Seneca Creek

Put in at Block Rock Mill and floated all the way down nearly 8 miles to Riley's Lock for take-out.  Great trip.  Beautiful, serene, and peacefulfloat with lots of tree cover overhead and dappled shade throughout. Truly a delightful place right in the heart of Montgomery County, MD that feels like you're out in the middle of nowhere.  Spotted lots of wildlife including herons, ducks, golden finches, cardinals, turtles, a beaver, and a bald eagle.  Flow rate was 136 CFS--very runnable with only a couple scrapes and two 1-minute portages through shallow water.  We were able to float around almost all the strainers with a very quick portage over one large trunk no problem--only out of the boat for a minute or so.  Lots of fun Class I rapids, maybe one or two could be considered Class II, a couple little 1-2 foot drops (including the one right under the bridge at MD-28, and lots of fast, curvy flowing water and ripples that provide some fun maneuvering challenges with the strainers, shallow water spots, rocks, etc, and curves in the creek.  Just watch where the water is flowing the fastest and flow with it for the best and most fun float.  Lots of great parking at Riley's Lock, but Black Rock Mill only has a few parking spots so you have to get there early.  Only about a 12-minute shuttle between the two, and you get a 3+ hour float with no stopping.  You can put in right there on the side where the mill and parking lot are, but if you portage across the one-lane bride and slightly up the creek (only 3 mins portage), you can put in just upstream of the Black Rock Mill rapids and enjoy them right out of the gate.  Took us right at about 3 hours.