The New Year's Day paddle was moved up to New Year's Eve due to predicted high winds on the 1st. This unfortunately prevented some paddlers from joining the trip. We had a small group: Ginny and Gary Q and Larry L in OC-1s and Hildy F and Lisa L, the trip coordinator, in kayaks. We ran the Needles section of the Potomac from the River Riders put-in at Bakerton to the Potomac Wayside take-out. HFAC is closed and not allowing cars to drive down to the river. The Shepherdstown gauge was 2.6', 2,320 cfs, on the low end. Millville was 2.25', 1,210 cfs. Water temp ~ 41°.
It was cold and windy at the put-in, enough to give us pause ("maybe we should just go get coffee?"), but warmed up with milder winds and sun when we started paddling. We had a fine time working our way down to the lunch rock, where we stopped briefly. The view downriver of the low-angle winter light on the bare sycamore trees and the cliffs was beautiful as ever and good for the soul. Peeling out into the river again, the headwind suddenly grew pretty vicious, even for a low-volume kayak. We paddled against the wind slowly down to the confluence with the canoes hugging the shore, skipped the Mad Dog wave, and headed for Whitehorse, very benign at this low level. It was much warmer and calmer again as we loaded up our boats at the Potoma Wayside. After some time spent retrieving and not retrieving keys and phones, we repaired to the Potomac Street Grill in Brunswick for Middle Eastern food, joined by Rich C. Our server told us that the owners went home to Syria for a month and feel free there for the first time. The rain held off until we were driving home. A great way to end 2024. Happy New Year!