Gauge Conditions

Potomac River near Wash, DC Little Falls Pump Sta Downstream Primary

Runnable: 2.0 – 3.4 FT

Horseshoe, and Brine Line levels -the extreme river left side channel. Starts with the Flume, a big slide into a wall, followed by a hole. Then, sneak far left

Data from American Whitewater & USGS

Photo

Photo courtesy of American Whitewater

Description

The scariest hole on the Potomac other than Charlie's, Horseshoe has been the site of many near-drownings. The line is level-dependent. Here are my general rules of thumb:

LF > 2.90 - Left line. Boof onto a rocky runout.

2.60 < LF < 2.90 - Far Right (standard) line. slide down the entrance, dont spin out, and boof off the shelf that extends past the hole. You can approach this directly or by doing a hairy ferry on the SOS wave at very low levels.

LF < 2.60 - Center line. super low water only. Boof off the knuckle through the hole.

If you get stuck in Horseshoe the odds of surfing your way out are slim, so save some energy for the swim.