A Marylander Crosses to Virginia

Mary and I continued our exploration of the Potomac fall line on Halloween. This time we crossed the river to Great Falls Park in Virginia. I’ve lived in the DC area most of my life, but I’d never been to the Virginia side of the falls. It was a revelation.

We hoped to find the trees at the peak of their color. No such luck. The winds in last week’s storms blew half the leaves off the trees. Those left were basic muddy brown/yellows – or muted shades of mustard, ochre and russet if you’re feeling poetic. There were no brilliant yellows or reds like you see in New England.

From the VA side, there is a much better view of Mather Gorge, where the Potomac narrows and cuts through the Appalachian Piedmont into the Atlantic coastal plain. The cliffs are higher and more vertical on the VA side, which is why rock climbers are common. A tall wooden pole (see photo) shows the high water mark for numerous damaging floods over the last century. My first reaction was surprise, because the markers are eighty or a hundred feet above the river level. A nearby plaque provided the explanation: the volume of water in the river at flood stage is so great that it can’t fit through the narrow gorge. The water backs up and spreads out at the head of the gorge, like a funnel that fills too fast and overflows.

Sunday the river level was low and several families had climbed down the cliff to scamper on the rocks at the downstream end of the falls. The current below those rocks was still fast and swirling. A single misstep and any of the kids (or their parents) would have fallen in and been swept downstream. No wonder so many people drown in the Potomac around Great Falls every year. What were the parents thinking?

The highlight of the trip was exploring the Great Falls stretch of the abandoned Patowmack Canal. This was George Washington’s pet project and actually pre-dated the C&O Canal on the Maryland side. I’ve seen many canals and locks in my time, but none nearly as steep as the last three locks on the Patowmack. They rise perhaps 70 feet in a distance of no more than a couple hundred yards. The builders used black powder to enlarge a natural cleft in the cliff. It’s an impressive achievement by any measure. I just wonder how practical it was. The locks only fit one boat, and must have taken a long time to traverse that last few hundred yards.