Fish Creek Falls

Fish Creek tumbles down out of the mountains east of Steamboat Springs, and where it drops over a band of hard rock it forms the falls, a long ribbon of white water plunging through a narrow, forested canyon. The main falls fall roughly 280 feet in total, making them one of the more dramatic waterfalls you can reach so easily in northwest Colorado.

The rustic footbridge below the falls has become the signature image of Steamboat, appearing on postcards and, for a time, on a U.S. postage stamp. Standing on it with the spray drifting up from the pool below, you get the full force of the cascade at close range, an experience out of proportion to the short walk it takes to get there.

Like all mountain waterfalls, Fish Creek Falls puts on its biggest show in late spring and early summer, when the snowpack in the high country melts and swells the creek. In peak runoff the falls thunder, the spray drifts far out over the trail, and the whole canyon fills with the roar of water. It is the most dramatic time to visit, though also the wettest underfoot.

As summer wears on and the snow finishes melting, the flow eases and the falls grow gentler, revealing more of the rock and quieting the roar. By autumn the creek runs lower and clearer, and in winter the falls partly freeze into ice, drawing ice climbers and giving the canyon a completely different character from the spring flood.

Beyond the easy overlook, the Fish Creek Falls trail continues up the canyon, climbing steadily along the creek through forest and rock. A few miles up lies a second, upper falls, quieter and less visited, and beyond it the trail carries on toward the high lakes of the Fish Creek drainage, a full day's outing for strong hikers.

This is real mountain country once you leave the overlook, with the usual cautions about weather, footing, and elevation, but it rewards the effort with solitude and high views that the crowds at the base never see. The trail is a good example of how Steamboat's outdoors ranges from a five-minute stroll to a serious backcountry trek within the same short canyon.

The falls sit at the doorstep of Steamboat Springs, a town that balances a world-class ski mountain with genuine ranching roots. Downtown Steamboat keeps a friendly Western main street, and the natural hot springs that gave the town its name still bubble up in and around the valley, offering a soak after a day on the trail.

The whole Yampa Valley opens out from here, with the Yampa River running through town for fishing and tubing, ranch country to the north, and high wilderness to the east. Fish Creek Falls makes an ideal short outing to pair with all of it, a big natural reward for a small amount of effort.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.