November 14, 1999

Marumsco Creek

Trip # 64

11.9 miles

MAP

Trevor had posted a message to the CPA list asking if there were any trips planned for Sunday. Of course, I didn't decide where to go till 8:30 p.m. the night before, but I posted back to him letting him know that Joan Spinner and I would be launching from Mason Neck about 8:30 the following morning. I checked the computer before I left the next day for the weather (possible small craft advisory in the afternoon!) and saw a response from Trevor that he would be there.

The recorded history of Mason Neck began around 1755 with the construction of the nearby Gunston Hall, home of George Mason. Mason was the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, predecessor of the United States Bill of Rights.

During the 1800s and early 1900s, logging was the principle land use of what is now part of the wildlife refuge. Roads were cut and much of the mature pine and hardwood timber removed. This elimination of nest trees severely reduced the area bald eagle population.

By the 1960s, timber had grown back but residential development posed a new threat. Local residents worked with the Nature Conservancy to protect the land. In 1969, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased 845 acres from the Conservancy and the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge was established. Today the refuge spans almost 2300 acres.

I breezed through the front gate a few minutes before 8:00am, the official opening time of the park. After unloading the boat Trevor drove up and after introductions we unloaded his CLC Chesapeake 17LT. An absolutely beautiful boat. Joan appeared a little after 8:30 and we were on the water right around 9:00.

I had given Trevor a land overview the best I could from the shore, and before shoving off I suggested we paddle out to Conrad Island to cross the deep water channel. There were not many boats out today but I figured because of a light fog it might be safer to cross the channel at its narrowest point. When we got to the Island there was little or no fog, and in just a few paddle strokes we were across the 50 - 60 foot wide channel.

We now turned south west towards Deephole Point. Both Joan and Trevor mentioned how it was much easier to paddle into the wind. The wind was out of the south west and was blowing pretty good. Having never paddled with Trevor and knowing his skill level I told him to be sure and let us know if the wind/waves made him uncomfortable and we could find another way back. Trevor handled the waves like a pro. The waves never got above about a foot, but they often broke across our boats and were choppy.

I'm having a hard time getting my brain to adjust the skeg properly. My brain wants to drop the skeg based on how big the waves are, where I should drop it down based on how hard the wind is blowing. I keep having to catch myself working too hard at keeping the boat straight in shorter waves, and forcing myself to add more skeg exposure. I'll learn eventually.

Trevor had told me he had not installed a front hatch on his boat because he had heard the boat was prone to have water wash up the front deck. If there was a hatch cover, it would spray water in your face. I could see that was correct as the water often washed partially up his deck before shedding off to the sides.

We rounded Deephole Point and again had the waves coming in from our port side. This trip was short, and we soon found our way into the mouth of Marumsco Creek. We paddled into this marshy creek just a short bit and landed for a leg stretch. I swung around a sharp bend of a sandy little point to land. This back side of the point had just one drawback. It had a sharp drop off. My kayak was leaning against the sand on my right, and I stepped out to the left into waist deep water. Trevor managed to get out and Joan beached on the other side of the point which had a shallow taper into the water.

When we decided to get back on the water, I entered my kayak as if entering from a dock, sliding into the cockpit with the paddle behind my back. It actually worked well! I was surprised and stored that little trick away for my next steep drop off landing.

As we headed back into the marsh, I had a hard time finding the channel. As a matter of fact, I rarely found the channel and ended up paddling over shallow flats. I had been in this creek only once before in July, and the Lilly pads helped mark the channel back then. There was no such help this time for me, but Joan and Trevor seemed to manage much better. At least they knew NOT to follow me.

The ducks, geese and sea gulls filled this marsh to capacity. We had even seen a bald eagle a little earlier. Before long though we were stopped from any further progress by shallow water. Even though we were a mile into the creek, it had seemed like such a short distance I was sure I had gone further into the creek the last time. We turned and started to paddle out and Joan spotted a deer up on the hill as we turned around.

We paddled out of the creek doing a much better job of finding the channel (which means, I followed Joan and Trevor). At the mouth of the creek we headed south across Featherstone Shores and into Farm Creek. This creek is really only passable at high tide and we were entered just at the peak. Again more birds, mostly geese which flushed and scared everything else away. We beached once more for a pit stop and a bite to eat. As we were standing there, the wind changed. Not in direction, but in temperature. It was pretty weird and was if the cold wind was suddenly being blown through a heater. I thought of shedding my Polartec jacket but left it on because of the water temp.

We headed back out towards our launch site, cutting straight across the Occuquan Bay. The wind pushed us along fairly well and I kept looking behind looking for storm clouds. The temperature change was just too weird, and I was surprised we weren't sitting in the middle of a thunderstorm. Near the far side of the bay Joan and I warned Trevor not to get too close to the little point of land that juts out from shore. The deep water channel runs right by there and the waves often grow quickly as they rush up the shallow peninsula. After waiting for some boats to cross by in the channel we crossed ourselves. We did begin to spread out a bit so instead of making a long target in the channel I dropped back with Joan so there would only be two smaller targets. I think we should have discussed staying closer together before attempting the crossing. Not too bad of an error on a slow day like today, but if this were summer we may have had a problem. As the unofficial trip leader this error rested on my shoulders and I made note not to let it happen again. The channel is not well marked and I should have made everyone aware we were crossing it.

Back at the park we loaded up out boats. I helped a guy with a Folbot and sailing rig lift his kayak up onto his car. Four ladies unloaded their kayaks as I finished up lashing down my kayak. I think Joan warned them of the potential small craft advisory. Another great day on the water.