Great Falls of the Potomac River

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A picture of the Great Falls in autumn.
A picture of the Great Falls in autumn.
A picture of the Great Falls in black and white.
A picture of the Great Falls in black and white.

The Great Falls of the Potomac River, located 14 miles (22.4 km) upstream from Washington, D.C., are located at the Potomac River's fall line. The Great Falls area is popular for kayaking, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Great Falls Park, operated by the National Park Service, is located on the southern banks in Virginia, while Chesapeake and Ohio Canal parkland is located along the northern banks of the river, in Maryland. The Billy Goat Trail on Bear Island, accessible from Maryland, offers scenic views of the Great Falls, as do vantage points on Olmsted Island (also accessible from Maryland) and overlook points on the Virginia side.

It was roughly 35,000 years ago that the Potomac River first began carving out the Great Falls of the Potomac. The waters of the river gather speed as they are forced through the narrow Mather Gorge and cascade over a series of several 20-foot (6-meter) falls. In all, the water falls a total of 76 feet (23 meters) in elevation over a distance of less than a mile (1.6 km), making the Great Falls of the Potomac the steepest and most spectacular fall line rapids of any river in the eastern United States.

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Potomac River system
Cities and towns | Bridges | Islands | Variant names
Regions
Allegheny Front | Allegheny Mountains | Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area | Blue Ridge Mountains | Cumberland Valley | Eastern Panhandle | Northern Neck | Northern Virginia | Potomac Highlands | Ridge-and-valley Appalachians | Shenandoah Valley | Southern Maryland | Western Maryland
Tributaries
North Branch | Stony River | Abram Creek | Savage River | Georges Creek | Wills Creek | Evitts Creek | Patterson Creek | South Branch | North Fork South Branch | South Fork South Branch | Town Creek | Little Cacapon River | Fifteenmile Creek | Sideling Hill Creek | Cacapon River | Lost River | North River (West Virginia) | Tonoloway Creek | Sleepy Creek | Licking Creek | Back Creek | Little Conococheague Creek | Conococheague Creek | Opequon Creek | Antietam Creek | Shenandoah River | North Fork Shenandoah River | South Fork Shenandoah River | North River (Virginia) | South River | Catoctin Creek (Maryland) | Catoctin Creek (Virginia) | Monocacy River | Little Monocacy River | Goose Creek | Little River | Seneca Creek | Cabin John Creek | Rock Creek | Anacostia River | Sligo Creek | Four Mile Run | Oxon Creek | Hunting Creek | Piscataway Creek | Dogue Creek | Accotink Creek | Pohick Creek | Occoquan River | Bull Run | Neabsco Creek | Mattawoman Creek | Quantico Creek | Chopawamsic Creek | Aquia Creek | Potomac Creek | Nanjemoy Creek | Port Tobacco River | Wicomico River | Coan River | St. Marys River | Yeocomico River | Hull Creek
Lakes and reservoirs
Lake Accotink | Lake Anne | Lake Artemesia | Lake Bernard Frank | Lake Braddock | Breckenridge Reservoir | Brushy Fork Lake | Burke Lake | Dalecarlia Reservoir | Georgetown Reservoir | Jennings Randolph Lake | Kingman Lake | McMillan Reservoir | Mount Storm Lake | Lake Needwood | Sleepy Creek Lake | Stony River Reservoir | Trout Pond | Warden Lake
Dependent states
District of Columbia | Maryland | Pennsylvania | Virginia | West Virginia
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