Great Falls National Park is Re-Opened!

Paddlers' Place
#1

Last week Great Falls National Park re-opened just in time for the holiday weekend. I made a trip there to capture the scene.

Here’s a highlight reel of my adventure: https://youtu.be/P34A85kXoVY

Great Falls is one of the premier places to paddle in the DC area, featuring a wide range of challenges and beautiful scenery.
There are many places to access trails that lead to Great Falls. But the actual Great Falls Parks had been closed on both sides of the river for several weeks. As of last week, both parks were re-opened, with parking capacity adjusted as time goes on.
I went to the Virginia side of Great Falls Park.

#2

I grew up near there. In 1961 I went on my first overnight canoe trip up the C&O Canal and down the Potomac R. In those days few people ran the Falls.

A friend of mine famously fell in one of the side channels in February. He was wearing leather soled shoes and slipped and took a swim in a serious rapid in winter. He was a lifeguard at Ocean City and we are all convinced that is what saved his life. There was no swift water rescue in those days. The Fire Dept tried to rescue him with a ladder truck. Finally he was rescued by a helicopter. We thought we were looking for a body.

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