Five days, five waterfalls and a lot of snowmelt
In May 2025 we took the Sprinter to Colorado for a waterfall road trip. Late May is snowmelt season in the mountains, so every creek was running high and loud.
🥾 Fish Creek Falls, Steamboat Springs
Fish Creek Falls is just outside Steamboat Springs in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests. A short trail drops to a bridge below the falls, which is usually given as about 280 feet tall. The Forest Service charges $5 per vehicle per day.
🥾 Rifle Falls
That afternoon we stopped at a triple waterfall that pours over a travertine cliff with caves behind it, which matches Rifle Falls State Park. Colorado Parks and Wildlife describes it as “the triple waterfall” with limestone caves, and the state trail system gives it about 70 feet.
🥾 Telluride and the Bridal Veil Trail
Day two was Telluride, with snowy peaks closing off the end of the valley. We hiked the Bridal Veil Trail, where the trailhead sign gives 1.2 miles to the base of the falls and 2.6 miles to the power plant at the top. Bridal Veil Falls is often called the tallest free-falling waterfall in Colorado, about 365 feet, and in May it was still partly frozen.
🥾 Treasure Falls and Zapata Falls
Heading south and east, we stopped at Treasure Falls beside US 160 at the bottom of Wolf Creek Pass, a 105-foot falls with a short trail up to a viewing deck. Then we went to Zapata Falls near Great Sand Dunes. The Forest Service describes a half-mile hike to Zapata Creek and then a wade upstream into a narrow crack in the rock to see the 30-foot falls.
🥾 Trip facts
- Fish Creek Falls: $5 per vehicle per day, open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; accessible overlook trail plus a dirt trail to the base
- Rifle Falls State Park: Coyote Trail 1.5 miles, accessible to the base of the falls (CPW); daily pass required
- Bridal Veil Trail: 1.2 miles to the base of the falls, 2.6 to the power plant (trailhead sign); limited parking
- Treasure Falls: 105 feet, about 0.6 mile out and back (secondary sources)
- Zapata Falls: 30 feet (Forest Service), half-mile hike plus wading; the water is swift and cold in early summer; trailhead at 9,200 feet
Trail facts checked October 2026. Sources: USFS: Fish Creek Falls, CPW: Rifle Falls State Park, COTREX: Rifle Falls, Telluride Tourism: Bridal Veil Falls, USFS: South Zapata Trailhead. Heights for Fish Creek, Bridal Veil and Treasure Falls are from secondary sources. Trails and roads change, so check with the managing agency before you go.
