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You are here: Home / Archives for rivers

A Really Really Really Really Long Walk

April 12, 2013 By Danny

I once walked 100 kilometers in one day. We started at 3am, the four of us. It was an organized event so we weren’t alone but when I walked up to the finish line at midnight I had been alone for hours.

Somehow, I thought it would be a good idea to do that long walk again….in winter!

What started out as a simple dare quickly grew into a quest for myself and three other friends. (This was a different group from my first foray in long distance walking.) I had been hoping to rejoin the 100km walk again later this month but scheduling kept that from happening. In the process I heard about a 50 mile trek to commemorate the first time this walk was done, by Robert F. Kennedy, mentioned to my friends, and there was no turning back.

The group who started the 50mi Kennedy Walk
At the start there were 34 walkers. Only 12 would walk the entire distance.

Because this was was shorter, the start time was a leisurely 4am. In preparing for the walk, all I could think about was the immense pain and suffering I felt toward the end of the 62mi when I’d done it the first time. Yes, this was was shorter, but it was winter time so really no real benefit from the decreased distance. I’d walk a little less but have to deal with temperature control, freezing water and maybe even snow on the trail.

We got to the trailhead a bit late but still managed to start with the group. It was dark. It was cold. I wanted to walk faster than the rest of my group. We all wanted to sleep. The sun came up. We ate food. My water froze. I unfroze my Camelback’s hose so I could drink. It froze again. Fun, right?

The Towpath connects Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD
A lot of the path looked just like this. It was a beautiful day….in February!

The walk itself took place along the C&O Canal. The Canal was built alongside the Potomac River to ferry goods up and down river between Washington, DC and Cumberland, MD; a distance of about 185mi. The walk I did before, the 100km, started in DC itself and went all the way to Harper’s Ferry, WV. The “shorter” walk I did the second time started further upstream in Great Falls, following the same canal and towpath all the way to Harper’s Ferry.

Chester and Lionel on the trail, with a bow tie!
You can see Chester’s bow tie…I tied it!

Eventually we all hit our stride and began to enjoy our day despite the cold. This is probably a good point to introduce the rest of my cohorts. There was Chester and his lovely bride Catherine. Chester and I knew each other from GWU where we played Rugby with the fourth member of our trip, Lionel. Lionel and Catherine, who for various reasons didn’t want to walk the whole way, each took turns shuttling the car while Chester and I walked the full distance. We were all dared to start the day wearing oxford shirts and bow ties (my bowtie fell off before our first pit stop) to help us commemorate RFK but Chester was the only one stupid strong enough to make the whole trip in a pair of Cole Haan dress shoes.

The walk itself is easy.  Technically, it is uphill, but 600 feet in elevation spread over 50 miles doesn’t really count for much elevation.  It’s that very flatness that causes the pain in the hip flexors and ankles, from doing the same thing over and over again for hours.  With the sun up, we warmed up quite a bit and I didn’t have any more problems with water freezing.  We walked some more and some more.  We talked politics and business and philosophy, as friends do, and then we talked about how much we hurt and what we wanted to eat.  A friend visited us a few hours before sunset and brought us hot chocolate and magic bars.  Amazing.  We kept walking.  Walking some more.  Did I mention this was a very long walk?  We saw some kind of strange albino deer. The sun set.  The temperature dropped a lot.  We still had miles to go. We kept walking.

In the end we didn’t finish too long after sunset, arriving at Harper’s Ferry right about 7pm.  Although 7pm sounds like a nice time to finish something, we’d been walking for 15 hours straight and were simply exhausted.  For me though, I was shocked at how much easier a 50 mile walk was compared to a 62 mile walk, and thankful that we’d not encountered any snow. When I’d finished this walk the first time, doing the full 100km, I could barely move.  Although I was plenty sore this time around things like stairs and hills didn’t look quite so scary.  We even went out for dinner and each enjoyed a nice pint of beer.

2013-02-09_20-42-24_427

Then we got to the B&B we’d booked for the night, and Chester removed those Cole Haans…  The shoes survived surprisingly well but the feet were another story.

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Filed Under: Featured, Headline, Hike, photos, USA, Weekend Warrior Tagged With: harper's ferry, hiking, rfk, rivers, sore feet, walk, washington

Photo: Is He Naked?

November 23, 2011 By Jillian

Just Kidding.  When you think of Florence though, what comes to mind? Hopefully it’s art, art and more art.  Florence is literally busting at the seams with incredible art.  The heart of the renaissance, Florence and the Medici family attracted the best sculptors and painters from around Europe.  Their work remains in the churches, public buildings and yes, even homes, today.

One of the most spectacular buildings to come out of the renaissance is Florence’s Duomo.  Constructed by architect and artist Filippo Brunelleschi, the dome is actually comprised of two domes.  After city fathers refused to allow buttresses to hold the weight of the dome, a contest was held to see who could devise a new way to distribute the weight and build the enormous dome.  Brunelleschi won and with his design, the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore became one of the most well-known roofs in the world.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO: Try to avoid high tourist season in Florence.  The city has so much to offer it’s hard to get through the crowds during high season.  If you leave the main tourist area and venture across the Arno or out toward some of the lesser known piazzas you’ll be charmed by the beauty of the every day. Apartments in Florence tend to be popular with art students, who still come to study and learn from the masters.  You’ll enjoy getting to know the local gelaterias (ice cream shops) in your neighborhood.  It’s common to have a cone with two different flavors, just keep it in the same family (fruit or cream, not both!)

Photo Credit: Flickr user Chiarra Marra under a creative commons license.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: architecture, art, florence, italy, rivers

Photo: Rio Dulce

November 16, 2011 By Jillian

The direct translation means sweet river, but in the pouring rain it seemed anything but. A popular place for sailboat and cayuco (dugout canoe) trips, the river starts at Lake Izabel and flows to the Caribbean.  Along the way it winds through a small Spanish fort and a canyon, only to empty into the Caribbean at Livingston, one of the largest Garifuna settlements in Guatemala.

After waiting two days for the weather to clear up, we decided to take the boat trip to Livingston in the rain and from there catch a ferry to the town where the buses left for Guatemala City.   With on and off showers, the boat ride to Livingston was anything but comfortable, but nevertheless the lush scenery made up for the wind and rain.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO: Boat trips to Livingston leave from Rio Dulce at the mouth of the river.  We spent a few days at an eco-lodge on the lake.  Find your way to the boat dock and you’ll find a whole group of captains waiting to escort you to their favorite lodge.  Crossing the river is one of the longest bridges in Central America.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: boat tours, jungle, rivers

Photo: Ladders in the river

August 30, 2011 By Jillian

Sumidero Canyon is a narrow gorge in Chiapas, Mexico.  Formed around the same time as Arizona’s Grand Canyon, Sumidero is home to the Grijalva River and like the Grand Canyon is the center of a national park.

A popular tourist attraction, Sumidero canyon is best experienced via boat since caves and grottoes dot the inside of the canyon walls.  This cave, known as Cueva de Colores has been decorated with various religious items, candles and flowers.  In the dry season, the ladder sits on a small sandbar and locals come to pay their respects and make offerings.  Cueva de Colores is only one of these caves along the route.  The park also has look outs and hiking trails, if the water isn’t your thing.   Definitely stay out of the water.  In addition to various fish, there is also a significant population of American crocodiles.

The scenery is absolutely breath taking though.  Chiapas is still densely vegetated, so despite many years of difficult political situations, the area still holds many natural wonders.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

Sumidero Canyon, Chiapas, Mexico

IF YOU GO: Mexico holidays have a little something for everyone.  Chiapas is a bit more off the beaten path, but there are still plenty of creature comforts to be had.  Sumidero Canyon is not too far from the famed Mayan ruins of Palenque, and make a great stop from San Cristobal de Las Casas, another popular site in Chiapas.  The area is most popular with Mexican tourists, but each year more and more foreigners come through.  It’s become a popular destination for rock climbers, spelunking, rappelling and mountain biking.  Like anywhere else in the world, you should thoroughly check your equipment before you go!

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: boats, caves, rivers

Photo: Bujagali Falls

August 23, 2011 By Jillian

Bujagali Falls isn’t a traditional waterfall. It’s more like a series of Class V rapids than the traditional drop you think of when you imagine a waterfall.  That being said, it’s not a place to kid around.  Adrenaline junkies like us have made the source of the Nile, near Jinja, Uganda a mecca for African whitewater paddling and adrenaline seeking nut jobs.

That’s not that the locals don’t have their fun.  If paddling isn’t your thing, you can take a van to the falls and pay a local to swim the rapids.  Besides being incredibly dangerous, it’s not the easiest way to earn some money, but I have to hand it to them for their bravery.  We chose not to boogie board the falls.  No surprise there…

We went to Jinja specifically for the whitewater.  Not that there weren’t plenty of other reasons to go, but we really wanted to kayak the source of the Nile.  Needless to say when we arrived, we heard about a new company offering river boarding, and well, an idea was formed.    Riverboarding was incredible, although I’m still a bit shocked that all three of us made it down in one piece.  Unfortunately there are plans to build a dam at Bujagali Falls, which will flood everything downstream from this scenic spot.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO: Jinja isn’t too far from Kampala, the capital of  Uganda, you can easily take a bus or van in a few hours.   We found Jinja to be more developed than we expected, but then again our expectations weren’t too high.  There’s a large expat community developing in Jinja, so you’ll find your share of margaritas and western food.   Bring cash, we had difficulty accessing an ATM, even Barclay’s which worked throughout the rest of the country.  Don’t worry, none of the commercial rafting companies allow tourists to raft the falls!

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: rivers, whitewater

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