Anyone lose an otter?

Attaining up between Perry and Hermit Islands (below Offutt), I noticed something diving below the water. I figured it was a beaver, despite the unusual location. After a couple of strokes, I was confronted with a head peering at me over one of the shoreline rocks.
My first reaction was that a sea lion shouldn't be in the Potomac. It huffed at me as I stopped to observe. I backed off slightly. Though it continued to huff, It climbed higher onto the rock. It wasn't until I could see the long tail trailing behind that I fully identified this furry apparition.
I moved away from the shore to a little eddy and we continued to observe one another. It stopped huffing and, though still wary, eventually started grooming itself. After a few moments, it slid back into the water, resurfacing 12-15 yards further down to climb out onto the shore. More comfortable now, it continued grooming (and watching me) before finally scampering up the island into the trees there.
It appeared to be healthy, though a lot of grooming focused on the right front paw, making me wonder about some injury. I scouted around for a partner or family without success.
I have passed by this island many times over the years. I have been chased away by nesting geese here more than once, this channel provide a good spot to scope out the eagles' nest up river, I've seen osprey here in summer, and this winter has been replete with hawks overhead.
But this otter sighting was something special! It even overshadowed my later sighting of a flock of turkeys on Turkey Island — another first ever for me. 🙂
A pretty decent day on the water...

4.3 - Stubblefield

On a recent virus distancing day, I was inspired to explore the options at Stubblefield. I have attained it at low levels, which was slightly harder than expected only because it gets so shallow. On this day, the level was 4.3 and I was in the Animas.

Putting on at Carderock, I paddled across and then down to admire the handiwork of Old Naked Guy on river right. His dams and islands have really held up. Seemed like there were a couple of little boofs spots, too. If you've not explored over there, it is worth a visit.

Ferried back and forth across Stubblefield itself and decided that attaining would be pretty simple. (Ominous organ music in background) I headed down to Lock 10. On the way back up, I was disappointed to see that they had taken the nesting boxes down off the American Legion bridge.

Arriving back at Stubblefield, I headed back to attainer’s right, where I thought there would be a quick up. Not so quick. Those with a faster boat and/or just better technique likely would have wondered what the fuss was. But I poked around a couple of places looking for the easy route. I made it in the end and wouldn’t call the move hard. But it was complicated, with multiple elements that needed to be connected. But I would be lying if I said it didn’t take some work.

I believe that it can be attained at a lot of levels. I want to come back at higher levels to see if the attainer’s left options would be there. (6 feet?) Again, Old Naked Guy’s work, along with the natural formations, should create a number of possibilities.

Of course, there are trails right along both the banks there, so it would be an easy carry if you needed to portage.

Carderock attains

As prep for the Cheat race, I've been doing a series of attains from Carderock to where ever water levels and daylight will permit. It's good as resistance training, aerobic endurance and mental focus --- keeping cadence and solid strokes in a situation where the mind really wants to wander. I've hit a variety of levels, from 4.6 to 3.7 so far this spring. I'm not really trying for speed, but I am clocking. The day at 4.6 took a bit over 90 minutes to Wet Bottom (yeah, pretty slow)--- but that included me getting stubborn and repeatedly trying one ledge above Maryland chute, instead of immediately choosing the alternative. Under 4 ft, I'm getting up in a little over 60 minutes. I'm hoping to cut some time off of that this week. I choose the slalom boat for over 4.2 ft and the plastic Animas for lower levels. If you've never done this attain, there is nothing particularly difficult or hazardous about it. At higher levels, the forward stroke does start getting tested in places, though. I have discovered two hazards worth noting, however. First, the bugs are out in the spring and are especially bad as you head back downstream in the twilight. I'm bringing glasses and a bandanna to keep them out of eyes and airways! The second is taking out at Carderock in the dark --- it can be tough to find and walk the proper trail. I have bruises. :-)

Attaining TO Anglers!

Yes, you read that correctly. I recently did two attains from downstream up to Anglers, one from Carderock and one from Lock 10. Clay, Jen and I attained from Carderock last summer at just below 3 feet, finding it annoyingly low. After a couple of downstream runs at higher levels, I began to think about the attaining possibilities.

At 4.8, I ran down Yellow Falls in the Animas, paddled down to the confluence above the Carderock put-in and headed back up the river left (attainer's right) side. It required a little effort to get back up to the ledges, but nothing too bad. From there it got more difficult. The current had plenty of push, while many places were still surprisingly shallow. It took a lot of micro-eddy hopping to work back up. The best route ultimately ended up requiring a ferry all the way across to the Virginia side, where a steady paddle returned me to Anglers. It was a solid workout.

A week later, I had run down to Lock 10 in the slalom boat at 4.1. Kristin and Clay were going to run the Billy Goat back to Anglers, so I decided to race them back upstream on the attain. It didn't require as much peak effort as the previous attain, but it did take some brain power to figure a route up Stubblefield. The ledges/cobble bar by Yellow Falls were even lower, making that section annoyingly difficult. It was mostly just long. (Yes, I did beat them back to Anglers...if you don't count the 30 minute head start they gave me while they changed and loaded boats.)

Short version...these are good workouts. But unfortunately, by comparison to the attains up from Anglers, these attains to Anglers are all the work, with none of the rewards --- no fun at S-Turn, no surfing at Rocky, no playing at the Chutes, no rest on the downstream leg home. But who needs rest, right?