Great Falls on the Potomac River

One of our favorite waterfalls to photograph is Great Falls on the Potomac River. Located about 15 miles from Washington, DC, Great Falls is just a short drive away and every time we visit – the photographic opportunities are different.

Great Falls can be photographed from two National Parks – the Great Falls Park in Virginia and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Park in Maryland. To see the falls from the C&O Canal Park – you need to enter the park at the Great Falls Tavern Area at 11710 MacArthur Blvd in Potomac.

Here are some of our favorite photos of Great Falls.

The first photo is one I took earlier this summer from Virginia. It shows the area above the falls.

Bill took this photo in late April a couple of years ago a few days after some major spring storms. The water level was very high as the runoff from the storms came down the river from West Virginia.

A couple of months later, Bill returned to the falls to photograph them with a lower water level. He went out to park early on a Saturday morning to figure out exactly how long after sunrise the sun hit the rocks. The next morning, he photograph this view of Great Falls from the first overlook on the Virginia side of the river.

I took this next photo earlier this summer. We’d had some big rain storms so the water was once again rushing over the rocks at the center of the river.

The final photo is one taken from the overlook on Olmstead Island on the Maryland side of the river. It shows the falls with the trees in Virgina ablaze with fall color.

Bill and I are out at Great Falls pretty regularly – so I’m sure we’ll be posting more photos of the area in the future. Hope you enjoy them.