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C&O Canal Park Repair Projects at Lock 5 /Feeder Canal and Violettes Lock to Great Falls – CCA Seeks to Minimize Impact on Paddlers (Feb 2026) For the past three years the C&O Canal National Historical Park (NHP) has been repairing the lower Canal (Mile 1 to 24 - Violettes Lock) affecting paddling in the Lock 5/6 Feeder Canal slalom training area and in the Violettes Lock 23 Loop area. The CCA's talks with our normal contacts in the NHP, led to a videoconference in August 2022. There Dep. Supt. John Noel and Chief Eng. Joe Reed described in full to our river Access Committee team their plans for repairs to the Lower Canal over the next two years. These repairs continue. 1 – NHP affirmed that the construction would not affect the Feeder Canal Slalom Practice Area – or the Z-Channel route to Little Falls. - NHP is renewing the “Stop Lock” (Guard Lock) at the bottom of the Feeder Canal that enters the Canal proper at Lock 5. - To protect this work they have built a temporary cofferdam just upstream from the Stop Lock. - The construction staging area at the Lock 5 parking at the end of the Feeder and the Canal proper is keeping construction activity out of Lock 6 parking.   Lock 5 is being renewed, which when finished will allow paddling up to Lock 6. 2 - NHP in 2024 rehabilitated the prism (bottom) of the three Levels between the Great Falls Tavern (Lock 20) and Violettes (Lock 23). - opening10 miles of new loops (river & canal) paddling. Between Pennyfield and Swains Locks, there are a couple of sketchy parts where small deltas reach out into the Canal. - CCA continues to advocate that the top (Violettes Lock Loop) Level 22 be kept watered during paddling season. This has been working out well. 3 - Georgetown Level 4 and Rebuilding Lock Gates 1 and 2 in Georgetown - NHP has drained this whole level up to Lock 5, so paddlers must carry back to Lock 5 or Lock 6 after running Little Falls or scramble up the berm bank to the parking lot off Clara Barton Pkwy near Chain Bridge. . The CCA is pleased that the NHP has been upgrading navigability on the lower canal and continues to work with them to mitigate the impact of the repairs on paddlers.