Winter Paddle - Angler's Inn up Mather Gorge to Rocky Island

Water level about 3.75ft on the Little Falls scale, water and air around freezing temps. Put-in at the bottom of the path across from Angler's Inn on the Potomac River. This is my usual trip up the Mather gorge and back to Angler's when I am not in the mood for spending too much time "in" the water but still want to spend time "on" the water. So, used my sea kayak, Perception Sonoma 13.5 in Airalite layup (plastic) - it has more speed than my white water boat so attaining upstream is easier. It is not as playful, but I was not looking to play too much - I am still flipping over way too often when playing in the waves and today seemed a bit too cold to spend much time in the water... The put-in was frozen for about 15 feet. The ice was only just over an inch thick so I was able to break it and slide with the boat over the larger pieces to the open water. A little bit of floating ice pieces were in the water all the time but nothing too big. The water was cold though - spray on the face is not a problem but keeping my face underwater was - I did a few rolls at the end to see how it feels (never had done that in icy water before) and it was ... refreshing. Only my face was exposed but the cold was gripping - after three or four rolls my skin began to get painfully cold and I called it a day.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Winter Paddle
• Kayak
• Canoe
• Potomac
• Ice
• Rolling
• Kayak Rolling
• Maryland Chute
• Virginia Chute
• MD Chute
• VA Chute
• Mather Gorge
• Center Chute
• Angler's Inn
• Anglers
• Angler's
• Great Falls
• Washington DC
• Freezing Water
• Rocky Island Waves
• Rocky Island