Flowing through Schaeffer - 15 miles

Today's ride was great all the way 'round. Cool temps, beautiful scenery, excellent trail conditions, abundant wildlife, and my legs were feeling pretty fantastical. I covered 15 miles of singletrack today and stopped to take photos, explore a defunct Skeet Range and pretty much had the place to myself. Though I started my ride at Schaeffer Farms, I quickly left the park, crossed Black Rock Road and entered the new (to me) Seneca Ridge Trail. My friend Damien and I stumbled upon this trail the last time we were riding at Schaeffer and its my new favorite for flowy cross country riding. It's also pretty neat because there was a forest fire here within the last few years and several trees are burnt & blackened. It's kind of surreal to ride through the really burnt out areas. Aweome trails... awesome. The Cannondale just eats it up here. Light and nimble she is. mmrrph, sound like Yoda I do.

The Skeet Range is a creepy place. The shacks which once slung clay pigeons out for shooters to knock out of the sky stand like guard towers over an overgrown field of tall grass and broken pigeons which crunch underfoot. Shotgun shells of all gauges lay here and there and trees grow up through the sidewalks that lead from station to station. A little bit of research taught me that this range, the National Capital Skeet and Trap Club was closed in 2005 after much litigation which started in 2003 when incredible amounts of lead shot was found in Seneca Creek. Check out this article; it's pretty interesting. Imagine scooping up handfuls of lead from the bottom of a creek bed...

As I said, I did take some pictures. I couldn't help it. It was a beautiful day. I purposely boosted the saturation, contrast and vibrance of these images and like they way they came out. I typically don't bump these properties nearly this much, but I dig it.