Trail

A beautiful spring morning. I set out from home along N. Glebe Rd. to Chain Bridge. Just before the bridge you can scramble down to the trail that spans about a 100 miles North from Mt. Vernon. You have to jump over huge boulders (great for some bouldering) and hop over strategically placed rocks on some fast moving streams. I was wobbly on my feet this morning. Fogging of my Oakleys did not aid the situation, either. Result: I twisted my ankle, almost shattered my brand new Pentax zoom. I was hopping from one rock to the other. I knew I could make it, little did I know that my camera that was dangling from my neck would swing ahead of me and crash in to the boulder that I was jumping upon. There was an crash, a sound of plastic on rock and my heart went crunch. When I got my balance my first instinct was to test my camera. All was well! What about the zoom. Looked good! Ah! never again will do that silly maneuvering. This time I was lucky. A few years ago I had been down this trail in spring when a friend of mine, Alex and I hiked from Georgetown to Chain Bridge and back. That day I had left my camera behind because it was threatening to rain. I had never stopped regretting that decision because we ran into a flock of cormorants; about a 100 of them. It was an amazing feeling. Today was my day. Redemption! I found my flock again. :) I had a great time capturing them on film. Hundreds of shots later I limped home on my twisted ankle in pain but elated. It was such a lovely day with the pictures of my cormorants in toe I couldn't have asked for anything more. Despite the twisted ankle I got home after 11 miles of hiking. Loved it! Slide show