa Laden, Tony Allred, Wayne and Ellen McDaniel, Susan Pearcy, Roni Ettinger, Toni and David Bickart OC2s Garry and Ginny Quam, Tom and Barbara Gray OC-1 Tim Tilson
Flowers were strewn on the river as we paddled back to our cars.