February 21, 2003

Remembering Winter

My secondary reason for going was to see if the river is free of ice, but as I pull into the boat trailer parking lot I see the boat ramps are frozen in semi solid. But no worries today since I'm here to work.

When lunch time arrived I put away the laptop and went for a walk along the shore. By the time I made it to the beach where I normally launch, the water had turned from solid ice to a cold liquid. But it was clear all the way up to the high water mark. Maybe I'll return this weekend.

As I strolled further down the shore, just 50 feet from the water's edge, my feet smashed through the crunchy snow. Each step seemed as though I would be supported by the snow, but at the last instant of every step I crashed through. As I watched my steps the smell of the Potomac in winter suddenly drew me back to past winters along this shore.

Not quite brine, not quite pure fresh water, it was a smell that carried with it memories of paddling in winters past.

In the river, small ice floes and chunks of snow/ice floated by. I stopped long enough to read a park sign. In front of me were the last pylons of a dock long gone. In the 50's, the floating casino SS Freestone anchored here. At the time, gambling and alcohol were illegal in the state of Virginia, and the SS Freestone got around this by anchoring at the end of the now missing pier. This technicality made possible by the fact that Maryland owns the Potomac all the way up to the low water mark on the Virginia side.

A hundred feet down is a new pier - only a few years young. Many a time I've paddled by this pier in the summer while fishermen hung their lines out from the sides. Many times I've exchanged waves with kids standing there looking for something more exciting to do than watch their motionless line. But I've never been on the pier, so I crunched along a bit more until I made it to the dock.

Walking out I see now why the beach is clear. The pier has acted as a seawall and kept the beach clear by holding back all the ice on the north side.

Across the river I see the entrance to General Smallwood State Park. To the north is Mason Neck. It's too overcast and the air too heavy with moisture to see clearly. Is Belmont Bay free of ice? I doubt it, but resolve to possibly check it out if I get to paddle this weekend. Walking back to shore there are signs on the dock showing the Virginia/Maryland state line underscoring the fact that the water belongs to Maryland. I imagine kids running back and forth yelling to anyone that will listen "I'm in Virginia! Now I'm in Maryland! I'm back in Virginia!"

I need to remember to do that next time I launch here.

On the way back to my mobile office I loop out by the bathrooms and pass the live bait vending machine. 'Out of Service' is pasted on a note outside the coke machine shaped box. I wondered if someone remembered to remove the bait. The hand dryer in the bathroom reminds me of all the times I've used it as a hand and body warmer after a long winter day of paddling.

As I approach the car, the sound of a train blowing its whistle grabs my attention to bring back even more memories. The track runs down the length of the Potomac for quite a ways here. The sound of the locomotive reminds me of all the times I've sat offshore and just watched as a train and its cargo passed. I remember once my daughter made me count every car before we could get underway again.

Too soon lunch is over and it is back to work. At the end of my day I have to deal with rush hour, but today I don't mind.

Woody