Needles section of the Potomac
From River Riders campground at Bakerton to Harpers Ferry Adventure Center.
New Restrictions at HFAC - Unresolved
May 16. 2022
by David Cottingham
Flow on USGS gage at Point of Rocks was 8,200 cfs or 3.1 ft and above Needles at Shepherdstown was 6,000 cfs /4.04 ft
Nine kayakers (Tony Allred, Mark Brenneman, Bruce Campbell, Ken Cohen, David Cottingham, Kyle Harris, Hugh Hilliard, Sarah Kellett, and Randy Snapp) and two open solo canoeists (Larry Lempert and Ginny Quam) played their way down the popular Needles section of the Potomac on a beautiful day with ideal water conditions. We had arranged with River Riders to let us park at their Bakerton campground even though the CCA 2024 agreement with River Riders is awaiting paperwork from CCA. All had nice runs, playing on the numerous waves and having lunch on a sandy beach by Harpers Ferry.
New Restrictions at HFAC
All spring we have been taking out at HFAC and leaving 1 or 2 cars at the bottom of the hill when paddling Monday through Thursday. HFAC did not allow any private boater cars to park by the river on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. We paid $10/car for each car parked near the river. I expected the same today. As I went to pay the office at HFAC, I met a manager there who was taken aback that we had 10 vehicles in the parking lot. She informed me that now that HFAC is in their busy season we:
1) could not leave a vehicle or vehicles at the bottom of the hill,
2) we could park cars in the upper lot today but in the future we should not park more than 2 cars there.
At the end of a delightful paddle, we walked up the hill to the upper parking lot. While several of us retrieved cars from the put-in, others drove 3 vehicles down the hill to the river and brought all our boats and gear back to the upper parking lot.
Unresolved
This is not an ideal situation. I spoke with the manager and asked if we could have further discussions about CCA members and/or organized trips potentially using the HFAC take-out. I will be in touch with her next week to see if we can find a solution that works for private boaters, particularly CCA members, and HFAC. In the meantime, don’t plan a trip down the Staircase or Needles expecting to take out at HFAC. I will alert all on the CCA website as the situation evolves.
Submitted by David Cottingham