Yesterday I got out for a quick afternoon paddle on the Shenandoah to soak in the fall colors. As is usual in Virginia, fall and winter are generally wet seasons so the river was higher and faster than I’m used to, and though I tried valiently I couldn’t manage to paddle past the first low rapids by the Route 7 bridge. I got a good workout in the process without making any headway, and finally gave up and let myself be carried north by the current back under the bridge to the deeper and slower downstream sections.
The trees are not the only elements to display beautiful fall folliage. I was surprised to note that the underwater world changes just as much as the forests do. The river was full of floating and submerged leaves and just looking down into the water was mesmerizing as I watched the reds and golds floating past over the rocky river bed.
A few days ago Jordan, Annie and I explored a new section of 
On this particular outing we all piled into our kayak at Crenshaw Road bridge. Most of the creek was navigable, but we did have to carry over at least four shallow spots along the way. About a mile from our put-in point we got caught in an unexpected downpour, so we called Claudia who picked us up at what would have been our half-way point, the civil-war era Goose Creek Stone Bridge. Overall a nice outing, and I’m looking forward to going farther next time with slightly higher water levels. Thankfully, the last few days have given us a steady rain which is raising all our creek levels. I hope to get out on this long weekend and take some nice fall foliage photos on the water.
ben's kayak blog 
