“an outdoor playground for all ages”
The U.S. National Whitewater Center is a non-profit outdoor recreation and athletic training facility for whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and hiking which opened to the public on November 4, 2006. The Center is located in Charlotte on approximately of land adjacent to the Catawba River. The USNWC is an official Olympic Training Center for whitewater slalom racing. The creators of the Center were inspired by the Penrith Whitewater Stadium built for the 2000 Olympics. The Center's primary feature is the world's largest and most complex recirculating artificial whitewater river. The facility cost $38 million to build, and costs $6.8 million per year to operate. The river channels were designed by three-time Olympian Scott Shipley. In June 2016, prompted by the death of a teenage park-goer from Ohio, the USNWC voluntarily closed the park's whitewater channels following the discovery of Naegleria fowleri, in the park's water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the park's system for filtering and disinfecting water was inadequate, and that the concentration of Naegleria fowleri in their samples were at the highest levels the CDC had ever seen. New methods for water quality maintenance are being explored before the whitewater reopens in 2017. In the meantime, land and Catawba river activities remain open for business, and the rapids reopened for a brief period of time at the end of the summer in 2016 after extensive cleaning and draining.
A little disappointing...I've been whitewater rafting in real rivers and this man-made one was a bit disheartening. The ropes courses were pretty good, but none really fit my adventure seeking/fitness level.
This is a worthwhile visit if looking for a little adventure. We are family with two adults and 4 kids ( 11, 8, 7 and 3.5)....we spent 4 hours and only
Got to the ropes courses and ziplines....ropes courses will push kids but totally doable....stick to green or blue level. Kids did rock climbing as well....3.5 yr old too young to do much but could climb boulders....would like to come back and do kayaking
We have rafted the Snake River and flathead river and this man made training facility was still thrilling and fun. There are two options - family and adventure. We are an adventure family, so our kids loved the adventure version. It’s class III and IV. Our girls loved the ropes course and zip lining as well as the rock climbing wall over the pool. Restaurant was decent food and extensive craft beer options. Definitely make a whole day of it. Reasonably priced for families too.
We found this place by accident, just driving past & had to stop. They have a man made course that anyone can use. There's also a zipline if you're not afraid of heights. Really awesome place you definitely have to try! I've been white water rafting more times than I can count. If you don't feel like driving as far as you must to the river, get your fix here!
We got there early and were able to immediately go rafting,overall that took about 80 minutes and was a lot of fun and our guide was great. Then it rained the rest of the day so all activities were closed. The facility itself wS very impressive, clean, and modern
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U.S. National Whitewater Center
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
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Outdoor Seating
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