Great Falls
Maryland · 46-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Great Falls is running at 137 cfs — well above seasonal normal.
Right now
Streamflow
137 cfs
DIFFICULT RUN NEAR GREAT · 34m ago
Overnight
70°F
Patchy Fog
Friday
88°F
Patchy Fog then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
Today's daylight
Sunrise 5:51 AM · Sunset 8:36 PM · 14h 45m
Snapshot built 10m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS LWX.
Great Falls is a waterfall in Maryland. It drops roughly 46 feet. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Great Falls is in Maryland. It drops along Great Falls is a series of rapids and waterfalls on the Potomac River. The base sits at roughly 125 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 4 minutes from Great Falls. A trail — Great Falls Overlook Trail — runs within 130 meters of the marked location. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap.
Great Falls is a series of rapids and waterfalls on the Potomac River in the state of Maryland 14 miles (23 km) upstream from Washington, D.C. As the border between the states of Maryland and Virginia generally follows the low-water line on the Virginia side, the river and falls at Great Falls lie within Montgomery County, Maryland, which abuts Fairfax County, Virginia on the far shore.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 01646000 · 1.5 mi away
DIFFICULT RUN NEAR GREAT FALLS, VA
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Above 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 73.9 cfs · 126% of last year — significantly wetter
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Falls (this page) | — | 46 ft | — | — | — |
| Scott's Run Falls | 3 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Stubblefield Falls | 4 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Little Falls | 8 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Brambleton Sign/Water Decoration | 15 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Coe Creek | 20 mi | — | — | — | — |
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~46 ft)
- Iris Falls46 ft
- Lower Copper Falls46 ft
- Ravine Twin Falls46 ft
- Sol Duc Falls46 ft
- Stair Brook Falls46 ft
Questions visitors ask about Great Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Great Falls?
Great Falls is 46 feet (14 m) tall. Height is sourced from OSM.
How far is Great Falls from a major city?
Great Falls is 3 miles from Great Falls (about 4 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Maryland
Where it is
38.9977, -77.2529
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Falls_(Potomac_River)
Wikidata (Q1475394)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1475394
GeoNames (4761950)
https://www.geonames.org/4761950/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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