Thanksgiving Weekend, 2009

After two glorious days of walking on the C&O Canal on the two most perfect days of the Thanksgiving weekend, it occurred to me that I have been to Great Falls and along the Canal a lot this year, and that it is now time to start recording my experiences.  

This begins A Year on the C&O Canal.

Saturday, November 29

2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

My son and I ate turkey sandwiches in the car en route to Great Falls, Maryland to begin our hike.  We noticed how badly deteriorated the park entrance road was and how the downed leaves makes such a difference in the visibility through the woods.

We spent 3 hours walking from Great Falls to Carderock and back.  There were many other people, and a lot of dogs looking silly wearing sweaters.  Fortunately there is enough room that we could escape and have some time to ourselves.

We saw many buzzards soaring overhead and joked that we must look dead as they spiraled closer.  We saw an old-looking blue heron standing on one leg watching the water.

Squirrels ran about picking up things to store for the colder days of winter.  We were more aware of them because of the crunching noises they made as they scratched about in the brittle leaves.

A few things jumped and splashed in the canal.  As the sun sank lower, we pointed out the reflections on the canal and the beautiful colors of the light shining on the bare trees.  It looks very much different when the leaves have fallen.

The sun was low in the sky by the time we reached Carderock and needed to turn around.  We arrived back at Great Falls almost at 5 and walked out to view the Falls as the sun was going down over the horizon.  I have never been there that late in the day. There was a bit more mist and the water was higher than it was on my last visit.  It is such an impressive view and the sound of the water pounding over the rocks is so loud that it drowned out the sounds of all the other visitors.

We covered about 7.5 miles on our hike and left for home and more Thanksgiving leftovers!

December 1, 2009
12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
It was my dear friend's birthday and we decided to defy old age and get in a long walk before our celebration dinner.  We headed toward Washington, DC with our water bottles and snacks; we had both forgotten to have lunch before our hike.

It was a big day for pileated woodpeckers.  Our first sighting was about 2 miles from Great Fall.  We heard their calls and then saw two of them swooping about between trees, stopping, peeking around at us and hammering before moving on.  My photograph is taken from some distance away.  They never stayed in one place long enough and never got very close to us.  Later we saw at least four more.  This is one of the big advantages of bare trees.

We also saw sparrows, titmice, cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, robins, and a kingfisher.  Mallard ducks congregated on the canal in the shallower parts where there were plenty of reeds and water plants for protection.   With one mallard group was a single male Northern Pintail duck.

We saw one red-tailed hawk soaring overhead and several buzzards.

The sycamore trees were exceptionally beautiful against the blue sky when you can see their white trunks and dramatic branches.

We walked almost 4 miles from Great Falls and passed Carderock before turning around.

On the way back, near Great Falls, I had just finished commenting that we had not seen a Blue Heron when my friend spotted one close to the canal shore.  The sun was low in the sky and the reflection of the trees in the water made an interesting background for his portrait.

It was a good day for a walk, and a birthday.