Bend Whitewater Park opens for fun

The much-anticipated Bend Whitewater Park opened for play Friday evening, just as the weather warmed a bit for the weekend.

“This project has been a long time coming, and it’s exciting to open the park,” said Don Horton, executive director of the Bend Park and Recreation District.

“There were three primary goals of the project: to remove the hazardous dam, to enhance river and wildlife health, and to provide a river recreational experience for a variety of whitewater user groups,” he said. “We are pleased to be able to provide the community this new recreation opportunity.”

Though the park has opened, officials say there is still fine tuning to be done.

“Building whitewater features is as much an art as it is a science,” Horton said. “Like all parks of this nature, the whitewater features will take time to refine.”

The park district anticipates additional work to be done in the whitewater channel during low water levels this fall.

Until then, access to the whitewater is from below the bridge, entering at either the McKay Park beach or from Miller’s Landing Park.

“Adjustments to features are common upon completion of whitewater parks, due to the complexities of tuning designed features into actual working waves” said Jayson Bowerman, Bend Paddle Trail Alliance board member and project partner.

Bend Park and Recreation District and Paddle Trail Alliance will continue to work together to refine wave conditions and deliver their vision for a board spectrum of river recreation opportunities.

The park is made up of three unique in river channels. A channel just for casual, river floating, a channel for experienced whitewater paddlers, and a third natural area, closed to people.

The whitewater channel is designed primarily for the experienced whitewater paddler, though the bottom-most feature will be good for people to learn whitewater skills.

Pneumatic bladders under the water can alter the river’s shape, resulting in adjustability for a variety of wave conditions. The bladders are controlled by a person on land who shapes the waves based upon river flows and desired wave design.

The floaters channel will allow people floating the river on inflatables to meander from Riverbend Park to Drake Park without taking out of the river. The floaters channel is made up of 12 minor drops in elevation to carry people under the Colorado Avenue Bridge and also acts as a natural fish passage.

For people not wanting to float through the new channel, portage remains an option. People floating the river in tubes are not allowed in the whitewater channel due to very large waves and hydraulics, not suitable for non-whitewater specific equipment.

The third channel and the river-left island are off-limits to people and exist to enhance river health, protect wildlife and native habitat.

The renovation of the adjacent McKay Park will cap this new community park complex. McKay Park is under construction now and is expected to be complete in the fall of 2016. It will include the vault that houses the controls for the whitewater bladders, have restrooms and changing rooms and a tiered landscape to allow people to view water recreation activities.

The $9.7 million Bend Whitewater Park was funded by a combination of the 2012 bond measure passed by voters to invest in park and recreation parks and facilities, property taxes and $1.13 million in donations raised by the Bend Paddle Trail Alliance.

“A park of this kind is new to most all users, and we encourage people to learn about the park and safety measures before jumping in.” said Jan Taylor, community relations manager.

The Bend Whitewater Park website has information on usage and the Bend Whitewater Park Facebook page will feature daily reports on river conditions.