Mather Gorge
Sheer walls squeeze the Potomac to a width of about a hundred feet
The story
Below you is Mather Gorge. Downstream of the Great Falls of the Potomac, steep walls squeeze the river to a width of about a hundred feet. The gorge may be so straight because the river follows a fault line in the rock. Or because the falls slowly moved upstream, cutting through the stone. The National Park Service estimates that this took about thirty thousand years. The gorge is named after Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service. He led it from 1917 to 1929. The far bank is already Virginia.
Visiting
Don’t climb down to the water: the rocks by the river are very dangerous, and entering the Potomac is prohibited.
On the trail
- Billy Goat Trail, Section A — 3.7 miles (6 km), loop, 2–3 h on the rocks, plus about 40 min on the towpath
Sources
- National Park Service — Mather Gorge: a river about 100 feet wide, about 30,000 years old
- Wikipedia (EN) — Mather Gorge
- Wikipedia (EN) — Stephen Mather: first director of the National Park Service, 1917–1929
- National Park Service — Billy Goat Trail, Section A (1.75 miles one way, 2–3 h, technical and strenuous; flood closures; over 400 rescues a year)
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