Beaver in Cabin John Creek

Swimming beaver, Cabin John Creek

Last week I saw unmistakable evidence of a beaver in Cabin John Creek.  I decided to try and take a picture of the actual beaver.  It took me a couple of days to do it since beavers are nocturnal and go to bed right around sunrise, but as you can see, I managed. 

When this beaver noticed me it swam upstream for a bit then, with a splash went under water and didn't come back up.  I believe it swam to it's lodge and decided it was bed time.

Beaver stripped branch

Beavers eat the bark off tree branches, so there were branches without bark floating in the water. This is one of the telltale signs of active beavers. 

Beaver Branch closeup

Here's a closer shot of a branch that a beaver has eaten the bark off of. You can see the gnaw marks on it. 

Beaver eaten tree

A beaver stripped some of the bark off this sapling but left it standing.  You can see a few gnaw marks on it.

 

 

 

 

Sewer Rehab project at Great Falls this week

 

Sewer Rehab project sign

I went to Great Falls (Maryland side) this morning and the person at the gate alerted me to a sewer rehab project going on this week.  Apparently, there is a sanitary sewer line connecting Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. and this week D.C. Water will be drilling some rock cores from a few places just below the Washington Aqueduct dam to help understand the area geology and plan for a replacement of the sewer.

Three of the four places they are drilling are only really visible from the Virginia side, so besides the helicopters, don't expect to see anything aside from an occasional helicopter. 

There is more information at DC Water.

Signs about the sewer rehab project

The sidewalk leading up to Great Falls Tavern has several signs with information about the project.

Off to work

While I was there, this helicoptor delivered two people (Look below the helicopter, by the tree branch) to work on the project.

Icy towpath

The canal towpath at Great Falls was icy.  Be careful and wear sturdy shoes.

 

 

 

 

 

Scotland AME Zion church rennovation

 

I was reading an article about how the Scotland AME Zion church on Seven Locks Rd in Potomac got a gift from the Marriott Foundation to help rebuild it after severe damage in 2019 and decided to see how the restoration work was going. It is much further along than I expected, with a large wall behind the church and a new roof on the structure (and, raised up higher and placed on a waterproof foundation). Work is progressing fast, I first drove by on the 9th and there were no shingles on the roof, when I took these photos on the 13th the larger roof was in the process of being shingled, I'm sure it is done now.

 

 

 

Seen at Great Falls, MD

 

High above the C & O canal near Great Falls Tavern is this stone.  Two peoples names are carved into it. C. J. Isackson and Olga Anderson.  Along with that is carved N.D.  It was obviously inscribed long ago because the lichens growing on the rock also grow into the engraved initials. The sun is at a low angle this time of year which really makes the letters stand out.

 

 

 

High water at Great Falls

 Wednesday the remnants of Hurricane Ida came through the Bethesda area and left a lot of water. I have been tracking the forecasts for the Potomac River and it was projected to peak this morning.  I went to Great Falls today to take a look, here are some comparisons for how it looks today and how it looks in slightly more normal times.

Great Falls on the Potomac River as seen from the Olmsted Island overlook.  This photo was taken in July of 2020, the water is a little bit higher than normal for mid summer.

Great Falls on the Potomac River as seen from the Olmsted Island overlook.  This photo was taken this morning. Compare it to the photo above that was taken last year,  All the rocks seen in that photo are submerged, only a few small trees on them poke above the water on the left side of the photo.

From Olmsted Island overlook looking across the Potomac River to the Virginia side.  This photo was taken in April of 2021, the water in the spring is usually higher than in the summer. On the far shore you can see the Virginia overlooks, and in the middle of the picture you can see a large tree trunk wedged between the rocks well above the waterline.

This is a photo taken this morning from almost the same spot as the prior photo. You can see the overlooks on the far shore, and, you can see the same tree trunk wedged between the rocks (and partially obscured by tree leaves. This time the river is within a few feet of it.

Kayakers at Great Falls

I often see people kayaking when I go to great falls.  Usually they are in the whitewater below the falls, but sometimes they go above the falls and come down on the Virginia side of the river.  Today I saw something different though.  I saw a group of 3 kayakers come down the biggest drop, along the Maryland shore. You can see the first kayak coming over the falls in the photo above

Take a look at this video I took.  About 8 seconds in the first kayak comes over the falls, then another, then another.  They regroup in the calmer water below then continue down and shoot through some intense white water at about 1 minute 20 seconds.

Some flowers to brighten your day

 

 Over the weekend I went for a walk on the C&O Canal. Spring is in full bloom and I saw many beautiful flowers growing along the tow path.  here are a few of them.

Outdoors and excercising with distance

For the past three weeks I've been working from home and exercising by walking around the neighborhood.  This past weekend I really wanted to go for a long walk and have a change of scenery.  Mid March I went to Great Falls (which was great, btw) but the towpath between Great Falls Tavern and the Billy Goat Trail was pretty crowded and I wanted to go somewhere it was easier to maintain my social distance.

I went further north up the canal to get away from the crowds.  I skipped Swain's Lock because it is close enough to Great Falls it gets some of that traffic and it has a small parking area.  There are several other spots that are just a short distance further, the one I chose was Rileys Lock which is conveniently on Rileys Lock Road.  This is where Seneca Creek joins the Potomac River.

There were other people there, walking, running, and hiking but they were easy enough to keep a distance from.  You can see from these first two pictures that much of the time there was no one in sight.

If you choose to bike there, be warned, the tow path isn't as smooth after Riley's lock as it is before and there are muddy areas.  Since it hasn't rained hard in a while they were generally easy to avoid, but in past years when I've gone it has occasionally been treacherous.

Here's a father that will let nothing get in a way.  He was riding on a bicycle built for two with his pre-teen child helping pedal.  Behind that were two more kids in a double trailer (one behind the other) and behind that was another trailer with 3 bikes in it.  I can only imagine the amount of energy pedaling that took.

Seven Locks Road Sidewalk & Bikeway Project: Public Meeting

I should have posted this last week, but on Wednesday December 2nd there is a public meeting to discuss the planned improvements to sidewalks and bikeways on Seven Locks Road between Montrose Rd and Bradley Blvd. It is from 6-9 pm at the Heights School, Chesterton Hall, 10400 Seven Locks Road, in Potomac, MD. You can read the (sparse) Meeting announcement or spend time perusing the much more interesting Project Documents.

The project is in Facility Planning Phase II and is 35% through the preliminary design plans. There is still a lot to do on this project. Phase II isn't scheduled to be complete until winter 2011, then after that it has to be budgeted and land aquired, etc before construction can start. Even so, this is an important meeting because at this stage, the design isn't finalized and your input can be taken into account. The proposed improvements include:

• Two 11 foot wide travel lanes plus a 5 foot wide on-road bike lane on each side of the road.
• A 8 foot off-road shared use bike path on the west side of Seven Locks Rd.
• A 5 foot wide sidewalk on the east side of the road.
  
• A 8 foot off-road shared use path along Montrose Rd between Seven Locks and I-270.
• Northbound and eastbound auxiliary through lanes at the intersection of Seven Locks and Turkerman Ln.