Trip to Great Falls Park - 1/8/00
View the Slideshow

---

This park is run by the National Park Service. The Great Falls are part of the Potomac River northwest of Washington, D.C., which forms the Virginia-Maryland border. There is more here than scenery, though.

Apparently this is a rich geological history area. In many places the river has made cuts in the walls of the river canyon showing 250 million years of change.

The park also houses some features of the old Potowmack Canal system, which was a project of George Washington and facilitated shipping between the headwaters of the Ohio river and the tidewater. The Canal provided access to the East Coast and the Atlantic. A series of 5 locks were required when building the canal because at Great Falls the river drops about 80ft in less than 1 mile. The Patowmack Company which built and ran the canal went under in 1828 and the canal was abandoned in 1830 in favor of another waterway on the Maryland side of the river.

	Some water we saw fresh out of the car
	You can't tell, but in the back there are Canadian Geese
	Holly, with a chain link fence so she doesn't fall down
	Great Falls #1
	Great Falls #1
	further down the river
	some sort of perspective, there is a kayaker crossing downstream of the smaller falls
	Kayak-man is about to roll over... the water is moving very fast
	upper portion of falls, kayak upside-down, arm flailing
	me. and yes Holly I am too smiling sort of i would have smiled better if the cameraperson hadn't taken so long to push the button
	from downstream, the right side of Great Falls
	some more river that looks better in person
	a low-section of river with many large rocks deposited here during floods
	fairly high above the river from the Virginia side, in the distance is a footbridge on the Maryland side
	more water, a deeper section
	reflections on nature (subcaption: i'm cold and ready to head back towards the car)
	river [in Technicolor (c)]
	high above the river
	ahead on left is the picnic area of the park. also, the trailhead for the downstream part of the park (we're coming back from the trail)
	another shot from downstream of the low spot in the river downstream from the falls
	the same area, but with a sign showing the stages of the river... left is dry, center:normal, right:flood