Originally posted by po_standish

Dickerson, it's in the title in the post. The course is on a constructed channel on their property.

Originally posted by TastyWaves

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<p ="Msonormal">I had a good time paddling this course while I've been out
here in D.C. They say its a class IV, that's debatable but surely its a FUN III+
with continuous, powerful water and about 5 fun playholes basically one after
another.

Its the runout from a Myrant Power plant, they do some type of energy
production, I think coal burning, that requires water to filter into these
tanks in order to cool them down, so the water comes out warm (75 degrees or
so) and then pumps into this whitewater park the D.C. community has
strategically placed there. They use it for training the US Olympic Slalom
team, and one can get a pass to run it as well.

But it isn't as Utopic as you guys might think, a local kayak shop has
basically monopolized the thing and deems themselves the judges of who
can  or cannot paddle this thing. Their ultimate goal is to tell you that
you aren't experienced enough so that you will pay them $160 per group of three
to show you down. But then their supposed "guides" are a bunch of
wannabee boaters, who don't bring anything special to the table. I got in on
two open houses so it was $20 each time, but after they explained to me how the
long term deal worked, it seemed like a joke.

To their credit, they do let you take a certification course to obtain the
"blue card" and if you pass that test you can show up and paddle as
long as you come with another blue card holder.

But essentially, this whitewater course isn't what it could be, a perfect
winter training ground for people getting into the sport, because they have
taken the purest thing about kayaking, its free nature, and turned it into a business model. 

<p ="Msonormal">

<p ="Msonormal">Here is a link to the photo album, let me know if it doesn't work, I couldn't find a URL from anywhere within the gallery manager for posting:

<p ="Msonormal">http://www.professorpaddle.com/media/albumview.asp?album_id=791