Lake Anne, Reston Virginia

If you are close to Reston in Virginia and just want to paddle for an hour or two, I recommend Lake Anne Plaza. The boat rental is on the plaza side. It opens on Thursday and Friday evening and part of the day on the weekend due to the limited number of staff. The ticket can be purchased at the bookstore a few steps away from the dock. The rate is $6 per hour. Rowboats, paddle boats, kayaks, 2-person kayak(s?) and canoes are available. Afterward you can have a dinner or stroll around and enjoy the lake. 

There is also a small natural ramp on Inlet Court off Wiehle Avenue on the opposite side of the plaza where you can launch your own boat (with no motor) at anytime.  

I update photos of the lake on regular basis. You can check them out from my photo page.

Fletcher's Boathouse, Washington DC (Round 2)

We've reached Chain Bridge today! :) I paddled tandem kayak for the first time with my friend. Get there early if you want the tandem because there are very limited numbers. 

Check out more photos from my photo page.

"I am touching you." - from My 365 Day 148

Mission accomplished!

Gorgeous Cloud

Ta da~

DC Playground

Lunch Table

View during Lunch

Until next paddling~

Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA (Teaser Version)

Looking West

Check out the rest of the photos from my photo page. 

When your hobby is depending on the weather condition it could be frustrating. Today is such a gorgeous day, sunny, cool and breezy with bright blue sky and white cloud.

T_T

But we got too much water from the rain early this week so we were not allowed to be in the river.

Isn't that sad ? The river, the boats, the paddles, PFDs were right there in front of me. Oh and a snake too.

But safety comes first. I suggest call the park before you come in. :)

Anyway, I took a Rental Classification class with Riverbend Park today because Riverbend Park allows only people who participate their class or tour to rent their boats (kayaks, canoes or row boats). Since I don't own a boat, I'll do anything to be able to rent a boat. ha ha.

Canoes and row boats

Sit-on-top kayaks (Regular ones are also available.)

This was supposed to be a 30-minute class but the instructor was kind enough to extend it to over an hour just to make sure he covered the topics as much as he could since we couldn't go into water we just had class on land. (Warning: I don't recommend you to learn how to paddle just by mocking like this on land. You should to be on and in the water, feel it, work yourself around it and try to get into trouble as much as you can when your instructor is with you.)

Honestly I took two 6-hour kayak classes and still learnt new things.

After you finish this $26 class you will get a two-year rental certification signed by your instructor and a free half-day rental for this year.

You can find a rental rate from here. (Half-day rental for a single kayak is only $15!)

Looking East

In case you don't know much about this park like me Riverbend Park belongs to Fairfax County. There are trails connecting to Great Falls and I was told that it connects to the Occoquan River as well. (Search Fairfax Cross-County Trail.) I was also told that the parking is free unlike Great Falls. Oops, we'd better support the parks, right ?

My water shoes were little dry today.

Check out the rest of the photos from my photo page. I promise I'll be back here soon! Thanks for checking in. 

Have a happy and safe paddling.

Fletcher's Boathouse, Washington DC

What a great Sunday here in DC. After getting lost last week I decided to give Fletcher's Boathouse another try. I got there right at 8 am. I am so proud of myself! (ok the parking lot was already packed.)

How to get to Fletcher's Boathouse - my 365 Project Day 134

I strongly recommend driving north to Fletcher's Boathouse. You cannot make a turn into their entrance by driving south unless you ride a motorcycle. Trust me. Backing up your car on Canal Road is not what you want to do. (And yes you may need to stop in the middle on Canal Road when you drive north and wait for the incoming traffic to die down but it seems to be understandable by the drivers there.)

The dock

The rental rate at Fletcher's Boathouse for a kayak is $10+tax per hour and $28+tax per day. Canoes, Jon boats and bikes are also available. I suggest getting there very early. By 10 am it was getting crowded.

GW Memorial Parkway and the Potomac River

Gorgeous landscape

Reflection of the sky this morning

Chain Bridge

This part of the river is really calm. But keep in mind that it's still a river not a lake. I had a difficult time paddling upstream when I approached Chain Bridge even though I paddled like a hamster. I was probably just about 30 feet from it but moving at half inch per stroke was quite discouraging so I didn't reach the bridge as plan. :(

A lot of people were fishing either from boats or at the shoreline. There are parking lots at the foot of Chain Bridge underneath GW Memorial Parkway, along Clara Baton Parkway and also at Fletcher's Boathouse itself.

Let's talk about the parking at Fletcher's Boathouse at bit. There are numbers of parking spaces near the entrance which on the left hand side when you drive in but if you continue driving straight along the stone wall onto the wooden bridge (with a stone tunnel right on the right hand), this road will take you to the bigger parking area near the river.

After checking with the map I think I paddled about 2 miles in 2 hours today. :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos from my paddling and try it yourself when you have a chance. :)

*Check out the rest of the photos from this trip from my photo page.