You can see it in their eyes. With singular focus and distant gaze, pilgrims commit themselves to a journey that culminates only with a return to the scene year after year to continue looking for their mecca: the waterfall.
With all there is to see and do in a Colorado summer, one surefire way to enjoy the best of the season is to seek out waterfalls in the mountains.
For some waterfall chasers, the quarry is a near-religious experience in how it commands attention and alters behavior. The rest enjoy the trip regardless of the outcome.
People seek waterfalls because of their awesome combination of strength and beauty, says Ben Rifkin of Peeples Ink, a Vail Valley public relations firm. To see water cascading off a precipice and pounding into the rocks or pool below inspires a sense of wonderment at nature in action.
All our senses take in a waterfall. Rifkin says. We see water pouring from above, sparkling in the sunlight; feel the spray on a warm day; taste and smell the sweetness of the damp air and freshness of the spray; and hear the sound of crashing water.
With Colorado’s altitude and terrain, waterfalls occur nearly everywhere, and named ones number in the hundreds. They bear expressive names such as Bridal Veil Falls near Telluride (Colorado’s tallest at 431 feet), Wildhorse Basin Falls near Lake City (one of the state’s highest at 12,000 feet), and Rifle Falls (the namesake waterfall of the town and state park in west-central Colorado).
The previous winter’s snowpack affects the flow of our waterfalls. Look for peak flows in the northern mountains to arrive earlier than those in the southern ranges. However, peak flows don’t always translate into the best waterfalls.
Look to the hills where the terrain is steepest and prepare yourself for some heavy breathing to find waterfalls. Or better yet, check out our guide to five waterfalls for a great way to start summer.
OUZEL FALLS, Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park’s Wild Basin, on the east side of the park flanking Long Peak’s south slopes, is an aptly named and interconnected system of peaks and valleys, forests and meadows, ridges, rivers and trails whose character remains untamed.
At altitudes to make flatlanders woozy from a lack of oxygen, the basin benefits from an abundant snowpack well into spring and even summer that continuously feeds the basin’s many watercourses. Among them is Ouzel Creek, whose most dramatic falls is Ouzel Falls – a thick, 40-foot plunge of whitewater.
The roar can be heard from the trail well before the falls come into view. Mist fills the air as you approach the bridge that marks the first viewpoint. Through a gap in the trees over cascading Ouzel Creek, you receive a first glance.
Trails lead to the plunge pools at the base of the falls, although the going is tricky among fallen trees and boulders. When you reach the falls, you gain an appreciation for the awesome power of water: its roar, its scouring effect on stone, its life blood for the flora.
The trail to Ouzel Falls passes several other interesting waterfalls along the way, including Copeland Falls, a wide, thick sheet of water along North St. Vrain Creek just a short distance from the trailhead; and Calypso Cascades, a pretty whitewater cascade tumbling among rocks in the shade.
UNNAMED FALLS along Oh-Be-Joyful Creek, Raggeds Wilderness near Crested Butte
You know you are in wild country when prominent waterfalls have no names. Such is the case with the many falls within the Raggeds Wilderness along Oh-Be-Joyful Creek.
Glacial action has left the Ruby Range steep and scarred. Alpine elevations leave winter’s snowpack for summer’s benefit, where it feeds Oh-be-Joyful Creek and its perennial streams. And since the creek flows through a wilderness area, only foot traffic is permitted, leaving the sounds of civilization at the trailhead.
The most enjoyable and varied waterfalls occur at the upper reaches of the creek in a giant alpine amphitheater named Democrat Basin. With no fewer than six 12,000-foot peaks surrounding the basin, Oh-Be-Joyful Creek begins as snowmelt finding its way over rocks, through meadows and around trees, gathering volume as it goes.
Water gathers across slopes burgeoning with avalanche lilies, collects in small pools, cascades over boulders, flows into streams and eventually tumbles out of the basin entirely in a grand exit just off the trail.
WILDHORSE BASIN FALLS, Uncompahgre Wilderness between Lake City and Ouray
Like so many named alpine waterfalls, Wildhorse Basin Falls is not just a single waterfall, but a series of falls stretched out over a distance. They are some of Colorado’s highest and lie above timberline, where the terrain can be tricky to navigate, the oxygen thin and the skies unpredictable.
Wildhorse Creek cuts a deep and rocky incision in the volcanic surface layers of the San Juan Mountains near Lake City as it gathers the runoff from the surrounding open tundra. In this part of Colorado – known locally as the Switzerland of America – roaming herds of elk, trailless canyons, horned peaks and unpredictable and potentially dangerous weather make an apt surrounding for waterfalls so utterly rugged.
In a series of drops, Wildhorse Basin Falls makes quick work of the steep terrain between lush and flower-filled meadows. The highest of the series registers at more than 12,000 feet. In quick succession the creek spills over drops of 10, 15, 20 feet and more, leaving the magenta petals of parry primrose and white flowers of brook cress to ruffle in its spray.
If you follow the creek far enough down into the canyon, ultimately you reach the most magnificent single waterfall of them all, a 60-or-so-foot plunge into a glittering and echoing basin. Moss clings to the sheer walls beside the silky column of water. Sharp, slick black boulders cover the basin floor.
Wildhorse Basin Falls represents rugged and remote Colorado at its wild best.
TWIN FALLS, Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray
At the head of Forest Road 853, up the scenic, well-traveled four-wheel-drive road from Ouray, Yankee Boy Basin attracts hikers, campers, professional photographers and tourists alike with its stunning and exemplary cornucopia of wildflowers and lofty rocky ridges. Nearly lost within the craze is a vital element, Sneffels Creek, that offers a unique sight: a twin set of waterfalls, one set above the other all within the same frame of view from a specific vantage point along the road.
Twin Falls doesn’t occur on any map and gets lost in the shuffle of Yankee Boy Basin with its touring 4x4s and wildflower bonanza. But in itself, Twin Falls is worth the trip.
The lower set of falls spreads out like horsetails across the black igneous rocks and falls about 70 feet. A spur of the jeep road reaches it for a closer look. In Colorado fashion, a mining ruin accompanies the falls.
Just uphill sits the higher set – not quite as long a fall at about 50 feet from leap to landing. Various rivulets join the creek and divide it simultaneously, creating an intertwining of rocks, flowers and foliage that creates postcard-worthy scenes.
For true waterfall lovers, Mother Nature has thrown in a bonus fifth waterfall between the two sets of Twin Falls, making this a truly special waterfall.
NORTH CLEAR CREEK FALLS, Rio Grande National Forest near Creede
North Clear Creek Falls stands apart from the rest of this group by virtue of its location in a broad meadow rather than on a mountainside, and because of its access from an adjacent parking lot. It disproves the idea that all classic Colorado waterfalls require a sweaty hike at the crack of dawn to see in daylight before dark and dangerous weather moves in. This one is wheelchair accessible.
Geographically, North Clear Creek Falls seems to be in an unlikely place, yet bears out the geological history of the valley. Underlying this area of Colorado is a massive crack in the Earth’s crust from continental drift. The overlying layers have shifted and dropped over time, creating sharp drop-offs and cliffs. When the tributaries of the Rio Grande River flow over these faults, they make for some big waterfalls.
North Clear Creek Falls makes a graceful parabolic leap of about 100 feet from the edge of the flat valley to the boulders below. This juxtaposition of elements – and your vantage point on the rim of the cliff – heightens the drama. The adventuresome may wander the edge of the drop-off to add to the experience, but with caution since geology forgot the guardrails.
With an east-facing aspect, North Clear Creek Falls is perhaps best seen in the early morning, when the low sun transforms the whitewater plunge into a silky golden arc. At that time of day, such serenity sets the tone for a Colorado summer.
Matthew Lancaster is a Colorado nature photographer and writer. His website is remarkableearth.com.
