Trying something new...

For a few years now, I've been making it a regular practice to take morning walks on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, in Maryland.  The canal has been a favorite place for me, ever since I was young, but it became even more important when, after many years away, I returned to the DC area in winter of 2002.  At that time I was fresh off a divorce, starting a new job, and trying to re-start my life.  I found bike rides and walks along the canal to be good for both my body and soul.

Beginning in late 2020, when my mother's health took a turn for the worse, I found myself driving back and forth between her home in Maryland and mine in Virginia, six days a week.  Since my drive took me right past an access point to the canal, I soon started stopping there on my way home in the morning.  I found even a short walk of fifteen to twenty minutes helped me start my day on a good foot, in a good frame of mind.  It helped a lot with dealing with both my mom's health issues and the broader issue of the COVID pandemic.

It's now four years later, and I still maintain a practice of walking there most mornings on weekdays.  On work days it's an hour, but on days the shop is closed (Monday and Tuesday), I'm often out there for hours.  Typically, I have at least one camera with me, a pair of binoculars, and a small pocket notebook.  I've been jotting down the things I've seen, what the weather was like, and any other things that strike me.  My original thought was to transcribe them using my typewriters, just so I'd find them easier to read later (you would be amazed at how sloppy even my printed words are), but I've also wondered about perhaps sharing them.  So here goes.  Starting soon, I'll be sitting down once a week or so to share my notes here on my blog.  I figure it would be fun to share my walks with others, and it would also be a way to inject some more life into this blog and get me back into writing more.  It might be a bit of a work in progress as I get started, but I'm looking forward to it.  Stay tuned!

Some of the pocket notebooks I've used for my walks.

My "new" 1977 Mondia Super "gravel" bike.

 A few years back, my pal Shawn surprised me by shipping me this lovely Swiss Mondia road bike frame for my birthday.  It hung on a hook in the shop for a couple of years, while I pondered how best to build it up.  Finally, after riding my fully equipped Goshawk touring bike on the C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage for years, I realized the Mondia might make for a fun, lighter option for those unpaved trails.

Originally intended to be a sporty/racy road bike, the frame is built from the well known Reynolds 531 double-butted manganese-molybdenum tubing, with the very pretty Nervex Professional lugs at the joints. Intended for 700C road wheels and tires, it would probably fit around a 25 or 28mm wide tire, which wouldn't be ideal for the kind of riding I wanted to do on this bike.

On the other hand, over the last 15 years or so (how time flies!), the bike world has seen the resurgence of a tire/wheel size that many had considered obsolete - 650B.  Wait, what the heck is all this "700C" and "650B" stuff anyway?  Well, both of those are tire/rim size labels that come from the French cycling industry.  In the original scheme of things, the number (700 or 650) indicated the nominal outside diameter of the tire in millimeters.  The letter was used to indicate whether the tire was narrow or wide, with A being the narrowest, D being the widest.  As with so many things in the bike industry, how things started out is not where we are today, and a typical 650B tire is much, much wider than a typical 650C tire is today, and 700C tires range from 23mm to 50mm or wider, while 700A, B, and D have vanished as labels. Confused?  Welcome to bicycle tire size "standards" which are anything but standard.  Some good info can be found here:  https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html#french

Okay, what does this mean for my Mondia?  Well, 650B tires and wheels are smaller in diameter than 700C by 38mm.  Mounting a set of those on a frame designed for 700C wheels gives you room for wider/taller tires, which give more cushion on rough surfaces.  In the case of this Mondia, I was able to easily fit 40mm wide tires on a bike that normally would have only allowed for 28mm or so.  I even had room for a set of fenders to boot!  I had a set of 650B wheels I'd built some some time ago, with older parts, Sansin hubs and Alesa rims with Panasonic Col de la Vie tires.  I'd thought about using them on a couple of other projects, but it wasn't until the Mondia that it came together.

The rest of the parts are things I've used on a number of other builds, because they just work for me.  Sugino Mighty Tour crank with 40 and 52 tooth chainrings, MKS Touring pedals, SunTour 14-30 freewheel, SunTour VX derailleurs and Power Ratchet bar end shifters, Nitto bar and stem, and of course a Brooks B17 saddle.  The brakes are long reach Weinmann centerpulls, which work great.  Accessories at this point include SKS Longboard fenders, a Velo Orange Randonneur front rack and handlebar bag, and Carradice Lowsaddle Longflap saddlebag.

 More photos can be seen here:  1977? Mondia Super

Great C&O Canal Walk and Critter Sightings!

Had a wonderful walk along the C&O Canal Sunday with my girlfriend. Beautiful wintry day, and several delightful surprises!

(Note: click on an image to enlarge it.)

The first bit of excitement was a small hawk zooming across the towpath directly in front of us and perching in a tree overlooking the river. As regular readers have probably figured out by now, I'm a bit of a nut on raptors, so this was very cool. Based on the size and markings, from the quick glimpse of him flying, I guessed it to be a Sharp Shinned Hawk. Another walked speculated it might have been a Kestrel Falcon, but I didn't think so. Based on the photos I took of it perched, and looking at bird books and websites, I think we were both wrong. The hawk had a long tail, common to both Kestrels and Sharpies, but the rounded tip shown in this photo isn't typical of the Sharpie, and the lack of any russet tones rules out the Kestrel.

So what was it? At the moment, I'm leaning toward either a small/young Cooper's Hawk (which does have a rounded tail), or a Merlin, a slightly bigger relative of the Kestrel, without the russet coloration. The Cooper's is far more common, but this bird was rather small for a Cooper's. Anyone else want to chime in? This photo was taken with a 12x zoom, and then cropped heavily to feature the bird. The original and a couple of other shots are at:

C&O Canal, Jan 30, 2011

The next fun thing was the canal being frozen hard enough for my girlfriend to try out her "new" skates! These were bought for all of $7 at a local thrift store, and look virtually brand new. I don't have any skates, so I basically just slid around on my boots, and watched and cheered as she and her dog zoomed around the ice. Such fun!

We were out in the afternoon, from around 3:30 to 6:30, and the light was just amazing. And we saw a beautiful sunset too boot. On the return walk, we had three other wonderful surprises... First from far off we got to watch a red fox trotting about the ice in the area known as Widewater. He appeared and disappeared several times, seeming to hide among the small rocky islands in the basin there. Suddenly, he made a decision and set out across the ice, ultimately climbing the bank and vanishing into the woods on "our" side of the canal.

A little while after that, we startled a great blue heron, which took off with a mighty flapping of wings, circling around to finally sail off over the river ahead of us. It was nearly dark by then, so we were at least as surprised as the heron was. Really amazing to see it rise from the dark waters and fly into the darkening sky.

Finally, as we were nearing our starting point, and the sun had been down quite a while, we both stopped, transfixed... at first I thought I was hearing things... or mistaking something for a sound I haven't heard in a very long time. But no, we both stopped and listened, and there was no mistaking the sound of a large pack of coyotes, on the far (Virginia) bank of the Potomac, singing their eerie song! The last time I'd heard that sound was when I lived in Flagstaff, AZ, about a decade ago, and it was surprising, exciting, and a little chilling to hear it here. There's just something so wild and strange about their call... I remember being alone in a tent, far back in the Coconino National Forest, and hearing that sound. It's really like nothing else you've heard.

Check this link for some audio clips and info on coyotes:

http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&AnimalAudioID=720

And:

http://www.kwic.com/~pagodavista/coyote.wav

for a direct link to a recording of coyotes.

All in all, a wonderful, beautiful walk, and a delightful day. Made all the better by a hot meal and a quiet evening talking about it afterwards.

More photos:

C&O Canal, Jan 30, 2011

Snowshoes!

Yep, I did it. I bought myself a pair of snowshoes. I'd heard over the years from various folk how much fun they were, but never felt any great drive to buy a set here in the mid-Atlantic, where heavy snows are pretty rare. Then back in December we had a big storm... dropped around 20" here, which is a lot for us. And the first day I walked in to work after the storm, I saw a pair of women zooming along on their snowshoes as I slogged through the snow in my regular boots. It looked really fun... but geez, "there's no way we'll get another snow like this this winter" I thought.

Well, um... we did! As you know if you live here, or if you've followed my blog. In fact in February we've gotten something around a total of 30" of snow, all in the space of a week. So as that series of storms was descending upon us, I decided to give it a shot and ordered a pair of snowshoes online. There were a few snags along the way... but yesterday around noon, there they were, thanks to UPS! So I decided to waste no time and headed out to try them out on... you guessed it, my beloved C&O Canal!

What a blast! It's an amazing sensation to be out in deep snow and to be able to walk ON it, instead of sinking deep and having to slog through it. It's all about surface area, I suppose, and these suckers have plenty of that. Sizing of snowshoes is based on weight, so for me a 30" x 9" snowshoe is the best choice. They look huge but once they're on, they're really not ungainly. Maybe it's because I read and heard many warnings, but I really didn't ever feel like I was having to work hard to avoid tripping on my own feet. I'd heard that was one of the adjustments you have to make, essentially adopting a wider than normal stance, but I didn't really have to think about it. Perhaps my mind and body compensated unconsciously, or perhaps I naturally walk a little bowlegged (I'm suddenly reminded of a recent Prairie Home Companion "Lives of the Cowboys" sketch... but I digress!). Either way, I found it easy and natural to walk in them.

And what a gorgeous day! A little chilly, but not windy, and while it was mostly overcast, it was still lovely to be out in the snow in solitude. I think the whole two plus hours I was out I saw exactly two people, both on skis. The towpath was covered in snow, as were some parts of the canal, and the woods to either side wore it like a soft white blanket. View of the river were as always spectacular, and the water itself was an amazing shade of green. There were a lot of ducks out and about, and a couple of kingfishers (skittish birds!), and a fair number of deer. I managed to get a few good pictures of the deer, and even some nice shots of the ducks. Even the trees were remarkable, with their branches and trunks standing out in dark contrast to the snow.



Take a look at the flickr album Feb 17, 2010 Snowshoeing on C&O Canal to see more shots, including a series of closeups I took of the severed end of a large, fallen tree branch. A surprisingly beautiful thing.

Last Canal Walk of 2009?

Probably. It's not likely I'll be on the C&O Canal again before the new year.

I won't use a lot of words here. Suffice to say it was a cold and breezy and wonderful walk. Many birds, different ones now... we're into the season of juncos and titmice. Also saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk and a pileated woodpecker. I'm always taken aback by just how big those pileated woodpeckers are.

Photos from today are at:

December 29, 2009, C&O Canal

First Canal Ride on Brompton

Well, I finally took the Brompton out on the C&O Canal, one of my favorite places to ride. It was just a short ride, totalling 15 miles, a simple out and back from the Carderock area, a really convenient place for me to start. The bike handled the dirt towpath with aplomb, although I have to admit the few really muddy patches I hit were a bit tricky. Then again, they're not that fun on a bike with full sized wheels either.

It was Tuesday and a day off for me, and I was due to visit my mom over in Maryland, but I had a little time of my own, so I decided to stop at the Canal on the way. I'm really glad I did, because it was a beautiful day, and I had a GREAT time. I always find the towpath a joy to walk or ride, and having some quiet time alone to enjoy it was a good thing. The air was clear and fresh, the sky was blue, and the ever-changing light was beautiful. And it turned out to be a good day for wildlife as well.

The first thing that really struck me while riding was the amazing reflections on the surface of the canal. The air was clear and calm, so the water was like glass, mirroring the sky, the trees, and rocks. I don't know when I last saw it so mirror-like... take a look at the pictures below and see:





I also had the good fortune to see a number of birds... vultures, cormorants, a couple of kingfishers, and several great blue herons. I spied one of the latter out of the corner of my eyes while zipping along the path, almost missing it entirely. Much to my surprise, the heron stayed put while I took photo after photo. In the picture to the right, you can see how well he blends into the background. Herons are among my favorite birds, so I'm glad I spotted this one.








And while I was busy snapping pictures of the heron, I heard a rustling sound in the underbrush near him, and shifted my gaze just in time to see a rather large red fox pop out of the brush and trot along the opposite bank for a while. He was pretty skittish, so I didn't get a good shot of him, but take a look at the picture to the left and you'll see him. If you can't see him, click on the small image to see a larger version. (Actually, that works with all of the images here.)


Finally, as I was making my way back to my starting point, the moon swung into view above... a big, beautiful, full moon! It was stunning the way it just appeared, shining through the bare branches of the trees, and reflecting on the still waters of the canal. All that was missing was a figure on a broomstick to complete the image!


All in all, a glorious afternoon! Quiet solitude and fresh air, gorgeous scenery and interesting wildlife. It all gave me a bit of a needed boost, and made for a great day off.

And the Brompton worked out just fine on the towpath. So much so that I might try to use it for an overnight trip there sometime, perhaps taking a train to a start point and riding down into the city. I'd have to pack lighter than with my full size touring bikes, but that might be part of the fun of it!

Sun setting over the Potomac River. More images at: C&O Canal, Dec 1, 2009

Overnight on the C&O Canal

(Or how to have fun even when plans go awry)

Well, I've had a strong urge to sleep outside and wake to fresh air and bird song for quite some time now, so I set my sights on an overnight cycle-camping trip on the C&O Canal this week. I'd had it in my head to load the bike and my gear up in my truck on Tuesday morning and head out to a spot fairly far out... at least mile 60 or so, out around Harper's Ferry, WV. Once I got there, I'd ride until I felt like stopping, and camp in one of the free hiker/biker sites which are about 5-10 miles apart on most of the canal. Then on Wednesday, I'd ride back to the truck and head home.

Then my truck failed the state inspection because of an exhaust leak. No problem, they said they could get it back to me no later than noon on Tuesday. Tuesday morning comes, with news that I am the lucky owner of a "California" Toyota, with a totally different system, which they're having trouble finding the parts for. At first I thought I'd just give up on the trip, but while I was out with Tybalt that morning, it was just too lovely a day to give up on it so easily. So I figured out Alternative Plan B - ride right from my door, up the W&OD rail trail, crossing over the Potomac River at Leesburg on White's Ferry. So that's where our story will begin.

White's Ferry is a small, privately owned operation that has a small, open ferry boat that chugs its way across the river, back and forth, all day long. It's pretty much the only way across the river upstream from the Beltway in this area, so it's suprisingly busy. You can see the ferry, the Gen. Jubal A. Early, in the picture to the left. The trip only takes a few minutes, and it's actually a pretty crossing on a nice day. And the weather was spectacular the whole time I was away. July in this area can be miserably humid, but not this week.

Once across the river, I was right at the canal, around mile post 36 of 184.5. But before hitting the trail, I needed to visit the small store and snack bar at the ferry landing, since I hadn't stocked up on bug repellent or food beforehand, and somehow missed the Safeway that I thought I would have passed on my way to the ferry. Just my luck... cash or checks only, and I had a whopping eight bucks with me. And the selection of food and other goods was mighty slim. I ended up getting some Chef Boyardee ravioli, figuring if all else failed, I could heat that up for dinner. Good thing I picked that up, as I encountered no other open stores along the way! I couldn't afford the bug repellent and the food, so I braced myself for a buggy night.

On the towpath, I quickly fell into a rhythm and began to really enjoy the ride. Up until that point, I really didn't feel like I was "away" yet, but once the tree canopy closed in, it felt a lot more like a getaway. And on top of it all, I got an early chance to do a good deed. No sooner had I gotten rolling on the canal, than I was passed by a large group of teenaged girls and their group leader, who called out "do you have a bike pump?" I said yes, and asked who needed it... they said "she's in back"... but the young lady was nowhere in sight. I rode on about another mile and a half before I finally came upon the girl walking her bike, and stopped to help. Imagine my surprise when it turned out she was from England, and here with some sort of camp activity group. Quick work with the bike pump and she was on her way, and I continued along my journey.

The towpath is really pretty all along its length, but I like it better the farther I get from DC. Fewer people, more trees, more critters. While I wasn't as far out as I'd hoped at the start, it was still beautiful. And there are lots of cool remnants of the heydey of the canal, such as the lock keeper's houses, and the recently restored Monocacy Aqueduct, both of which you can see below.


















The ride up was beautiful, with the sun slowly sinking in the sky, casting longer shadows through the trees. By the time I got up to Harper's Ferry, I was ready to call it a night. After an abortive attempt to get more food or some bug repellent in town (who knew everything closes at 6:00????), I set out for the next campsite, just two miles upriver. The only problem being that a group of kids and their two adult leaders and pile of canoes and gear had taken over the entire site! Looking at my mile-by-mile guide, it looked like the next site was about 13 miles further up, and light was fading fast, so I hopped back on the bike and rode pretty hard. Luckily for me, it turned out there was a campground a mere 7 miles up, at Antietam Creek Recreation area (mile 69ish). A bigger campground than I had planned on... I like the seclusion and lack of car access of the hiker/biker sites, but at this point, I was just ready to get off the bike and set up camp. It turned out to be a nice and quiet location, with very few other occupants, although one group had actually dragged a couch out to their campsite, as you can see to the right. Not really my style of "camping" but what the heck, we all have our ways.





After a lovely and remarkably bug free evening, and a good night's sleep, I was all set the next morning to roll on back to DC. It was such a pretty day that I made what some would think was terrible time, as I kept stopping to look at things and take pictures and just enjoy being outside so much. The river above Harper's Ferry has a bunch of little islands and low, tree-shaded spots along the shore, and I just couldn't resist a short rest beside the river in one of them. The river exposes some amazing root systems along the banks, and I find them just fascinating.

I finally managed to have some good food in Brunswick, MD (mile post 55), at Beans In The Belfry, a cafe and coffee shop in an old church. I'd been there once before while riding the canal, so I knew there would be good food and good coffee. It's a really cute little town, and a fun cafe. All the stained glass windows are still intact and you can choose to sit in the choir loft is you choose. The turkey sandwich with cranberries on panini really hit the spot, since all I'd had to this point was that ravioli and some Clif bars (note to self, bring more than one flavor...).






















Fortified the time being, I continued down the trail, only to almost immediately encounter the most interesting bit of wildlife I saw on the trip... the snapping turtle you see to the left there. When I saw him in the middle of the trail in the distance, I assumed it was just a pile of horse poop, which you see fairly often along the trail. As I got closer though, I figured out what it was. He stayed pretty much stock still the whole time I watched and photographed him, which was fine by me. Those jaws and claws look pretty imposing, and I'd just as soon not find out how potent they are.

The rest of the trip went smoothly, with just a lot of pretty scenery to see and a gorgeous day with blue skies and puffy white clouds overhead. I spent a good long while at the Monocacy Aqueduct, which is an amazing structure and a great restoration job. Take a look at some of the photos in the link below if you want to see. I also stopped at the site of the Catoctin Creek Aqueduct, which collapsed in the 20s or 30s, but which they plan now to restore, funds permitting. The amazing thing about that project is that they've already retrieved many of the stones that had fallen into the stream, and have them piled up awaiting the beginning of work.

Ride's end found me in Georgetown, having dinner with a friend, which was a nice little treat after a long day riding. I rode about 62 miles on Tuesday, followed by 75 on Wednesday, with the bike loaded for camping. It wasn't too heavy a load, as it was only an overnight trip, but it was enough to make the bike feel noticeably heavier. I hadn't mounted a front rack on the bike yet, so all the weight was on the back, which is less than ideal, but that didn't detract from the fun I had. In fact, I have to say if there's a theme to the trip, it's that if you don't let setbacks get you down, you can still have a lot of fun when plans go awry.



This was the maiden voyage, touring-wise, for the Goshawk, and it did beautifully. I could really feel the benefit of the wider tires compared to my previous trips on my Miyata 1000.

More pictures are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43828356@N00/sets/72157621127732881/

July 4th on the Canal

I often find myself on the C&O Canal on holidays since I moved back East six and a half years ago. The explanation is pretty simple... I live in Virginia, and most of my family lives in Maryland, where I grew up. If you look at a map... or remember your Civil War history... or live near here... you will see that the Canal runs alongside the Potomac, which of course, is the boundary between the two states, so I cross over both of those whenever I journey over to see family, as I did today when I went to visit my mom.








On the way home, having no big plans for my July 4th evening, I decided to take a ride along the Canal before the sun went down. I'm glad I did... it was a gorgeous evening, the towpath wasn't very busy, and I saw something I've never seen before! I'm not 100% sure what was going on, but I have a pretty good idea I saw two snapping turtles engaged in a mating ritual of some kind. I was alerted to it by seeing two other folks stopped on the path, taking pictures of something in the water. When I stopped, there I saw the two turtles, seemingly engaged in a staring match. You can just make them out in the shadows below the leaves in the center of the frame. (Apologies for the photo quality... I didn't realize the camera was set to low resolution at the time.)






Moments later the two appeared to attack one another! There was a sudden splash and flailing of feet and they were rolling over and over, each seeming to try to climb over the other. From time to time one would rear its head up and let out a remarkably loud hiss. Then there would be a short interlude where they would simply place themselves belly to belly, and roll over and over. This activity went on for quite some time, with the two turtles alternately tussling and seeming to quietly hold one another, until finally one climbed on top of the other, positioned itself at right angles to the other, and they quietly drifted with the slight current in the Canal. Very odd... I've never seen anything like it... it was fascinating. Given the peaceful "ending" I suspect this was more mating ritual than fight, but there were times where it looked quite violent.



The rest of the ride was great as well... saw several Great Blue Herons, and near the end, quite a few deer. And geese, of course, geese. Those fuzzy little goslings I saw and wrote about a while back are now young adults, indistinguishable from their parents except for a slight difference in size. I enjoyed the usual vistas along the way, stopping now and then to take pictures. I find it fascinating how different it looks along the Canal, season to season.

All in all, a good way to celebrate the day.

Goslings and Turtles and Sunlight!

I went for a lovely ride along the C&O Canal today. It was sunny and warm, but not too warm. Just right for shorts and a short sleeved shirt. And since most folks work on Wednesdays, the towpath was not too crowded.

I started near Carderock, about 11 miles out from the Georgetown end of the path, and headed northwest away from the city. It wasn't a terribly long ride... probably about 15 or so miles in total. But it was a beautiful day, the path was clear, the bike felt great, and so did I.







Spring has definitely arrived here... in addition to the warm weather and sunshine (along with a generous helping of spring rains lately), the critters are coming out in force. Today seemed at first to be all about turtles... every log, every stump, every rock, seemed to have a turtle on it... and in many cases a cluster of them! Now and then I'd see or here the splash into the water as I drew near, but many times they were just too relaxed to care, I guess.



As I rode on, I discovered another wonderful marker of spring... goslings! Just past the Great Falls area I spotted a pair of geese on the path... and then realized they had a bunch of fuzzy little goslings with them. Such beautiful, awkward, funny little creatures they are. Time after time I slowed to ease my way past a new little family... and time after time was warned with hissing and head-bobbing from the adults to not get to close! It was a delight to see them all... from tiny little fellas that would easily fit in the palm of my hand to some that were quite a bit larger, due to hatching earlier, I guess. Most of the families consisted of a half dozen or so goslings, but I saw two pairs that only had one little one each. It was odd, because in both cases, the gosling was clearly a brand new little fella... so I have to wonder... did a bunch not hatch, or did a predator get to them very early on? Kinda sad to realize how many of the little ones I saw today probably won't make it to adulthood, but that's the way nature works.

Of course, not everyone was viewing the geese so appreciatively... I saw one cyclist frantically ringing his bell loudly as he zoomed through a flock, barely slowing, and muttering "stupid geese" as he went past. Me, I find them beautiful and wondrous to watch. But then, I've always been that way.



Another sign of spring took on a more human element... namely, the canal boat operated by the Park Service is up and running again. I don't know the details, but they have a crew in period costumes, a replica of an old canal boat, and a mule, and they take passengers a short way along the canal, through at least one of the lift locks. It's a fascinating little bit of living history that I haven't yet participated directly in, but I'd like to. Maybe this is my year to do that.

One last, slightly bizarre item... in the picture below, note the sign that warns of unsafe ice! Too funny!



More photos can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43828356@N00/sets/72157618116998348/