With a free afternoon before the holiday weekend, Tax and I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to break in his new roof rack and kayaks.
Disclaimer: Lake Fairfax is a tiny lake, but due to the recent weather all of the boat launches on the Potomac River were closed so it was the best we could do. Admittedly this isn’t a true Dirt Road Trip but it involves a roof rack and cheap beer, so it does meet 2/3’s of the criteria. Also they really do make roof racks for Kia Soul’s.
Tax showed up at my place right as I got home from work, needless to say I was pretty impressed by his new roof rack and the set of kayaks he had managed to fit onto his Kia Soul. As we all know, roof racks are pretty much the only requirement for any expedition vehicle, so while we may not have had any ground clearance, we were tall enough that we couldn’t even fit through a McDonald’s drive through we had plenty of soul.
Finally we settled on Lake Fairfax Park to break out the kayaks after being denied access to Riverbend State Park (and every other good launching spot on the Virginia side of the river). Apparently all of the recent rain we’d received had caused the river to be unsafe, and also it turns out a lot of people drown in the Potomac each year. So being the prudent men we are, we decided a lake would be a better location.
Lake Fairfax is a small lake in Reston, Virginia (it looks bigger on a map) that includes a water park, campgrounds, and paddle boats if that’s your thing. By no means is it George Washington National Forest, but if your idea of camping is sitting next to your Prius with plenty of cell service and you enjoy the soothing sounds of route 7 traffic, this is the place for you.
Back to the Kayaking, it was fun and we got to experiment with our new cooler, the guys at Yetti better look out. With nothing but a ziplock bag, ice, and a few cold drinks, you too can have a cooler as nice as ours.
The trip ended with a bang, or splash depending on who you ask. While proving that I could indeed stand up in a Kayak, I also managed to flip an entire kayak. Good thing I packed everything into a dry bag and had my Lifeproof case for my phone. We’d also like to give a shout out to the “Lake Fairfax Water Rescue” aka 2 teenagers in a boat who seemed to hate their jobs.
Overall I considered the trip to be a successful afternoon, and hopefully when the river get’s back to normal we can do some real kayaking. Now we just have to see if the Kia will survive a weekend in the woods…
You guys ever do anything in GA? I’m about to deploy to Kuwait and I’m looking for some good trails for when I get back.
Clint,
We haven’t made our way to Georgia yet, but if you have any suggestions we’d be more than happy to make the trip down to check them out. Stay safe on your trip overseas and feel free to drop us a line when you get back. We’d love to link up with you for a trail ride in our neck of the woods.
is that the kirkland light beer? How is it?
Tron, it’s pretty good as far as light beer’s go (i.e. Better than Natural Light and Milwaukee’s Best). Plus you get 48 of them for $21.00, there’s really not much to complain about.