Great Falls of the Passaic: When It Actually Flows
A 77 foot urban cataract in Paterson that powered America's first planned industrial city, still splitting its river with a working hydro plant beside the brink.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Flow controlled
What drives it
Passaic River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 01389500
NPS Paterson
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Great Falls of the Passaic, and when
The Passaic at Paterson is a big suburban river whose falls shares water with the hydroelectric plant built into the cliffside beside it, the arrangement that founded the city. Spring runoff and storm flows overwhelm the diversion and put on the full show; dry-season visits see more modest water. The Little Falls gauge upstream reads exactly what is arriving.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
Park grounds are available 24 hours a day. The best time to visit is between sunrise and sunset.
Gauge: USGS 01389500 Passaic River at Little Falls NJ, upstream of the falls on the same river. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
Multnomah Falls in autumn: a Columbia Gorge falls that keeps respectable flow year round, and the standard against which most falls seasons get measured. “Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Multnomah Falls, fall color - 3” — Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region — Public domain
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
Park grounds are available 24 hours a day, per the Park Service, with the best visiting between sunrise and sunset; overlooks and the footbridge face the chasm from Overlook Park and Mary Ellen Kramer Park.
Falling water sharing its river with a power plant (Shoshone Falls, Idaho). Paterson's Great Falls runs the same arrangement, and has since Alexander Hamilton's day. “Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, Idaho” by Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Common questions
Great Falls of the Passaic flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is March through May. The Passaic at Paterson is a big suburban river whose falls shares water with the hydroelectric plant built into the cliffside beside it, the arrangement that founded the city. Spring runoff and storm flows overwhelm the diversion and put on the full show; dry-season visits see more modest water. The Little Falls gauge upstream reads exactly what is arriving.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Passaic River (Passaic River at Little Falls NJ, upstream of the falls on the same river) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
In dry stretches the falls can thin while the penstocks take their share; after storms it is a genuine urban Niagara. The gauge on this page removes the guesswork.
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park (National Park Service). Park grounds are available 24 hours a day, per the Park Service, with the best visiting between sunrise and sunset; overlooks and the footbridge face the chasm from Overlook Park and Mary Ellen Kramer Park. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
New Jersey's tallest waterfall, per the Park Service, tumbling beside a wooden staircase that climbs toward the Appalachian Trail, with a winter road closure that sets the visiting season.
Places to stay