Great Falls of the Potomac River

The Great Falls of the Potomac River was the waterfalling excuse for Julie, Tahia, and I to explore the vicinity of our Nation’s Capital – Washington DC. We made it a point to drive the nearly 15 miles or so from DC to the Great Falls Park on the Virginia side as the prospect of even seeing a natural waterfall so close to iconic places like the National Mall (which itself harbored important landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the White House, the Washington Monument, and Capitol Hill, among others) was simply an activity that we couldn’t miss as far as we were concerned. The Potomac River itself (on which the waterfall sat upon) was also rich in history, so it really felt like a visit to this waterfall was both a pleasant respite into natural surroudings away from the urban developments as well as a step back in time.

The Great Falls was really a section of the Potomac River where it narrowed and dropped a cumulative height of some 76ft over a series of rocky cascades. There were a couple of rocky islands that seemed to split part of the falls providing that somewhat disjointed look to it. Apparently, daredevil kayakers run these cascades, and we even saw one such kayaker climb the rocks on one of the rock islands before putting in just above the lowermost tiers of the waterfall, which itself seemed like class V conditions even down there. Clearly, he had to know what he was doing to avoid a possible drowning, which park signs here had warned that at least seven people each year have done (thanks to the river’s strong currents).

What was really refreshing about our visit to the Great Falls was that it was in a very naturesque setting. Trees and wetlands were all around us. And even though we were literally minutes away from Washington DC, we really felt as if we found our escape from the urban jungle when we came here. In any case, there was a bit of history tied to this waterfall as it was a natural barrier preventing further upstream travel. So a canal was built (on the Maryland side of the falls) to bypass the waterfall, and that canal was known as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (or C&O Canal). That helped to open up trade further upstream along the Potomac allowing for the passage of things such as coal, lumber, and agricultural goods.

We pretty much only toured the Virginia side of the waterfall at the Great Falls Park. From the car park (see directions below), we made a short walk to the three main overlooks. We started with the furthest overlook (known as Overlook 3), which featured a full and contextual view of the waterfall itself from a wheelchair-accessible lookout. Right in front of that lookout was a pole containing signposts of the year where the high water marks of the Potomac were at during its recorded history. It was amazing to see that even as late as 1996, this overlook was under water!

As we continued to backtrack on the main walking route, we then detoured into Overlook 2. This brought us a bit closer to the Great Falls, where we could almost literally look across the river towards the lone lookout of the falls on the Maryland side. We were still able to get contextual views of the entire waterfall from here, while also getting a sense of the sheer power of the Potomac River passing by us. Like with Overlook 3, Overlook 2 was said to be wheelchair accessible.

Finally, we backtracked to Overlook 1, which brought us the closest to the wide and brown cascading water. From here, we could almost feel the power of the Potomac. It was a bit tricky to get up the smooth and slick rocks towards some of the higher lookout spots, but perhaps our most intimate experience of the Great Falls was had from such spots. We really had to keep an eye out on our daughter here because she literally took these rocks as a climbing challenge. I’d imagine there would be the highest likelihood for a mishap at this spot given the rough and uneven terrain, and thus I could understand why the park signs said this overlook was not wheelchair accessible.

Overall, it took us about an hour to fully take in all three overlooks. There was an opportunity to continue along the river trail towards Seneca Falls to the north and Stubblefield Falls to the south. However, with our limited time (we had to catch a flight out on the day of our visit) and the stifling heat and humidity of our June visit, we decided that spending more time here to see the other waterfalls (which I’d imagine would be more rapids than waterfalls) would have to wait for another time. The same would go for seeing the falls from the Maryland side.