Great Falls on the Potomac

When I think of Great Falls I think of Montana. Or Niagara Falls. I was surprised to learn there is another one- and we spent this beautiful autumn afternoon exploring the Great Falls on the Potomac. The Potomac River is a large river that forms borders between parts of Maryland and Virginia as well as parts of Virginia and the District of Columbia. The George Washington Parkway runs along the river where drivers often spot native birds and animals. In fact, we saw egrets, lots of squirrels and a deer!

The river is about 1000 feet wide above the Great Falls- very serene and majestic-looking. The trees along the bank are losing their leaves leaving the floor covered with dry brown leaves. We watched squirrels scamper noisily through them as we walked along the trail for a bit.

Although the water looks still as a lake, it was moving at a good clip on the other side of the rock formation. The water in the foreground was a backwater area and was fairly still.

There are three viewing platforms, a picnic area and a nicely done Visitor's Center in the park (Great Falls National Park). We spent about a half hour in the Visitor Center before heading to the first viewing platform. As we approached it, the sound of rushing water crescendoed to a deafening roar.

You can see the relatively calm water way upstream and then the turbulent water below the falls.

The river drops 76 feet in elevation over a distance of less than a mile. This creates cascading rapids and several 20-foot waterfalls. They are spectacular!

There are signs posted everywhere warning visitors not to climb on the rocks or go beyond the viewing platforms. The currents and undertow in the river are so strong that if you fall in, you will die. Seven people have died in the river so far this year. It is not hard to imagine the brute power.

From the third platform we could see the whole width of the falls. What we saw today was "below normal" water flow. One display showed pictures from floods, in the spring when water flow is high and  in times of low water flow. 

Beautiful!!

We watched a kayaker practice in some rapids below the falls. After resting a bit in an eddy, he would paddle upstream into the rapids and then go across the waves before returning to the eddy. We watched him flip his kayak over several times... perhaps to cool off.

The river is about 200 feet away and 100 feet below the High Water Pole. There are pictures of the park website of flood stage... amazing and horrifying at the same time!

We enjoyed the afternoon and plan to come back throughout the year. The falls are only about 14 miles from the Capital and are, I imagine, one the local gems that many people are unaware of. Shhhh... don't tell!