Located 14 miles upstream from DC, Great Falls lies along the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line where the Piedmont Plateau meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The series of cascades descend a total of 76 feet over less than a mile, making it the steepest fall line rapids of any river on the Eastern Seaboard. The falls themselves were created over thousands of years dating from the last ice age when the sea level dropped, resulting in the Potomac carving deep into the surrounding rock as it made its way to the Chesapeake.
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