Antietam Creek Canoe

SCHEDULE

Canoe
Kayak&Tube

Area Info.

ACA Instruction

Contact us

About the Creek:
   Creek Maps
        lower
        Upper

Trip Details

Livery Details

What to bring


Reality Check
   Waivers
MED Forms

WW Outfit

Weather Stuff

Gauges/Levels

Reservations

Refunds &
Payment

Area Info.
    Directions
    Place Stay
    Place eat
    Thing to do

Hi ! HAPPY SPRING & Welcome to Antietam Creek Canoe . We are a unique Maryland Canoe, Kayak & Tube, Livery in an Old Power Plant up here on historic Antietam Creek. We run trips, rent canoes kayaks and tubes, and teach paddling In the Antietam Creek and Seneca Creek areas of the Potomac. It's as fun and exciting up here as it is historic and beautiful.
Bring the Kids & the dog!

WYSIWYG - These are thumbs of our Power Plant [sometimes we say "mill"] and front yard where you put in for trips to Burnside Bridge and the Potomac. Devil's Backbone Park is Just on the upstream side of the bridge; where the wide waterfall is. Small Falls is On the Creek below Middle
Bridge very near McClellan's HQ... the best fisherman of 2006.[ We had a guy this year who caught 32 fish between the put-in and Burnside!] Some old guy at Anglers MD chute below Great falls ...nice form, color coordinated: print it Shirley!!.

[USGS daily water level link for Antietam Creek, For Entire Potomac Watershed.
We want 2.6ą for lower section and 3.2ą for upper section]
[Today's Boonsboro Weather Information] [Today's Chesapeake & WASH D.C. Tide chart
[we lead exciting doable trips in tidal D.C. as well as Seneca Creek to Little Falls .. bring your camera]

Spring is in the air so the dress code for the creek is geared to water in the upper 40s and air 50-60. If the 2 Temps [water and air] add up to 120^degreesor less you still need to be thinking about special clothing, wet suits, dry suits etc.

NOW - Creek is running 3.73 March 31, looks like 3.5 for the weekend ... Creek has settled down a lot since the "big flow" we haven't had that much water [prox 10 ft 4500 CFS] since 1996. Flow in '96 was 13.71 feet and about 12,000 cfs .... like putting the Colorado in little old Antietam!

Got a report from 2 kayakers yesterday " The upper section is clear with some difficulty but passable at Wagaman and Poffenberger Bridges" Mike D checked them out Mon. and thought that about 3 out of 10 novice tandem canoes would flip on the run. River & Trail ran from DBB to Rt 34 Bridge and said it was clear with some obstruction [run the left side] at Manor Church Bridge.

On the lower section everything is "passable" with the exception of Harpers Ferry Rd Bridge which needs to be "walked" after doing Furnace rapid in complete control. [ There is a debris pile blocking all 4 arches. it's creek wide, up to 10 feet thick and about 50 yards long. And the scary thing is that water is flowing under it...think giant undercut.... The Aqueduct is probably clear and you just take out above it if not .. and walk up the canal or East side field to Canal Rd . Up Stream The Molly's hole take out has [solvable] problems because of road construction. Need to take out up nearer the little parking spot [which is now blocked by a Jersey wall] about 50yards below the drop before you get to in-creek silt-barriers set up for constr.

.Note: "Canoe Zero" Lower = 2.5 Volume about 170 CFS... Upper = 3.2

Antietam Creek [history link], the best 22 miles of it, is within an hour of Washington and Baltimore and we are right in the middle at mile post 10.... Kayak, canoe, tube, fish, or just
fiddle around. [here's how you contact us]

What's Happening NOW: Work in progress. From now through the Winter We'll be clearing and cleaning up after 10 years of absentee operation. With luck by Summer we'll be living in The Power Plant most of the time. We will be running Antietam and Seneca canoe and kayak trips anmd classes w shuttles all year on our own and with Canoe Kayak and Paddle Co. [CKAPCO], generally 4 paddler minimum [non sched. till May 15 ] ACA Instructor Certification Workshop and Exam May 21-25 L-1 Intro through L-4 Whitewater. Call or email.

Sample of available Antietam Creek trips, [just click here]

We run [by appointment and reservation] daily rentals, shuttles and trips from Devil's Backbone through Antietam Battlefield to Burnside Bridge and to the Potomac. We give instruction on River Safety, and run American Canoe Association [ACA] certification and skill courses as well as guided trips: canoe, kayak, tube. We leave Antietam Creek on request and run trips/classes on Washington DC's waterfront, Seneca Creek [Violette's Lock & Riley's Lock Loops] Potomac Snyder's to Brunswick or venue of your choice. All services are initiated by email or phone appointment & confirmed by deposit. Livery details here

This 1833 Charles Wilson / Delemare Bridge [variously called Booth's Mill Bridge, Devil's Backbone Bridge] is in our front yard and about 30 feet from our parking lot. Our put-in for the Creek's lower section is just at the left arch in the picture [click it for full size]. This is the bridge that Stonewall Jackson crossed en route to capture Harper's Ferry in 1862. Lots and lots of history up here.

Scheduled trips and classes are listed here:

For the 2010 SEASON. We have new and almost new Mad River Explorer Canoes, solo Dagger Zydeco kayaks, odds and ends and a SHUTTLE BUS, a real honest to goodness magic school bus.!!!!! with new paint ....it can't be yellow. [Still not legal for the road] livery details are here

coming along slowly.. but done except for insides, final tune up and inspection.

We are located near Boonsboro Maryland in the (work in process) 1st hydro-electric power plant in Washington County, at Devil's Backbone, where MD rt. 68 crosses the Creek. 19005 Lappans Road Boonsboro, MD 21713. Come on up, or down if that makes more sense...... and bring oatmeal cookies. It's a fun place, a pretty place with lots of history ; lots to do and see.......Click here for a map link or go to Area Info. for directions and more detail.

Send us an email if you have questions, or suggestions - we're at paddle@antietamcreek.com Our hard line in Kensington Before 9am and after 9pm. is 301 942 1793. Our phone at the Mill for Spring 2010 is 240 447 0444 cell - please don't rely on any voice mails.

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