Hello Class!
What a day I had at Great Falls! Great Falls is a National Park located on the Potomac River in Maryland as well as across the river in Virginia. While the Potomc River in Washington, DC is calm and can be navigated by a boat, the water where we went today moves super fast over large rocks, swirls around and makes a loud "gushshshshsh" sound which channels through the rock bed.. The "falls" are a series of rapids that can be quite dangerous. There are some great pictures of me hiking along the "falls". Many people consider the Great Falls of the Potomac to be the most spectacular natural landmark in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Here, the Potomac River builds up speed and force as it falls over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through the narrow Mather Gorge. http://www.nps.gov/grfa/
The falls consist of cascading rapids and several 20 foot waterfalls, with a total 76 foot drop in elevation over a distance of less than a mile. The Potomac River narrows from nearly 1000 feet, just above the falls, to between 60 and 100 feet wide as it rushes through Mather Gorge, a short distance below the falls. The Great Falls of the Potomac display the steepest and most spectacular fall line rapids of any eastern river.
The C & O Canal is a major attraction of Great Falls as well. I took a picture sitting on Lock #19! It was cool walking along the towpath and imagining what it was like to open and close the lock, raise the water, and tend to the "Lock House". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Canal George Washington initially dreamed of a canal system along the Potomac River as a form of transporting goods and people however it wasn't until 1828 that the actual C & O Canal construction begin.
Stretching 184.5 miles alongside the Potomac River between the nation's capital and Cumberland, Maryland, the C & O Canal National Historical Park preserves remnants of America's transportation history. For nearly a century the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was the lifeline for communities and businesses along its route as it floated coal, lumber, grain, and other products to market.
Laborers began digging with picks and shovels in 1828. When finished 22 years later, the waterway averaged 40 to 60 feet wide and 6 feet deep and included hand-hewn stone aqueducts and a remarkable 3,118-foot long brick-lined tunnel. Seventy-four lift locks adjusted water levels for a 605-foot difference in elevation between the western terminus in the mountains and tidewater in the east.
Sections opened for navigation as they were completed: Georgetown to Seneca in 1831; then to Harpers Ferry in 1833; to near Hancock in 1839; and finally to Cumberland in 1850. All the while, the canal was competing with a powerful new form of transportation. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had begun its East-West route on the same day as the canal, but it reached Cumberland first. Handicapped by dry spells, floods, and winter freezes, the canal could not match the speed and dependability of its rival. Loss of business to the railroad and costly flood damage combined to close the canal in 1924.
Tomorrow I will send more pictures from more of my Maryland and Virginia adventures. Monday I am off to my next stop. Hope all is well there!
Miss you!
Charlie
