The Great Falls --- Scintillating Cascades
It’s early afternoon of the second day since coming to Washington and we are lounging in the porch at my brother’s (Krishna) palatial residence in Maryland. A bruised and swollen sky is causing the sun to play peek-a-boo but unmindful of this, a bird is wheeling through the sky in circles. Without the pressure of time hanging on us like Damocles’ sword, we enjoy Nature in its various shades and are particularly attracted by the sight of little blobs of rain tattooing the lawns. The sudden bursts of bright rays alternating with muted sunbeams further adds to our wonderment at Nature’s myriad dramas.
My ever-chirpy ten year old niece Samyu, (short for Samyukta) suggests some hot french fries and spicy corn. We agree that it’s just the weather for these snacks and so we spoon some freshly prepared spiced corn and wash it down with the steaming ginger-cardamom chai, a quintessential brew for cold, rainy days. Not to be outdone by his sister, Vikram my sprightly nephew, all of six years, suggests that the weather is just right to go biking in the Great Falls Park. Well, so the Great Falls it is, sans biking, and not to the Virginia side of the Great Falls, but to the Maryland side, to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Park. For Krishna insists and rightly so, that the sky is pretty forbidding for a drive down to Virginia and cycling down the Park trail would neither be enjoyable nor safe.
The C & O Canal National Historic Park stretches roughly 21 km from Georgetown to the Great Falls Park and attracts visitors by the droves at both ends. It is barely a 20-minute drive from Krishna’s residence. We reserve the Virginia side – the Falls’ grander version, for another day when the rain gods decide not to shower their blessings on us!
The Great Falls at Virginia
We enter the C & O Canal Park through an avenue of sparsely-leaved tall trees. There are only a couple of cars in the parking lot; perhaps the inclement weather is keeping people indoors. We are well packed with jackets, gloves and all but I’ve forgotten to sport any kind of head gear. No wonder then, the chill, rowdy breeze flirts with gay abandon with my hair, which is anyway unruly even in the best of times. We amble across the pathway alongside the serpentine flow of the C & O Canal as it gushes in fury, crashing over boulders. The avalanche of white froth is laced in portions with Mother Earth and Krishna tells us that rising water getting muddy is a danger signal. Waders, swimmers and rock hoppers, Krishna tells, us can be deceived by an apparently docile and tranquil river which could swell within minutes to deathly proportions without a warning, giving them a bare chance for survival! As if in testimony to Krishna’s statement, we spot a warning board which informs that in a span of ten years about fifty seven people lost their lives, fourteen of them in 1984 alone, in these waters. Well, I thank the stars that I’m a swimming-ignoramus and so not even tempted to step into the water.
The ceaseless symphony of the water, as we stroll towards a small bridge, is matched by ambient sounds by birds and insects in the surrounds. The call of the gurgling, thrashing water as we near the bridge is irresistible. I guess I’ve always been inadvertently drawn towards water bodies, whether in the form of beaches or waterfalls – the one serene most often, and the other, roaring and thundering, making me yet again bow down to the commanding presence of nature. Even now my mother does not fail to relate tales of how, as a toddler, I would always be kept out of harm’s way and from mischief, with a bucketful of water and a cup to play! I am suddenly overwhelmed by emotion and memory. I am no longer an adult squinting across an abyss of years at hazy incidents and events but a kid extremely excited about taking long early-morning-walks to the Marina Beach in Chennai with my siblings, escorted most enthusiastically by my Advocate uncle. Yeah, for us Delhi-ites, vacationing in Madras as Chennai was then referred to, was a lure especially because of its beaches.
Let me get back from my ramblings, to the jaw-dropping Great Falls which separates Virginia from Maryland. Krishna is a dedicated traveler who savours every place of visit completely, delving into its history, origins and all. Could I bargain for a better guide, a veritable walking encyclopedia on places! And thus unfolds the history of the C & O Canal which dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The area, I learn, began to enjoy the status of a National Park since 1971. The Canal, a system with about seventy four locks built between 1828 and 1850, runs parallel to the famous Potomac River. It was created to transport goods between Cumberland, a manufacturing centre of timber, whiskey, furs and other products and Chesapeake Bay. The presence of the Great and Little Falls obstructed the Potomac from being navigable. It had been US President George Washington’s obsession since youth to make the Potomac navigable and hence he initiated the construction of the canal system but unfortunately did not live to see the completion of the navigation project in 1801.
The Potomac originates as a small spring near Fairfax Stone in West Virginia and travels approximately 575 km to Chesapeake Bay, snaking its way through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland Virginia, the District of Columbia. It drops 76 feet through several cascading rapids into the Mather Gorge, a canyon, when it reaches the Great Falls, which is the steepest and most scintillating fall line rapids of any eastern river. In the face of melting snow and a heavy downpour, Krishna tells that that the Potomac becomes chaotic with huge volume of water that it is unable to force its way through the narrow entrance of Mather Gorge. The river then backs up to cover the Falls and floods the riverbank.
Following Krishna’s commentary, we now come upon the small bridge to capture the beauty of the raging water. Spray jets of water romance tantalizingly with our faces, enough to send my young niece and nephew into ecstatic squeals. To the west, far ahead we see the anemic sun sink through a sky that is a splash of peach tinged with gray. Fortunately, the rain-laden clouds have been benevolent with us thus far and have not yet begun their dance earthwards with their watery grace. Not to push our luck too far, we return, yet unsatiated by the blissful sights we witness. We’ve another week in Washington before we journey to Dubai and back to India. Nevertheless we make a mental note to revisit the Falls, but on its Virginia side before departing from D.C.
Fortunately, this happens the following Sunday but we have a flight to catch in the afternoon, to Dubai. The drive from Krishna’s home to the Park is picturesque, dotted with stunningly ravishing house structures. We coast past the Great Falls residential area, a haven housing affluent suburban families to reach the Park area. Having parked the Camry in the main parking lot, we walk a short distance to reach the Visitor Center which is equipped with rest rooms and a snack bar. It also offers a 10-minute slide program and houses a three-dimensional model of the Great Falls and Patowmack Canal.
Rafting on the Great Falls
Needless to say we are severely short on time to explore the sprawling 800 acre park which is laced with several trails to suit all kinds of leisure seekers. There are trails along the Potomac itself and also in the adjacent woods, for walkers, bikers and horse riders. We gather that rock climbing is very popular on this end than at the Maryland side of the Park. There are plenty of cookout sites for picknickers who can carry their own grills, not gas ones though.
Krishna picks up from where he had left off last week, enlightening us on the history of the Potomac and the Great Falls. Washingtonians consider the Great Falls with its unusual landscape to be the most spectacular natural landmark in D.C. For here, the Potomac dramatically gathers momentum and force as it descends over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through the Mather Gorge. Over thirty plant species, three of which are not found anywhere else in the world, inhabit the bedrock terraces high above the river.
The Patowmack Canal Company was formed in 1785 and construction began amidst a lot of engineering challenges, especially at the Patowmack Canal of Great Falls. The Canal, in ruins today, was considered to be the most significant engineering feat of 18th century America and served to ferry an amalgam of goods for 26 years following its completion. The Patowmack Company, though a financial failure, was the forerunner of the spate of lock engineering and canal construction that became significant in America’s development.
Unlike our trip to the Great Falls on the other side, this Sunday morning we find the Falls region pulsating with joy in the visitors who seem to be coming in a steady flow. Joggers of all ages and shapes, dogs – leashed and unleashed are out for their morning constitutional. I have always been puzzled when some of my friends tell me that if you have seen one waterfall, you have seen them all! And here I am, dumbstruck at the Great Falls revealing its different shades, not only at different places, but at different times as well! We catch a couple of rafters bobbing, flouncing and weave their way beneath the white fluff.
Here specific vantage points are earmarked to allow visitors some of the best views of the rapids. The observation decks are termed as Overlook 1, 2 and 3 with Overlook 2 and the Patowmack Canal Trail being wheelchair accessible. Fettered as we are by Time, we satisfy ourselves with views of the susurrant rush of foaming water from all three viewpoints and as a dedicated shutterbug, I complete the compelling rituals with my digital companion before hitting base to give the final touches to our packing before taking off from J.F.Kennedy airport, homeward.
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