Low Bridge, Everybody Down

Lock 1 of the C&O Canal is two blocks from my office. It has been beautifully preserved - in fact the National Park Service still operates a tourist barge along a short stretch of it near the shopping district of Georgetown.

One of my favorite lunchtime walks is to follow the tow path for about 20 minutes and then turn around and come back. I can get pretty far along the path, well past the touristy areas. Yesterday, I'd walked past Georgetown and was on a broad stretch without anyone in sight except the cars up above on Canal St. So I felt wonderfully alone.

I was watching the baby mosquitoes that have come out by the millions skipping across the surface of the muddy water, when I noticed some bubbles simmering about ten feet off the bank. I wondered if there was some sort of vent at the bottom of the canal. The bubbles began to slowly intensify, and I started to worry, "What if somebody's down there?" What if someone had fallen in and these were their lasts gasps of life. The water really started to stir, and then suddenly this very decayed, green hand shot up out of the water!

Well... that's what I thought it was anyway, and I jumped nearly out of my shoes. Till the dead hand looked at me like I was some sort of idjit. Turns out it was a huge turtle. It treaded water, staring at me. I stared back amazed at the size of this thing. We communed for a moment and I wished someone had been there to see it. I also wished I had a camera phone so I could show you how huge it was. Trust me, it was huge.

The C&O in the C&O Canal stands for Chesapeake and Ohio. It was originally designed to carry barges from Washington DC to Pittsburgh (in the Ohio Valley) and back. Construction started in the 1820's along the banks of the Potomac River. They got as far as Cumberland in Western Maryland - about 184 miles. After a controversial history, President Nixon designated it a National Park for me and thousands of others to walk, bike and jog along. (I just do the walking since I'm usually wearing a tie.)

Want more info on the Canal? Click here.