An Outdoor Playhouse Attracting Those Who Share A Common Interest For Nature And Activities Enjoyed Outdoors
Located only 15 minutes outside the busy metropolis of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a rock throw away from the Catawba River, is the U.S. National Whitewater Center, a seemingly outdoor playhouse attracting those who share a common interest for nature and activities enjoyed outdoors. The center itself is settled on 1100 acres, most of which is preserved woodlands, and offers a combination of over 31 activities from whitewater rafting and zip lining to rock climbing and mountain biking a 35- mile trail system.
“We strive to be a catalyst for the outdoor lifestyle at the center of everything we do,” expounded Eric Osterhus, Brand Manager at the U.S. National Whitewater Center who has been there since the beginning. “[We’re] a tool and a resource to allow people to engage and grow in the outdoors [whether] they’re getting into a whitewater raft or kayak, riding a mountain bike, or grabbing a beer and listening to a band while relaxing with friends.”
While the U.S. National Whitewater Center has a little bit of something for every outdoor person’s preference, at the core of the business is the whitewater rafting channel, the largest recirculating man-made river in the world. The whitewater portion of the river is just under a mile and is divided into two separate channels, a longer wilderness channel offering Class I, II, and III whitewater and a competition channel offering Class III and IV whitewater. The cement walls of the artificial river can house 12 million gallons of water and is powered by a system of seven different hydraulic pumps in combination with a 21-foot drop in elevation from the Upper Pond to the Lower Pond, which connect the two channels.
“Because it is a man-made channel, we can artificially enhance the way certain features run,” explained Osterhus touching on the unique functionality of the river. “[But] once you’re in the channel, there’s no hydraulic pump element whatsoever. It’s just gravity doing the work, so we have bollards, rock piles and peg boards set up throughout the channel to redistribute water and help create certain features and rapids.”
Although there are no specific skill requirements to go rafting, each raft is always accompanied by a trained guide who can tailor the experience level to the inclination of the group as to determine whether to provide a slightly calmer trip with less surfing or a little more excitement. As a seasoned whitewater kayaker himself and the Head of Whitewater at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, Fergus Coffey is intimately familiar with the inherent risks involved when interacting with whitewater and reinforces the importance of guest safety.
“Even though we are a man-made whitewater course, the whitewater is real,” elucidated Coffey. “Every single trip starts off with a safety talk to go through all the points [a guest] needs to know [such as] how to swim in whitewater, how to get back in the raft, [and to] not stand up in the middle of the current,” all of which ring true for a natural river environment, as well. Before venturing down the rapids, the guests are taught rafting commands, receive instruction on how to properly paddle, and are required to wear all the appropriate safety equipment.
Coffey points out that, “whitewater is a relatively foreign environment for a lot of people [because] they don’t have much experience with it.” Most of the time, the customers disconnect reveals itself in one of two ways: “either they are completely blasé to the risks involved or they self-select down so much that they think it’s an extremely dangerous activity.” “In the scheme of things,” Coffey continued, “[rafting] is a quite low risk activity done at certain levels” and guests being unfamiliar with the whitewater elements result in “a lot of excitement and trepidation.”
To add to the list of credentials, the U.S. National Whitewater Center is also 1 of 18 designated Olympic training sites in the nation. Their specialty focus is canoe and kayak slalom. As a result, many U.S. Olympic and U.S. National teams train at the facility throughout the year. “We act as a facilitator and host for them [by] giving them the facilities to use for training purposes,” described Osterhus, who works closely with this area of the business. “We’ve found that a lot of those competing athletes live and work right here in the area so they can be close to us for training purposes.” Subsequently, some athletes are employees of the center when they’re not training.
Osterhus concluded that the center is a place for “growing people’s knowledge and understanding of the outdoor lifestyle but also how to engage with [nature] in a safe and responsible manner.” While many of the activities offered are risky by nature, “to be able to offer instruction from seasoned professionals that know these sports and activities inside and out gives [the center’s] depth an incredible edge to make sure that whether [guests] are here at the National Whitewater Center or they’re somewhere across the world, they’re prepared [with] the tools and the knowledge to be successful.”
Jannie Schaffer
A graduate of the Fashion Institute Of Technology in New York City with a degree in Interactive Marketing, Jannie has worked both for FOX and ASA Electronics. She enjoys traveling and whitewater rafting.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Charlotte/ Fort Mill KOA, with all the amenities, including free cable, Wi-Fi, mini golf and a pool. A picnic pavilion is available for group use. Don't feel like cooking? Enjoy Hunt Brothers Pizza on-site.