Potomac Kayak Put-In Point--Arlandria (Alexandria, Washington: cul-de-sac, parking, areas)

[Carlingtonian]

Posting here as a followup to my ongoing thread on the DC subforum about where to paddle on the lower Potomac.

Sunday morning I finally tried putting in at this weird little spot in Arlandria. Given how hot it's been lately, I wanted to get a super-early start--and most of the NPS-owned areas (Gravelly Point, etc.) won't even let you into the parking lot till 6AM.

Four Mile Run is shallow (about a foot deep) but navigable at least a mile inland from where it empties into the Potomac. In Alexandria, where Commonwealth Avenue truncates in a derelict cul-de-sac near the Cora Kelly Community Center, there's a narrow and uneven but serviceable concrete ramp down to 4MR, just across from the water-treatment plant. Importantly, there is unrestricted parking on the street there, right next to the baseball field.

I put in at around 5:45. It worked fine, although there is a certain aroma in the air from the sewage plant. And no, I'm not grossed out by the water, because the water has been treated. The shoreline there is a bit rocky, but I've long stopped worrying about hull scratches.

That said, I realized that the Washington Sailing Marina (with its free concrete ramp and easy parking) is so nearby that there wasn't much point to leaving from this spot. And I discovered that where 4MR empties into the river by the airport, there's a ton of hydrilla in August. (Closer to the marina, the boats have kept it away.) In fact, most of the middle part of the river is choked with the stuff, almost all the way down to the Wilson Bridge.

Another reason I can't wait for the fall (my favorite season for boating).