This was meant to be a TR about a trip down Seneca Creek, which looked possible after a very spotty Thursday downpour in the area, which reached 4.5 inches in Cabin John, but didn't amount to a hill of beans where it was needed. The NWS predictions lied like Boris Johnson (to choose a neutral figure) promising 500, then 300 cfs - and finally delivering 88 cfs (the min CZ) at the Seneca put-in. Result: All but the super-attaining Laura Thompson went over to the next-door Violettes Lock parking - which oddly was not overrun - and so once again we set up for dear old same-old, same-old.
In the event, John S and Gordy went down Seneca Breaks, while Alan G, Sharon O, Lisa L, Tim T, Barb, and your scribe - along with new girl (for us) Janet Hayes - went down the GWC. 9 in all. One flip, no strainers (The downed fresh set of branches of which Diane H had apprised us appears to be over in Jacuzzi / Martha's Washing Machine Rapid). Return was via the C&O Canal - 34 turtles - save for Lisa & Barb, who attained up the Breaks.
The real drama of the day then occurred in the VL Pkg, as Janet discovered her SUV's rear tire had completely deflated. Tim and Alan removed the lug nuts but the wheel would not budge. Enter John Snitzer, first with a wicked 20-lb sledge hammer he just happened to have on hand. And to deliver the force of the wallop to the offending part, he magicked up a ten-foot wooden rail from the C&O's junkpile and a single love-tap popped the wheel loose. The factory donut tire seemed hard enough to the touch, but proved to hold insufficient air as the weight of Janet's beast came down on it. Another Samaritan with a power air pump came to her rescue, just as a tow truck arrived.
But this last twist of the screw was off camera to the leadership squad, which had decamped to essay a new outdoor eatery in downtown MetroPoolesville.