Cabin John Creek Challenge

July's long hike was the 9.5-mile Cabin John Trail plus a jaunt south to the Potomac, to complete the Cabin John Creek Challenge. I had intended to do it with a group in May, but our local racccoons had other ideas, and I ended up staying close to home to deal with roofers. 

Previously, I had only done a two small parts of the trail, so most of it was new to me. I started at the northern terminus in the morning, trying to beat the heat. It was already incredibly humid - 91%. Fortunately, the Cabin John Trail is almost entirely in the shade; the exceptions, such as passing under powerlines, are mostly short. The exception to the exceptions is the long bit along River Road, which is entirely open. 

The trail itself is rarely completely flat, but it is very gentle inclines. The southern end is the steepest part. Along the way, the trail meanders close to and away from the stream repeatedly. The forest is occasionally varied with a bamboo stand or a rhododendron thicket. The road crossings add variety too, and not too onerous - although I would be more leery during rush hour or poor light. 

The southern terminus of the trail is not the end of the challenge, but the rest of the journey is a little less pleasant in hot weather (and it had gotten well over 90° by then). It involves walking down the sidewalk and across a bridge, then following a steep trail downhill to the C&O Canal. There is a rare path on the north side of the canal it follows for a bit, before crossing it on a bridge. After a brief moment on the C&O, one takes a very overgrown path into the woods to reach the Potomac.

Nearly all of this section is very hot, and the last section in the woods is not particularly pleasant. When I did it, there was a waist-high log I had to clamber over. Upon reaching the Potomac, there is no real sense of finality or grand views, since a couple of small islands block the view of the main channel.

From there, I returned to the southern terminus to catch a ride back to my car. I was definitely ready for a cool-off by then.

I would do this trail again, but I would not be eager to do the add-on at the end.

Monocacy NRMA workday

The work trip planned for this past weekend was downscaled from some heavier work to some removal of small blowdowns, thanks to the heat advisory weather. We hiked a 3.4-mile loop and removed four blowdowns.

Before:

After:

Two lighthouse stamps

On a trip to Rehoboth Beach, we stopped to visit two lighthouse sites in Lewes (pronounced Lewis, not Lose). 

The Lightship Overfalls is permanently docked and available for tours. The tour was quite interesting - I had not even known that lightships existed, let alone anything about them.

Next door to it is the Lewes Life Saving Station, another thing I did not know existed. While we didn't get a formal tour, we did get some questions answered by a volunteer. 

Both have a stamp, but only the lightship counts for the Chesapeake 4-+3 Challenge.