$4 million whitewater playboating park below Holtwood Dam tested, about to open to public

 

By remote control, a metal gate opens on the York County side of the Holtwood Dam and impounded Susquehanna river water gushes down a 100-year-old stone fish ladder at 755 cubic feet per second.
Soon, a newly constructed channel is transformed into churning, splashing whitewater reminiscent of a Western river.

The scene last Wednesday morning is just what Matt Samms, a 40-year-old kayaker from Safe Harbor, had been dreaming about for eight years now.

Samms, in a wetsuit, protective helmet  and ear plugs, eases himself into a short, snub-nosed Pyranha kayak that weighs a mere 45 pounds.

Over the next several hours, he and eight other devotees of the whitewater freestyle kayaking sport of playboating spin, surf — even ...more