Great Falls of the Potomac Dec 17

On the way back to the airport from Shenandoah there was a little extra time before I needed to check in and so decided to pop into another national park: Great Falls of the Potomac. East coast national parks are cute: this one was a little over one square mile in total so there should be time to see it. Keith mentioned it as a place to check out and that it was the hardest, most intimidating kayak run he had done. I had seen pictures. However when I showed up I was not prepared for what I saw. The very sizable storm that had just cleared had pumped the river up from its background of 10000 cfs up to 160000 cfs, and I arrived right at the peak! Rather than the intricate network of small falls, channels, and sculpted bedrock I saw a frothy, fast moving conveyor featuring some of the biggest hydraulics I have ever seen. Whole trees floated by. The sound was deafening. The smell was of a forest being reamed out (loam). The sight was spectacular and impressive. I walked to all three of the viewpoints- admiring the raw force for its beauty...and challenge. At normal kayaking flows the Great Falls are one of the stoutest and most committing Class V rapids around with many different channels and variations possible. At the flood stage I observed entire islands became submerged to create the biggest holes I had ever seen. I spent as much time as I could studying the water from a packrafter's point of view. I saw one line (river right at top, down a ridge, ideally gaining enough speed and luck to burst through a nasty recirculating lateral, then pull hard for river middle) that I thought I would maybe have a 50-50 chance at taking on. All other lines I saw I would have given myself a zero percent chance of emerging upright and without swallowing a lot of loamy water. Checking out the video above and the two identical views below really help highlight the incredible force of the flood. After power walking viewpoint to viewpoint and spending precious minutes at each, a half hour passed and it was time to run off to the airport.

Above and below: Same view! Below from NPS. 160kcfs

Shenandoah Dec 15-17

I decided to make the most of the rare trip back east by tacking on a few days in Shenandoah National Park after AGU. Other than the Everglades, this would be my first real back east national park. The Friday rush hour adventure escaping from Washington D.C. was the stuff of nightmares. Alternate traffic routing inconsistent with my phone app caused several wrong turns ending up in literal loops to make forward progress. Progress was brutally slow. I hope to live a long life free from too much more traffic like that. Eventually things got rural and I drove on through the dark rain to the isolated cabin in the woods at the base of Old Rag Mountain. Generally the weather was more conducive to staying warm and dry in the cabin but I did venture out enough to feel like I had seen the right amount of the national park. Other than the lack of people the other advantage to the weather was that the creeks and waterfalls were in top form. Photos of features I visited online showed little summer trickles- I got to see the full force of the falls in flood which I was thankful for. Walking through a forest stripped bare of leaves was quite the contrast to the forests I was used to in California. It made it easier to see the deer at least. 

        South River Falls

The two highlight walks were probably the short stroll to South River Falls and a longer more adventurous hike to the waterfalls in White Oak Canyon, which required several brain numbing creek crossings. Sections of White Oak looked like they'd be a lot of fun in a packraft. On the last day I drove Skyline Drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge from Swift Run Gap to the north end of the park at Front Royal. It was nice enough but pretty monotonous scenery. I was glad to visit but the take home for me was thankfulness that I grew up enjoying western national parks. Shenandoah made for a relaxing break.

Washington DC Dec 10-14

With the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington D.C. I got to spend a little time exploring the nation's capital. Overall I was pleasantly surprised. The metro system worked well and made it easy to get around. Though mostly bound to the meeting I did manage a chilly evening run around the National Mall, visiting most of the major monuments en route. I also got to take a half day off visiting some of the museums: National Botanic Gardens, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Air and Space Museum, and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. All were neat to see. Some photos below from some of these jaunts.

        The monstrous AGU poster hall