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2020 Trips - The Year in Review

By Gary Quam

2020 proved to be a challenging but ultimately very successful year for paddling trips. After COVID shut down CCA-sponsored trips in March, individuals organized small private group outings, primarily on waters where shuttles could be avoided. By May, parking lots used by paddlers were being overrun with people who had suddenly discovered the outdoors. 


In June the Thursday and Sunday paddlers groups returned to the river under the auspices of the club, but strictly for non-shuttle trips. We devised creative ways to paddle our favorite streams without the use of auto shuttles, and many of us became intimately familiar with the GW Canal. Mid-September saw the return of shuttle trips requiring masks and open windows, along with restrictions on shuttle time.

Scouting the drop at Little Falls (Photo by Gary Quam)

Still, CCA members led a surprising number of trips during the year, with 123 recorded by Alf Cooley in his trips log. Those trips went to 25 different streams, with 969 participants (that's the number from totaling those on each trip, not 969 different individuals). The vast majority of trips were by the Sunday and Thursday paddling groups. Sunday paddlers ran 32 trips with 351 participants, and Thursday paddlers were on the river 46 times with 319 padders. Mark Brenneman of the Thursday group and Wayne McDaniel of the Sunday group ensured that we had trip leaders each week. Over the course of the year 23 different paddlers volunteered to lead trips.


The most paddled locale, not surprisingly in the Year of COVID, was the Potomac at Violettes Lock, with 48 trips running either the GW Canal/C&O Canal loop, Seneca Breaks down and attaining up, or one of those down to Pennyfield Lock. Perhaps the most unusual trip was a visit to the "Ghost Fleet" of Mallows Bay in Nanjemoy, MD.


We managed to continue with traditional club paddles. Barb Brown organized the annual 4th of July fireworks paddle. Jen Sass and the race committee put on a safe and successful Potomac Downriver Race. And Miki Komlosh initiated a new tradition with an end of summer ice cream social. 

 

Despite the challenges, we found ways to get out on the river. Thank you to all the paddlers who took the time to lead a trip in 2020!


Gary Quam is the Trips Committee Co-Chair. 


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