Gorge of the Potomac River southeast and downriver of Great Falls
Mather Gorge seen from Northern Virginia; the Potomac River lies fully within Maryland.
Mather Gorge is a river gorge south and just downriver of Great Falls in the state of Maryland bordering Virginia. The Maryland land side of the gorge is Bear Island, part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, and the Virginia side is part of Great Falls Park. Both parks are National Park Service sites. The gorge is named after Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service.
The gorge is cut by the Potomac River and is, for the most part, lined on both sides by cliffs. Towards the southern end of the gorge, the cliffs become tree-lined bluffs as the gorge widens out into the wider and larger PotomacGorge. At Little Falls, the Potomac River crosses the Fall Line as it leaves the Appalachian Piedmont and enters the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
Students scrambling over boulders on the Billy Goat Trail with Mather Gorge on the left
Hiking is a common activity with many trails along and near the gorge. On the Maryland side, in the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Section A of the Billy Goat Trail follows the gorge—from below Great Falls to above the Anglers Inn river put-in. The River Trail in Great Falls Park follows the gorge on the Virginia side. It is also a popular rock climbing attraction as the cliff heights and terrain lend themselves well to top rope climbing. Generally, most of the rock climbing occurs on the vertical cliffs of the Virginia side of the gorge, below the Observation Decks and above the 90 degree river bend.
Whitewater kayaking and canoeing is also very popular within the gorge. From Great Falls to the Difficult Run Rapids (Maryland Chute, Virginia Chute, and Center Chute), the gorge contains Class I to Class VI whitewater rapids.
MatherGorge is a river gorge south and just downriver of Great Falls in the state of Maryland bordering Virginia. The Maryland land side of the gorge...
community 49700 Mather, an asteroid Mather Air Force Base, east of Sacramento, California Mathers Bridge, Merritt Island, Florida MatherGorge, on the border...
including a steep climb along a cliff face along the Potomac River's MatherGorge. At another point in the trail, hikers are required to scramble over...
Linville Gorge, North Carolina Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah Little Grand Canyon, Illinois Little River Canyon, Alabama Logan Canyon, Utah MatherGorge, Maryland...
Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservationist who was the first director of the National Park...
upstream from a landing at the mouth of Difficult Run, climbs to the top of MatherGorge and passes the falls, a dam, and a reservoir before ending in Fairfax...
were left before MatherGorge formed." ^ PIF: "In the Late Pennsylvanian, the rocks of the Stubblefield Falls domain of the MatherGorge Formation moved...
Lehigh River Gorge, Pennsylvania Linville Gorge, North Carolina Little River Canyon, Alabama Logan Canyon, Utah Marble Canyon, Arizona MatherGorge, Maryland...
Bright Angel Canyon. The viewpoints of Mather Point, (and Yavapai Point), look northwards (across Granite Gorge), up Bright Angel Canyon, and view the...
characterized as "a miniature MatherGorge and Great Falls." The stream picks up speed as it narrows into a steep gorge with waterfalls and quickly reaches...
the Potomac River drops a treacherous 75 feet through the unnavigable MatherGorge. After 21 years, the Potomack Canal was sold, along with the other assets...
River's Great Falls. After this interchange, the Beltway soon crosses the MatherGorge into Virginia over the 10-lane American Legion Memorial Bridge. Immediately...
Railway during the Royal Gorge Railroad War. The posse was never called to action as the "war" was settled in court. Mather relocated to East Las Vegas...
and “Mysterious” Dave Mather. On April 21, 1879, the Supreme Court granted the D&RG the primary right to build through the gorge on the basis that the...
and final reservoir, Gorge Lake, formed by Gorge Dam. All three dams are part of the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project. Past Gorge Dam, the river is often...
province. Even though it is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is much deeper), the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming...
before being redesignated by Congress; the newest national park is New River Gorge, previously a National River, and the most recent entirely new park is National...
Ross Lake National Recreation Area, is bordered on both sides by Stephen Mather Wilderness and combined with Lake Chelan National Recreation Area they make...
which were vying to be the first to claim a right-of-way across the Royal Gorge, one of the few natural routes through the Rockies that crossed the Continental...
named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the...
United States. It is located below the North Rim and adjacent to the Granite Gorge along the Colorado River. The Trinity Creek and canyon flow due south at...
by a steeply-cascading stream which descends 600 feet in a steep-sided gorge, much like the stream between Upper and Lower Yosemite Fall. These cascades...
into this category, the original course took the Yosemite Creek down a gorge to the west of its current location. The primary source of Bridalveil Fall...
height of the Lower Fall. Because of the narrow, constricted shape of the gorge in which these drops occur and the lack of public access, they are rarely...
of 20 to 30 yards. That was the condition all over the field and in the [gorge]. I think, in all probability, that the men turned their horses loose without...
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