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Great Falls

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About Great Falls:

Great Falls, Maryland has alot of history. Mostly C & O Canal stuff. People come here from all over the world to see the view of the falls at the end of the trail. But if you spend enough time walking around, and the water is low enough, you will find some nice islands and cliffs to explore. There is not much info on the climbing around here. Most people go downstream to Carderock. So if you want to get away from the big crowds go to the end of falls road and turn right. $4 a car so carpool, or get a year pass for $20
Nearest town or city: Potomac
Directions: 495 to 270 north to Falls road SouthWest towards Potomac. Past the town center and the firehouse and keep going till the stop sign. Turn right into the park and go a mile to the fee booth. Parking is $4 and is really busy on most nice days.
Latitude, Longitude:
Access Issues: There is a great island for climbing which has "The Bulges" and other such routes on it. Go to Old Anglers Inn and across the road there is a trail head called Anglers. If you follow this you come to the C & O canal towpath. Follow this to the right and walk for about 20 minutes. Look for a new bridge which has a white shack on it. Go under the bridge and next left it Billy Goat Trail A. You follow this and it takes you right to the Potomac River. If the water is low you can walk right onto the island. It has tons of stuff that could be considered bouldering or ropes (it all depends on how confident with heights you are). For more information check out the book titled something like "The complete Great Falls Climbing Guide" (I don't own the book but have looked through it before, worth the 12 dollars at HTO). This will give you lots of information. Good luck!
Camping: None
When to Climb:
Quantity of Climbs: Month

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Forum Discussions (2 posts)

  Subject Author Replies Last Post
With Replies Sherwin island Aaronf8 4 Jul 20 2009, 1:59 PM
No Replies Oct 28, 2004 mmindtrap 0 Oct 11 2004, 6:47 PM