You can now create your own itineraries to guide your C&O Canal exploration, or you can copy one of ours! Learn more about Itineraries.
Take a good look beneath the towering smokestacks of the Dickerson Power Plant. Focus on the 900-foot, concrete lined discharge channel where 300,000 gallons of water per minute are borrowed to cool steam pipes and returned to the Potomac River. Learn more.
Take a good look beneath the towering smokestacks of the Dickerson Power Plant. Focus on the 900-foot, concrete lined discharge channel where 300,000 gallons of water per minute are borrowed to cool steam pipes and returned to the Potomac River. You might see a future Olympian.
In 1991, the discharge channel was modified to serve as the first and perhaps only heated artificial kayak racing course in the country. PEPCO, the power plant’s builder, with design help from The U.S. Navy’s Taylor Model Boat Basin, positioned 75 boulders in the channel (some as heavy as 17 tons!) to create the whitewater needed for the racers. Warmer water from the plant returning to the river makes the course suitable for virtually year-round kayak training.
The course was first used for kayakers training to compete in the 1992 Olympics, and it is currently being run by the Potomac Whitewater Racing Center. The candy-striped poles dangling above the channel mark the course.
We know that to preserve something, you need to experience it, so we are proud to provide support to the C&O National Historical Park as their official philanthropic partner.
Please visit the National Park Service website for the following information:
For more information and nearby places to stay or grab a bite to eat, please visit our local tourism partners:
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There has been a lapse in appropriations, and a shutdown of the federal government is currently in effect. Much of the C&O Canal National Historical Park remains accessible to the public, however, the National Park Service is not able to operate as normal. Scheduled C&O Canal Trust events and Canal Quarters reservations will continue as scheduled.
Learn more about what the shutdown means for the C&O Canal National Historical Park.