Great Falls from a different perspective

Last year around October, I visited Great Falls and from the trail, I saw people kayaking rapids. I secretly wished I could be on the rapids though I thought it was dangerous.
By a twist of fate, one year later on Oct 19, Sun 2008, I was on an intermediate white water kayaking trip on the Potomac River.

It was a cold Sunday and we each put on a wet suit, a splash jacket, a personal flotation device, a skirt and a helmet.

We had to carry our kayaks over some distance since the launch site was far away from the parking lots.

Before heading out to the river, we practiced rolling and none was successful on our first attempt. We were not used to the bulk and the water was freezing cold.

As I head out onto the river from an eddy, my kayak was caught by the current and I flipped. I tried to roll but was unsuccessful. I had to wet exit. It was embarrassing to be the first to wet exit on the trip.

After getting back into the kayak, I started to enjoy the scenery and saw hikers looking down at us from the trail. It was a different view, looking up at them from the river.

Great Falls pictures.