Gauge Information

Gauge Description:

Below 3.3 the landing zone below the Fingers gets really shallow; however, you can run Grace and then ferry over to the MD side for Z-Turn and Horseshoe.  This is called the Alpine Line.  Above 3.8 Grace gets beefy and there's very little time to recover if something goes wrong.

 

The gage is located at Little Falls (aka Brookmont) Dam, where the river is very wide.  Consequently, an inch on the gage can translate to a foot at Great Falls.  The gage is also 8-9 miles downstream, so if the river is rising or falling rapidly there could be a discrepancy between the gage reading and the actual level.  Scout the rapids visually if there is any doubt.  (You were going to do that anyway, right?)

USGS Potomac River / Little Falls Gage

NOAA Prediction for Little Falls Gage

 

Gauge Information

Name Range Difficulty Updated Level
POTOMAC RIVER NEAR WASH, DC LITTLE FALLS PUMP STA
usgs-01646500 3.20 - 4.00 ft V+ 00h34m 3.9 ft (rc= 0.9 )
scary level to run grace, but fingers are still good. flat liner can be run at these levels

RangeWater LevelDifficultyComment
2.80 -3.20 ft somewhat Low-barely Low V+ Grace Under Pressure can be run as a novelty at these levels but the fingers are dry. look at the Md and Va lines instead
3.20 -3.40 ft barely runnable-med runnable V+ probably as low as you'd want to run the fingers. Good level for Grace and angel slot
3.40 -3.70 ft med runnable-a bit pushy runnable V+ Classic. Grace is excellent just be sure to stay in your boat and not get lost going through the ledges. ideal levels for the middle finger
3.70 -4.00 ft a bit pushy runnable-high runnable V+ scary level to run grace, but fingers are still good. flat liner can be run at these levels
4.00 -4.30 ft somewhat High-somewhat High V+ just peeling out to run the fingers is a serious undertaking with beatdown potential

Report - Reports of Potomac 3. Great Falls (Center Lines) and related gauges

Reports give the public a chance to report on river conditions throughout the country as well as log the history of a river.

Reports

When River/Gauge Subject Level Reporter
Potomac [MD] Middle Finger 3.7 Potomac Pathways
Potomac River [MD] Two kayakers running the Falls n/a Scott Anderson
1y137d14h20m /Potomac River-Great Falls (Center Lines) [MD] John Greer, Grace Under Pressure 0 cfs Brett Mayer-Aschhoff
1y137d14h21m /Potomac River-Great Falls (Center Lines) [MD] Tim Madison, Grace Under Pressure 0 cfs Brett Mayer-Aschhoff
2y41h56m @Potomac River Great Falls (Center Lines) [MD] Account of 02/11/10 n/a n/a
2y214d22h02m Great Falls [VA] http://www.lovelylightstudio.com/ n/a user: "Chrisrh2000"