This write up is from my early days on the towpath. The pictures shown were taken with an analog camera, and I just scanned them into the original text for the purpose of this blog.
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I ran from Pennyfield Lock (mile 19.6) to Great Falls (Mile 14) on Saturday. I left home at around 7:15 am, as the sun was rising between the suburban homes that line the roads of Montgomery County, as it began to flood the intersection of Darnestown Road and Quince Orchard Road with a brilliant yellow. The sky was clear except for the jet trail of an airliner – a tiny dot in the sky, carrying human beings on their morning ride to a far off place. Imagine all the souls in that one tiny speck…
I arrived at Pennyfield Lock as the sun was beginning to hit the canal through the trees. It was below freezing as I backed-up the car into an ice-covered spot in the lot. It had snowed on Wednesday, and as I walked on to the trail I noticed that it was still covered with snow. I was uncertain about how far I would be able to go under the conditions. I could see that others had traversed this area after the storm – shoe prints, paw prints and tracks from bicycle tires were clearly visible. I started walking and realized that the soles of my shoes were offering a pretty good grip on the ice and snow. All I had to do was avoid the slippery parts, either where the sun had started to melt the snow, or where the trampling of feet had melted the ice, only to have it refreeze once again in the night. I found out that I could run!
The river was quiet early in the morning and covered with a layer of mist. There was no sign of ice on the water. The canal itself was frozen in parts. The water was pouring out over the gates of the lock and through its cracks, but further away from the lock the canal was a sheet of ice. There were footprints in places, perhaps from when it had been colder, and the ice thicker. There was even a snowman. It did not look too safe to be on the ice today. I could see cracks in places.
Great Falls is an area where the Potomac River drops by about 60 feet through ferocious rapids. The power of the water is awesome. As you approach the falls you can hear the roar of the water. As you cross the bridges that take you to Olmsted Island in the middle of the river, you experience the river at close quarters – the violent rush of water, and the white boiling foam as it blasts through the channels and crashes against the rocks.
It was fantastic to be out on the Lookout at the tip of the island in the cold of the morning.
I was the only person there, looking down at the roaring rapids and the rocks partially covered with snow below me. The birds that I had seen in summer at the bottom of these cliffs were gone, probably headed south. There were geese flying up in the sky in pairs, honking noisily, and probably also headed south. I started singing loudly to myself – I will survive, as long as I know how to love, I know I will stay alive, I’ve got all my life to live……
I started getting cramps in the calf muscles as I started my way back to Pennyfield Lock. It took me completely by surprise since I had covered greater distances in the past without problems. Perhaps it was the cold and the extra effort being made to ensure that one did not land on one’s butt! The rest of the trip was covered more carefully. As the sun had come up and was in the process of melting the snow and ice, it had also become more slippery on the trail. I negotiated the trail bareheaded and in my T-shirt as I removed my ski cap, track-suit top and gloves to enjoy the feel of the cold against the sweat on the skin. On the way back, I saw something sticking out the ice in the canal. A more careful investigation revealed the head of a deer with the neck all chewed up, probably by birds pecking at it. I then noticed that the rest of the body of the deer was below the melting ice of the canal. I think this was a case of an animal trying to cross the canal and falling through the thin ice. This is nature in action, and should also serve as a warning to us “civilized” folks to be careful out there. I also noticed that the river was not as quiet as it appeared to be at first glance. There were various birds on the rocks. I saw a group of more than 100 ducks and ducklings in the middle of the river, fighting the current. What a sight!
This trip to the outdoors made my weekend (and probably the rest of this week).
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I cannot imagine tackling the cold these days in the way I did in 2005 as far as the clothing is concerned! I would certainly try to run on the snow/ice under similar conditions if I were on my own.
into the sleepy small town atmosphere of Georgetown at 8:30 in the morning, the experience varies widely on this part of the canal.
You know that you are in a big city when you see the homeless sleeping on the park benches with all their possessions in one traveling bag. You know you are in a big city when you get to the riverside and there are these bushes where the homeless rest, where no one else wants to go.
You certainly know you are in a big city when you see that all this is happening just next to the expensive condominiums and restaurants of Georgetown that line the river. And you know what, human beings are so arrogant. They build these expensive structures right next to the river at water level – where it is prone to flooding. Whenever there is a danger of flooding, out come the flood walls that are placed in front of the condo complex to keep the water out. When you have money, you think you can contain nature. Fools! Why do they even indulge in such stupidity?
This trail is built on an old railroad bed, and at mile 3.6 it takes off towards Bethesda – 12.6 miles in all. That is a project for another day. I had started the morning jogging, but my muscles began to protest after about 10 miles. I had to walk. Made it back to the car with not much left in my gas tank. In fact, with my destination in sight, I thought I would make a final push and jog the rest of the way. I could not make it since my muscles began to cramp.
This lock house, caught in the weak morning light, is available for rent.
This is lock 50. There is a little shanty on the upstream side where the lock keeper could wait in times of inclement weather to greet boats headed downstream.
We headed out in the direction of Fort Frederick. The young ones ran past us on their way out.
The woods were nice and cool this time in the morning.
The river flowed next to us in this section. The next landmark along the trail was 
The huge camping area next to river at McCoy’s Ferry was full, perhaps because it was the July 4th weekend. The campsite looked much bigger than I remembered it to be. You could look down on all the activity from the elevated trail as you went by. Just beyond the berm of the canal, on the other side of the trail from the campsite, you could make out the trestle bridge for the the railroad partially hidden behind the trees.
We encountered the kids on their way back to Four Locks soon after. They had decided the shorten their run because of the conditions.
There are no historical artifacts that grab your attention here – other than the wide and well defined canal bed itself beside the trail.
to watch the antics of the little turtle that scooted into the water as soon as I brought up my camera. It tried to disappear under a rock.
This flower below is called Dames Rocket. I used to mistake it for wild Phlox. It is not as widespread as phlox.
This is the time of year for the Rosa Multiflora plants. They flower late in Spring. These thorny plants are massively invasive.
These are wild phlox.
This is most likely Queen Anne Lace. Some time later in the year, all the extensions on which these flowers grow today will come together around a big seed ball in the middle of each cluster. You would not associate the seed ball with this flower if you saw it.
The flower below is called Miami Mist. Finding out the names of some of these flowers is sometimes an adventure. I usually try to find a direct reference somewhere on the Internet to the presence of the flower on the canal itself. In this case, there was none. I had to search further because of this – a more difficult task! Sometimes I look at pictures of flowers I have taken in past years to try to jog my memory. I was fortunate to find the flower this time. The last time I took a picture of it was in 2011.
I am almost sure that the flowers in the picture below are Ragworts. I see them regularly during this season, but I tend to forget the name every year since there are so many flowers in this general shape and color. These include the sunflower, and the state flower of Maryland, the Black-eyed Susan. We also have yellow goldenrods this time of year. Fortunately, they have a very different shape. But I do tend to mess things up initially!
The Buttercups are everywhere at this time.
I could not resist this final picture of a buttercup and a rosa multiflora flower next to each other.
It is an interesting exercise to think about where flowers of a particular kind are to be seen in greater quantity along the canal. Some are widespread over the length of the canal, probably because the plants are more invasive than others. Others are found only in certain places, and in bunches. Consider the natural processes that carry the seeds of these wild plants from place to place – the wind, water, birds, animals, humans, etc… Consider the rate at which invasive species of plants spread. Consider the patterns of spread. Nature is fascinating!
Three weeks ago one could make out the new leaves of Spring on the trees along the trail. Today the area looked lush and green. Change can happen quite quickly!
But the thing that caught my particular attention was the high level of water in the river and the nature of its swift flow. When there is flooding, the initial impacts are usually felt in the local streams and creeks, but all of this water eventually flows into the rivers, and the river can actually crest a few days later, after the storms have long gone by. The Potomac only crested in certain sections on Saturday, the day before my run. The river looked browner than usual. Imagine the massive quantity of mud that was being swept down the river because of erosion in our backyards, the mud that was causing it to look different. There is no way to reclaim this sediment and to reverse the process. Material that was in a certain location at one time is gone forever from that location. This change is irreversible. It reminds me that we human beings have difficulty adjusting to change, while in the grand scheme of things irreversible change is inevitable. To what extent does it make sense to put up a fight? No other species has done as much as humans to put up a fight, and with knowledge and technology we have brought tremendous sophistication to this endeavor, and quite often we do not care about the secondary consequences. When does it make sense to accept nature’s reality gracefully without trying to fight it?
The solitude of the trail (and perhaps even the quiet of the empty home) actually soothes the mind. Such conditions provide moments of clarity that would otherwise not be possible with the constant interactions and distractions of daily life. The trail is perhaps one of the very few circumstances when I am capable of trying to ponder if there is a bigger picture considering how inconsequential our existence is on the grand scale of things. The trail provides perspective. You are aware that everything else that is going on around you is for the most part independent of the human factor. The world can actually exist without us humans. Why do some of us think there is an overall purpose that is to benefit our species to the detriment of others? Why does it seem that the progress of human society appears to be a process of positive feedback that is leading to increasing inequality in almost all dimensions, while the ultimate result is inevitable? What does a human really need beyond food, clothing and shelter, and what happens when you get beyond that? All things considered, what should I be trying to do? Should I even spend my time thinking about things like this? You might actually get some answers that work for you under the right conditions.
But why have I opened up this subject? Fortunately or unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that happens to me on the trail. After my body adjusted itself to the the freezing cold of the morning, the mind essentially wandered into this topic. The initial phase of mental activity is usually a cleansing of all the bad things that happened during the week, during which I allow myself to literally scream at the emptiness around me, where nobody can hear me.
Getting past this phase can take varying amounts of time depending on what actually happened during the week, and then this is replaced by an emptiness of the mind that allows it to wander wherever else it chooses to do so. So here I am, a mad mind let loose.
Onto the subject of this random monologue… To start with, I think there is no counter-argument to the fact that over the centuries human beings have made significant advancements in many different areas and facets of life. We have a gained immense knowledge about things around us and even within us. We are capable of exploration everywhere, from the smallest scale of things, right down to subatomic particles, all the way to the largeness of the universe and the cosmos around us, with limitations placed only by the current technology and the costs of indulging in such explorations. As humans, we are also capable today doing a lot of things, some of which would have been considered unthinkable even a few years ago. We tend to take a lot of this for granted today. For example, flying through the air at great speeds in extremely complicated machines would have been unimaginable even a century ago. We have instant communications today literally in the palm of our hands, by transmitting invisible waveforms through the air and by even connecting everybody and everything through the Internet. We explore space using powerful machines and clever technologies that allows devices to operate by themselves on far away planets. Interventions to extend human life that include fixing of all kinds of internal plumbing and even mechanical replacements are commonplace today. Improvements to our capabilities to provide food and nourish human growth have resulted in major extensions to human life. It is all like magic!
I think I disturbed it enough that it might have changed its mind about crossing the trail.
I did not have time to take a picture the second time I ran across a snake. There were two old ladies approaching from the other direction on their bikes, and the black snake was in the middle of the trail. I stopped and noted that there was a snake in front of them. They had not noticed it, and they did not understand me the first time I pointed out the snake. Luckily, they grasped what I was saying in time to avoid riding over the reptile. I think it was sufficiently disturbed by the traffic all around it. “You scared the darned thing”, I said to the women as they rode off behind me. Not very polite… (In any case, I crossed paths with the women once again on my way back and we exchanged pleasantries. No issues…)
In all cases yesterday, the snakes actually stayed quite still while I approached them on the bike, and while I was scrambling around with my camera. This was in contrast with what happened the one time I saw one of these snakes earlier this year, when it was making haste across the trail to slither away into the grass.
Splattered Brains 