Fifteen Mile Creek C&O trail

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

September 29, 2013

On Saturday, hubby and I headed to a new section of the C&O canal trail in western Maryland. The trail is 184.5 miles long. Usually we start our walking around mile 14 which is where the Great Falls National Park is located in Potomac, Md.  Yesterdays walk started around mile 140 at a place called Fifteen Mile Creek in the town of Little Orleans. The Autumns colors were here and there, definitely not the peak time yet.

Above is a view from the Sidelong Hill  rest area off of RT68.. not many fall colors here.

Across the river, we saw one pretty tree standing out among all the green leaves.Little glimpses of the Potomac River and some colorful leaves.

There were some pretty colors here and there along the canal trail, as you can see most of the trees were still green.We only walked up to mile 142, stopping along the way to check out the views and look for birds.

We saw a flock of Canada Geese in the Potomac River as we walked along the C&O canal trail. Other birds seen were the Pileated woodpecker and the Carolina Wren.  I also saw some Whitetail deer along the road. We headed a little further out to the Rocky Gap Casino, hubby had an offer of some free play and we figured why not since we were in the area. He played his free $15 and won $55.  Not bad, congrats to hubby.

Above, is the lake at Rocky Gap which you can see from the Rocky Gap Resort or the state park which is also nearby.  Rocky Gap is located in Cumberland Maryland off of RT68. You can have a great choice of activities at Rocky Gap, hiking, canoeing, golf course and the casino of course.
 

As always, I hope you enjoy my post and thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.

Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit  Mosaic Monday and more
 from  Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week!

Rocky Gap and my first canoe trip

Scenic Sunday, you can click on the Scenic Sunday link to see more wonderful scenes.








I can not imagine how I got as old as I am and never been canoeing. Not that I am saying I am old because I am NOT. Maybe, because I was scared silly about the canoe overturning? Well, today I canoed for the first time at Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland. At the boat rental building you had your choice of a canoe, one person kayak, two person kayak and a paddle boat. They also had a pontoon boat ride. We rented the canoe for an hour and we like it so much we stayed out for two hours. We canoed our way around much of the lake and into some coves. There was one time my hubby wanted to hand me the binoc's and I got a little over excited about the canoe rocking but all went well and we didn't take a dip in the lake. Big sigh of relief!

I was hoping to see birds around the shoreline but all we saw were some Mallard ducks. I could hear some Chickadees, Catbirds and some Nuthatches in the woods along the shore. No matter where I am I can always see some Turkey Vultures flying in the skies above.



We must have seen 30-40 mallard ducks along the lake shore.



We were not the only people with the idea of going to Rocky Gap State park. I think with it being Labor Day weekend a lot of people had the same idea of enjoying the park, lake, cookouts and the good weather. After canoeing we walked part of the lake loop trail and we could see good views of the beach and scenery around the resort.









Along the lake loop they had an avairy and being a birder I had to stop and check it out. They had a Black Vulture, two Red Tailed Hawks, Two Barred Owls, Two Barn Owls, a Screech Owl and a Great Horned Owl. I wanted to take pic's but the wired cages made it difficult. I did try a shot of the Barn Owls only because I just love Owls.





The resort had a very nice garden for the birds and butterflies. I noticed many berry bushes and butterfly bushes planted and a pond. There were hummingbird feeders and regular bird feeders. I thought it was cool that the resort had such a nice wildlife garden.







Now, that I have been canoeing and can feel safe, I'm sure hubby and I will be back to Rocky Gap.

More senery pic's from Rocky gap