Mad River Run

Mad River Run is a 4.0 mile stretch from Harshman Road to the confluence with the Great Miami River. Shuttles can be arranged from Whitewater Warehouse, immediately North of the river at Keowee Street. The takeout eddy is slightly downstream of the store, from which you will walk up the grass hill to the bike path and from there a short distance to the parking lot. The river is heavily paddled throughout the summer months. Access this stretch from Eastwood MetroPark (1385 Harshman Rd.). Best access for the full run is just inside the park on the right (near Harshman Road) where there is a changing area. Previously, most boaters would focus on park-and-play, driving 3/4 mile into Eastwood MetroPark to use the large parking lot (with restrooms) near the former main whitewater feature. Access from river-right is also available with limited parking (1401 Harshman Rd.) from the lakeside of Eastwood MetroPark. Again, drive 3/4 mile inside the park to the parking area. The drop was one element of the Mad River Run project, funded largely by a generous donation from the Rotary Club of Dayton. This was created just below “Bernie’s Hole”, which was formed by the 84” water main pipe that supplies a majority of the water for the city, which became protected underwater by raising the water level (by the rock damming for the new feature which was created). At one point, there was a plan that when funding was acquired, three more drops would be constructed just downstream. This never happened. In February 2023, the underwater rock shelf above the first drop collapsed into the pool below, causing several effects. Among them: \- The water main pipe and Bernie's Hole were re-exposed and now present a hazard (do not let it window-shade you; one person who did suffered a cut right below his eye and required stitches); it is best avoided by portaging river right or going around the pipe on far river right (the Whitewater Warehouse folks have been trying to maintain a shallow but runnable slide that is safe to run over here if you don't mind some scratches on your hull) or by a shallow, creeky line on far river left. \- As of Spring 2025, the center island has been pushed over into the pool below for safety reasons, eliminating the eddy behind it and opening up the pool. \- The collapse also severely compromised the concrete bleachers that were used for spectating; large portions of their base are gone and the remainder became undercut. In 2025, they were somewhat stabilized by removing loose chunks and eliminating the undercut situation, making the far river left line around Bernie's Hole safe again. However, walking on the lower bleachers is still not recommended, and access to them from above is now blocked by a fence (avoid portaging on river left, and if you need to recover from a swim or need emergency access, use the small beach slightly downstream, still above the second drop, and the steep but manageable slope up to the parking lot area). After the collapse, Five Rivers MetroParks commissioned a study of what lied underneath the water. After much consideration, the decision was to simply stabilize the area with minimal fixes to the old bleachers and removing the unstable center island. It appears that the first pair of drops of the old feature will not be rebuilt. There is also a second drop that survived the collapse; it is surfable but difficult to surf. Since the center island was pushed over, the character of this drop has changed and it can now be surfed from the eddies on both sides. Downstream there is a set of old bridge abutments, which offer an opportunity for attainment practice by doing laps around the center abutments. Just below it is a slide; there is a wide but weak hole that can be surfed on the fly, and right below it are surfing opportunities with reasonable eddy service. Beyond that, the river is Class I to the confluence with the Great Miami aside from a little boogie water here and there. (OLD INFO: There is a low water and higher water feature. The river-left feature is a friendly play wave and designed for surfing in ideal conditions between 300cfs -700cfs. Once the water reaches above 900cfs both eddies feeds strongly back into the river left drop. The river-right feature is designed for higher water and becomes playable around 1200cfs. Information is still being gathered about ideal flow rates. The right side is a tight play feature and seems to have strong eddies on both sides.)