2021 – The Great Falls Have Risen (thanks, Henri)
(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on August 30, 2021)
The waterfalls in Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park – ten miles from where I live – are always a treat to view, but some days are juicier than others – especially after big rainstorms.
Tropical Storm Henri dumped a TON of rain on New Jersey, New York and New England on the weekend of August 21 and 22. This was no ordinary rainstorm, so I headed for Paterson the first chance I got: August 25.
Wouldn’t you know that that was the first of three days of mid-90s temperatures with high humidity – two things I can’t stand – but this volume of rain doesn’t occur here more than once or twice a year, so it was time to go out and sweat-soak a shirt.
Now, I’ve been to the Falls many times since the 1970s (you can find other posts about them on this blog) and the water volume hasn’t always been great. I took this picture the last time I was there – 12-28-19 – and I’d have to say the flow was about average that day:
SIDE NOTE: That statue is of Alexander Hamilton. Legend has it that he stood on or near that very spot, observed the falls and imagined America’s first industrialized city, powered by those falls. That’s why AH is considered the founder of Paterson, New Jersey.
The expanded story is that Hamilton, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette stopped there following the Battle of Monmouth for a picnic on July 10, 1778. That picnic proved pivotal in the history of Paterson and the nation.
It’s hard for me to picture those three gentlemen going on a picnic together. Were they skipping along and singing songs too? Who carried the picnic basket?
Back to the Henri Effect……….in this picture, the flow has greatly increased and the mist is kicking up mightily:
The Great Falls have truly risen in volume.
This wider view shows the old power plant, the falls and the recently-installed amphitheater seating stones (looks semi-ancient, doesn’t it?):
The Passaic River is what flows over the cliffs. A lot of refuse and who-knows-what collects in the corner nearest me while the river continues onward (upper right):
In each of the previous shots, you saw a pedestrian footbridge above the falls. In these two shots, I’m on that bridge shooting down on the falls (and a rainbow or two). You can also see the bridge’s shadow in the first pic:
I’m now off the footbridge and heading north on a path around the park. How does anything grow on that cliff and not get swept away by the constant, furious water flow?
The path turns and I’m slightly parallel with the footbridge, which is barely visible through the mist. Looking at this picture, I feel like I’m about to go over the falls:
I didn’t take a lot more pictures this day because I was annoyed that I forgot to bring my iPhone with the panoramic camera setting – about the only thing I do with that phone – so I decided to come back the next day to take those pix.
I DID, however, take video this day. There were more than a dozen little vidbits I stitched together and they DO jump around a bit. For instance, I started it on the footbridge over the falls and then jumped to something I didn’t even take stills of that day: the pre-falls, which are smaller and are about a block before the actual falls.
As I go around in front of the falls, you can see the little pre-falls in the distance, right in front of the Wayne Ave bridge, which is being repaired. You’ll see that better on Day 2.
As for the very shaky vidbit of the old man sitting on the Hamilton statue: I’m standing on the footbridge at least a block away on the other side of the river and the zoom is at digital maxout, which is impossible to hold steady (excuses, excuses).
Here’s the 8-25 video:
AUGUST 26, 2021 (Day Two)
I’ve just parked my car in the facility lot. I have to mention that you can’t park much closer to a main attraction in a national park than this. I took this pic while still behind the wheel (no long national park hikes from remote parking lots in THIS place!):
The first pano shot of the day shows a nice wide view of the power plant, the falls and the rest of the Passaic River. (Click twice on each pano shot to fully-enlarge them and then hit your back button to return to normal.)
The next pano shot shows the being-repaired Wayne Ave bridge on the western perimeter of the park, the river going under it and heading east, the top of the pre-falls (separating the smooth water from the rapids-like water about to go over the falls (which is the white blob under the building at the end of the river – you’ll see this scene reversed in later pictures).
I followed the path to the footbridge and saw something that made me REALLY unhappy:
Actually, I shot these at the other end of the bridge because when I first saw them on THIS end, I was so pissed because not only wouldn’t I get the pano falls shots from the bridge that I specifically came back to get, but I’d now have to walk around the perimeter of the entire park to NOT get them and shoot other stuff……….and my shirt was already soaked!
So I had to exit the park, cross the river on the OTHER side of the Wayne Ave bridge, walk up another block to make a right to follow the northern perimeter to the path by the eastern perimeter.
Truth be told, there’s a path through those woods that saves you a few feet of walking. On the plus side? SHADE! On the minus side? PLENTY!
There’s garbage everywhere in these woods and the city is very slow to keep its crown jewel clean. There’s also a homeless problem, exacerbated by the shade from the sun that the trees provided.
I swear, I saw one guy sitting on a perforated metal bench mumbling. The seat perforations were front to rear and maybe 2” wide (I didn’t stop to measure them or take pictures). He started to get up to reach for something 2 or 3 feet away to his left.
I SAW A BARE REAR END……AND THE MAN WAS REACHING FOR A PIECE OF PAPER……..
Thankfully, I was now past him and didn’t have to see what he was going to do with that piece of paper or what might have gone through the seat perforations he was sitting on. EWWWW!
I finally made it over to the park’s northeast corner and took this wide pano shot of the falls and mist, looking south. You can see the Wayne Ave bridge and the pre-falls. For all you locals, Garret Mountain is in the distance above the falls:
Looking southwest, this is closest shot I could get of the Wayne Ave bridge and the prefalls:
Without footbridge access, this is the best falls shot I could get that day:
This is the best pano shot of the falls available to me that day:
Now I have a reason to go back after the next deluge………….I just hope I remember to bring the iPhone.
Last picture of the day – rainbow on the rocks:
I DID shoot a short (under a minute) video on 8-26…..
- to get the sound (and breadth) of the falls (crank those speakers up),
- to bitch about the closed footbridge and
- to grab one final rainbow:
Well, at least something good came out of the floods.
Thank you, Henri, and my heart goes out to your victims.
AUGUST 31, 2021 UPDATE
Well, it looks like I won’t be returning to the Falls anytime soon (click TWICE to enlarge):
The article says it closed last Friday, the 27th. It was already closed when I arrived last Thursday morning the 26th and the sign says it was closed after I left there on Wednesday the 25th.
Depending on what time the bridge was actually closed last Wednesday, I was possibly among the last people to walk on it and may have some of the last photos and video taken from it – possibly for a long time, based on the ownership squabble mentioned in the article.
I think I’m gonna send this post to the writer, who’s the editor of the Paterson Press.
Stay tuned…………..
Wasn’t “Rainbow On The Rocks” a song by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow or was it from The Wizard Of Oz? I think I am confused.
Awesome power! We were there about 2 years ago an it wasn’t nearly as beautiful.
Thanks for the shots Bob again you amaze me.
Great Pictures!
I’ve never been!
Nice shots Bob!