Dickerson Whitewater Course

The Dickerson Whitewater course in Dickerson, Maryland is a manmade kayak and canoe slalom course fed by discharge water from the Dickerson power plant. Normally a practice course for the area Olympic crew, the folks at Dickerson held an open house event so that the local boating community could see what the course is like and possibly join the club.

It was a crisp fall day in November for the open house. I had the Redskins/Cowboys game being recorded (which they won in a highly dramatic fashion) and the opportunity to paddle the warm water of Dickerson was very inviting. The water can be 20-30 degrees warmer than the Potomac, which was at a chilly 45°F this day.

I had never seen a man-made whitewater course, aside from the log flume ride at Kings Dominion. I was expecting some tame rapids and cement rocks, but nothing too difficult. What the course at Dickerson offers is faster, harder, and much more intense than I expected.

The water is deceptively fast, since the ‘river’ does not have the normally irregular bottom or sides to break up the current. The effect are eddies that move just as fast as the main flow, but in the opposite direction. The course is only about 200 yards long, but it is a workout. Since each eddy is moving, there aren’t any places to stop and catch your breath.

The test for the course is called the ‘5 eddy test’, even though there are 10 eddies needed to catch. The first 5 are pretty straightforward; the second 5 are quite a bit more challenging, requiring some interesting ferries across the current. Just to spice up the test, you are required to roll once during the course in one of the rapids.

If you are in the Washington, DC area and enjoy whitewater paddling, don’t pass up the opportunity to try out the Dickerson whitewater course.