We started at Lock 6 on a much cooler day after a few dry days. Kiernan wore socks and closed toe shoes. We had high hopes.
My intention was to finish up the section . Unfortunately this time I did not spend the morning pouring over the map like I did last time. Mom and Megan dropped us off and said see you at Great Falls and we waved and agreed. Great falls is not the end of our first section. Great Falls is the middle of the next section.
I am still using this site for the maps and directions.
Also unfortunately moms phone plan is spotty so calling to correct this error was not going to work. Instead of a 5ish mile ride we wound up with an 8-10 mile ride.
A few minutes into the ride we saw the rather pretty Little Falls Pumping Station.
We pulled over and had some lemonade (I'm quite proud of thinking to bring the lemonade) and to take stock of our legs and our moods.
We felt good despite both having some sunburn from a beach run on Friday.
Kiernan had his first off with skinned knees and palms. We were both looking backwards trying to read this sign.
STOP DAM AHEAD DEADLY UNDERTOW GET TO SHORE
We rode on in lots of shade with no puddles on a fairly uncrowded path. We went much faster than last time. Part of this was me thinking about how much further we were going to have to go and part of it was Kiernan feeling more confident with the gearing. This time we were going noticeably uphill. Last time whenever we hit a hill he hopped off and scolded me about how I'd said this was a flat ride. This time he geared lower and sped up and made it up well more than half the hills.
We got to Lock 10/mile 8.8 (quite close to our original end of ride) in less than an hour. We sat on the wall and drank more lemonade and talked about video games (especially goblins in World of Warcraft). We made a little video to send to family.
We got back on the bikes and rode from mile 8.8 to mile 11.5 and saw some great nature. We saw a family of 3 adult and 7 juvinile Canada geese in a perfect line. We saw 2 great blue herons. I saw a big snake swimming along with us up the canal. We saw some beautiful river bends and white water. It got hotter and Kiernan's ankle started hurting (maybe from the fall). We were tired and looking for a place to stop. We saw a bench a good ways off and promised each other some rest and food and a sit down. Just before we got to it another biker, coming from the other direction, with a heavily loaded bike, and dressed for the peloton took it.
I told Kiernan we would just pull off and sit in the shade somewhere. As if by magic just past the bench I saw a little cut out of the forest and a sign that said Marsden Campground mile 11.5. It was a bike camping spot. It was a good bit off the trail and I rode down the entry trail with out Kiernan just to check on it. It was fully shaded with picnic tables and port-a-johns. It had fire rings and bike racks. It had only one other biker.
We parked our bikes and unpacked our lunches and sat in the shade very relieved.
I called mom and spoke to her and to Megan about where we were and what they were up to. Mom said that the parking lot at Great Falls was closed down and that they had hiked in 2 miles from MacArthur Blvd to meet us.
Oh dear.
After about a 20 minute break we got up and attacked the last 3 miles. These miles were hilly and crowded and hot. Kiernan was so good. he did not complain at all. He worked his gears and got up most of the hills without walking and he stuck right with me as we wove in and out of the huge crowds that are always near Great Falls. We stopped quite a lot because he was getting leg cramps and to let him catch up when he had to walk. We finished up all our lemonade and most of our water. We came across mom and Megan at about mile 13. I got off my bike and put Megan (looking super hot and tired) up on my seat and walked the last mile while Kiernan rode and bike walked along with us. Mom walked ahead and/or behind depending on how quickly we went.
We got to the visitors center and took a parting shot.
Then we walked up a stupid hill for miles to get to the car. The car was back in some housing off of MacArthur.
I knew we needed something extra as both kids had headaches so we stopped for drinks and snacks on our way to our reward pizza.
10 miles of our intended 5 in the bag. We were tired but proud of ourselves.
We got home to showers and air conditioning and food.
Victory
Google made us this video
If you can see it you will get a bonus look at the great breakfast I made for us before we started.
