All the pics with one exception are of the Potomac River above Great Falls and within 10 miles of Riley's Lock(Seneca Creek). It was very foggy early on and the river was low with lots of vegetation growing near and above water even in the middle. The latter was great for paddlers as it prevented motor boats from motoring on this stretch of the Potomac. The island I'm approaching is Sharpshin Island. The first photo is a recent sunset over Little Seneca Lake.
I'd just stepped out of my car to go for a bike ride when about 100 geese flew in and started circulating to land on the lake. You can actually hear them better than see them, i.e. a gaggle of loud. Turn up the volume. By the time I was on the bike they were sitting quietly in the lake, having scared off I'm sure any bears, cougars, crocs or other threats.
I wasn't the only one on the trail this morning.
Here are two images from a bike ride. The one with the Canadian geese struck me as funny in a incongruent sense - they're clearly not constrained by fences!
For what seems like the 1000th time a thunderstorm rolls in this summer, a summer of high heat (20 95+ days so far) and thunderstorms. Here's the precursor of light and sound of one from this morning. Maybe it won't knock out the electricity. Postscript: it did, for about 15 seconds - not bad.
Today in beautiful weather (mid 80s, lo humidity, mild wind) I paddled on the Triadelphia lake 20 miles from home for about 3 hours. Lots of birds around including this blue heron sitting in a tree below. Later I saw osprey and both a immature and mature bald eagle - always exciting to the national bird. The last pix is the headwaters beyond which one cannot paddle.
The surfer is Michael and the filmaker is Sean Mullens. The place where Michael enters the water was the exact location he broke his neck and became disabled 30 years ago.
I paddled yesterday and left it on the car for the ride to the office. The snap was taken from 7 floors up using the zoom on the iPhone.
Weather turned cooler and less humid overnight - good weather to hit the trail.
