Patowmack Adventure
Roger Stone (rogs@erols.com)
Thu, 25 Jun 1998 00:36:45 -0400
WARNING: This is kind of a long story and there aren't too many birds in
it, but the payoff birds near the end are great! If extensive prose is not
your bag, may as well delete now, but if you've enjoyed my adventures
before, please read on.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Took my new (old) kayak out onto the Potomac for the first time this
evening. Until today I had kept to Little Seneca Lake (Black Hill),
Tridelphia Reservoir and the C&O Canal. So today I felt brave. But not
THAT brave - I put in at Seneca/Riley's Lock where, as most of you know,
the river is as gentle as bathwater. But since I don't have a helmet or a
spray skirt (to keep the water out of the boat) yet I figured it'd be best
to go easy. Besides, I've only had the boat for about six weeks, and I
haven't practiced flipping rightside-up yet. (I'm pretty sure I can master
the upside-down flip, though...)
As I went under the bridge at Seneca, I was excited to get closeup looks at
the Cliff Swallows' mud nests. (In case you're wondering, they're ALL
under the middle arch of the bridge.) Many of the Swallows came out and
raced around squeaking madly, but a number of them stayed in their nests,
peering at me like nosy neighbors in an apartment complex. It was great to
see them only a couple of feet in front of my face! (Don't worry, I'm sure
I didn't bother them nearly as much as the half-dozen jet skis I
encountered on my return trip.)
Crossing the Potomac, I saw what must have been a Bald Eagle lazily riding
a thermal back up to soaring height. Without my binoculars I couldn't tell
for certain, but it looked BIG with rigid flat wings. (I'm not nuts - no
way I was gonna risk the binocs on my first river trip!)
While exploring the Virginia side, I ran into some other paddlers and asked
about cool places to explore. One of them told me about the Patowmack
Canal section that bypasses Seneca Falls. (I've since looked it up on the
internet and I'm not sure that's what the section is called, but it'll do
for now.) He said he thought I should be able to make it through the
"Class 2 rapids" I'd encounter in the canal without a spray skirt or
helmet. So with some trepidation and a quick heartbeat, I made off for the
entrance. He also warned me that when you get back out to the river, you
have to quickly cross it and paddle upstream to within 300 feet or so of
the falls to find the river entrance to Pennyfield Lock - information which
turned out to be wrong (or at least misunderstood).
Let me first say, that while it's called a "canal", it bears no resemblance
to that cozy towpath we all know and love. It's more like a miniature
version of the Potomac: big rapids, small rapids, islands, currents, eddys
and flatwater; deep in some areas, and in others so shallow that I had to
use both hands on the bottom of the river to propel myself across the
gravel. A better word for it would probably be "channel". The entrance is
perpendicular to the river just north of where the Seneca Falls begin.
(And, as it turns out, directly across from Violette's Lock.)
Anyway off I went towards the rapids, with absolutely no idea of what the
heck I was getting myself into. I quickly picked up a guide in the form of
a Kingfisher who for the next 20 minutes flew ahead of me 100 yards at a
time. (Yeah I know, they do that all the time. But under the
circumstances I was glad for the company.)
I tried to stay to the right, or shoreside, of the canal, but somehow I got
shuttled into the middle, more aggressive section with an island between me
and the "bunny slope". After negotiating a few rapids with 1-2 foot drops
I managed to find a way back to the easier side. (Those of you with
whitewater experience are probably laughing right now, but running rapids
for the first time all alone in unknown territory is somewhat intimidating
-- not to mention insane!)
Every time I hit a lull, I'd bail-out my boat by sopping up water in a big
sponge and wringing it out overboard. This was done MOST expeditiously,
since there was usually another set of rapids approaching quickly!
During the slow sections, I'd look around and fantasize that I was
exploring some uncharted tributary of the Amazon, or the Congo. In fact,
the vegetation was so lush that at times it actually felt like a tropical
rainforest. (And today's humidity didn't hurt the illusion either!) I
could hear lots of birds, and I got quick naked-eye looks at a number of
them, including Flycatchers, Parulas and Great Blue Herons, but the big
payoff was as I was reaching the end of the canal where it rejoins the
Potomac. About 100 feet shy of the mouth, on the shore side, sitting on a
big log in the water....was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron! The bird just
sat there as I slowed my kayak and drifted by right next to it. So I
turned my boat around and caught hold of the other end of its log - and it
stayed! We sat there not more than ten feet apart looking at each other
for a while. Then as I started to push off so as not to disturb it
anymore, it took off and flew across the canal, landing in a
low-overhanging tree on the river side - where it was joined by another
one! The new Night-Heron flew to a branch just a few feet away from the
first. What an incredible sight!
Finally I forced myself leave the scene. Having successfully managed the
rapids, I paddled out into the Potomac. Between me and Maryland was an
island, and not knowing how long it was, I opted for paddling upriver to
get around it. (Good thing too - I've since learned that that island is
seven miles long!) This is the hardest work of the trip because the river
current is still strong from the falls above. But I made it across to the
Maryland side and started looking for the river entrance to Pennyfield.
The guy had told me that you have to go upstream until you hear the falls
and it's tricky to find. Well I paddled upriver as hard as I could and
never found the entrance. Finally, since I was getting tired, I decided it
must be downstream and let myself drift down a ways. About half a mile
down I went ashore and climbed up a mud bank, only to discover that the C&O
towpath was nowhere to be found. So I got back in the boat to try and
figure out what the heck to do. Then I changed my mind and decided it
must be back up by those darned falls, so I retraced my steps (strokes?)
Let me tell you, trying to find a small entrance at the foot of rushing
falls is no easy task! And I was having absolutely no luck. Finally a
motor boat pulled up to a wide dirt bank on the the shore so I paddled over
to ask for info. Turns out they were a Fire and Rescue Team out for a
training session. Their leader told me that we were quite a ways upstream
from Pennyfield (so if I had just continued my lazy drifting I would have
found it), but that this was the best place to get out and portage my boat
up to the Canal. They took off and I did just that. (In retrospect, I'll
bet this is the place the first guy was trying to describe.) Once back in
flatwater, I discovered that I was at Blockhouse Point, not far from
Violette's Lock. So off I went up the "easy" canal.
Of course as I approached Violette's, it struck me that my car was at
Seneca/Riley's and there is no water in the canal between the two. (DOH!)
So I got out and lugged my boat across the bridge and back down into the
Potomac to paddle upriver to Seneca and my car.
The lessons I can share with anyone who may want to try this trip are
these: Drive to Violette's Lock, put your boat in the river about a
hundred feet north of the lock, paddle straight across the river staying
above the old dam to the canal entrance, run the Patowmack Canal, at the
end cut north and cross back to Maryland upstream of the big island, go
ashore at the dirt landing at Blockhouse Point, portage to the C&O Canal
and paddle back to Violette's. The whole trip probably shouldn't take more
than 90 minutes. (It took me 3 1/2 hours!)
As I went under the bridge at Riley's, I was once again treated to
wonderful views of the Cliff Swallows, bringing my Patowmack adventure to a
terrific conclusion. Can't wait to do it again!
Happy birding adventures to all.....
Roger Stone
Germantown, MD
rogs@erols.com