This past Saturday, Bill and I spent some time at the section of the C&O Canal National Park in Potomac, Maryland. The C&O Canal National Park stretches 184 miles starting in Georgetown in the District of Columbia and ending in Cumberland, Maryland.

C&O Canal National Park is one of our favorite parks to photograph in. Not only does it have the canal, but the section at Potomac, Maryland has a wonderful overlook of Great Falls on the Potomac River. There are some nice hiking trails through the forest, and lot of interesting buildings and structure to photograph. On weekends, there are often historical reenactors working in the park.

On this trip, Bill was trying out his newest camera – a Canon Rebel XTi (400D) converted by LifePixel to infrared. All of his photos in this post were taken with the infrared camera.

Here are some of the photos we took this weekend.

Last year, the Park Service placed new canal boats into service. Here is the Charles F Mercer which is based in Potomac. Canal boat rides, complete with mules towing the boat, are offered five days a week in this part of the park.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

A view along the C&O Canal from the towpath. Lock 18 can be seen in the distance.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

This little waterfall is beside Lock 19 on the canal.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

One of the plants growing along the boardwalk over Olmsted Island. We have no clue what the plant is – but we liked the way it looks.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

Finally, here’s a photograph of Great Falls taken from the Overlook on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. The water level is higher than usual for this time of year. Usually by mid-June, many more rocks are showing in the river and the falls.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

The C&O Canal National Park is worth visiting. You can see some of our other photos from the C&O Canal park on our website.