I spent the early part of this Earth Day 2019 at the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Potomac Maryland. There before sunrise and as the natural world began to wake up around me I saw more and more reasons to return as often as possible. This happens all the time of course, and so I do return. And return, and return.
Happy Earth Day and National Parks Week!
Whitetail deer at C&O Canal National Historical Park in Maryland. 
Bike patrol heading north on the C&O Canal towpath just north of the Visitors Center. 
Canada geese goslings following gander and goose near the shore of the Potomac River. 
A great blue heron stalks the shallows of one of the locks along the C&O Canal. 
Bethesda resident and whitewater kayaker Geoff Calhoun takes on a wave below O-deck at Olmsted Island. 
Black vulture soars above the Potomac River near C&O Canal NHP, Maryland.