A nice Sunday in February

One of the hidden gems of the Potomac River is Little Falls. This class 3-4 rapid just above Chain Bridge runs all year and changes its nature with minor variations in river levels. The reason for this is that the Potomac river guage is located above the little falls dam at one of the widest areas of the river. Little Falls itself is one of the narrowest places, the entire flow of the river squeezing through two narrow channels around a central island.

The beautiful thing about this run is that it can be accessed easily just downstream of the dam at Brookmont via a short carry across the C&O Canal. This is where Olympic greats like Davey Hearn practiced their slalom moves in the gates hung above the canal flow. Paddling down a small channel to the river, you soon encounter creek features including this fun little pourover, shown in downstram and upstream views.

Heading into the main current of the river, a half mile of sometimes surfable wavetrains provide a warmup to Little Falls. Other than the houses that dot the Virginia banks, and Chain Bridge in the distance, the river here is in its natural state, with great blue herons, eagles, hawks, snakes, turtles, and other wildlife.

Little Falls first gets your attention with the "EXIT" sign posted on river left for those who do not choose to run the falls. It is easy to scout the falls on river left, and two choices await the paddler: a bouncy wave train on river left, and a squirrelly s-turn on the right with a nasty hole at higher levels. This day I chose to run the left channel, as the river was running high with recent snowmelt. The view is from an eddy below the rapid on river left.

Normally, a short walk up to the canal and a flatwater paddle back up to the put-in completes the circuit, but today I slid across a frozen canal to the parkway and walked back up stream! Back to civilization, renewed by the river.