An odd flotilla made it down a well-watered Goose Creek today - consisting of Hendrik van Oss, Gregory Maassen, and Alf Cooley - in OC-1, Inflatable Explorer, and K-1. This was to introduce Gregory to the brook so he could more ably describe and advocate for Loudoun County Parks to include it in their ten-year development plan, now up for suggestions from the public. Greg had several fine cameras along and will be making a "Relive" video of a GPS map studded with photos and videos.
Hendrik, too, was seeing the top part of the run for the first time - from Sycolin Road Bridge to the 20-foot Fairfax Dam - and the middle part to Rte 7 for the first time since the post 9/11 closure of our traditional put-in. He also got a PFD on the bottom 2.5 miles to Kephart Landing, which was constructed only within the last ten years.Take-out was at Kephart Landing. The day was perfect - in the 60s and sunny
The shuttle up Belmont Ridge Rd took just 15 minutes, and at the Sycolin Bridge we got to see the amazing boondoggle "sidewalk to nowhere" which snakes for many hundred yards beside the roadway - with not a pedestrian in sight. And just when it could be useful to descend to the riverbank - it stops. The sort of thing that makes one despair of the governmental process.
After action I drove upstream to scout out a possible put-in at Evergreen Mills Bridge (Leesburg USGS gauge) but found no possible site.