About Boulder Falls
Boulder Falls was a pretty convenient waterfall within Boulder Canyon just west of the charming college town of Boulder.
We found that accessing this waterfall was pretty straightforward as we merely had to walk about a quarter-mile round-trip to reach the waterfall’s plunge pool.
The waterfall itself was said to be about 70ft high on one of the feeding branches of Boulder Creek.
While the falls’ size was impressive, I found the surrounding cliffs that closed in at the waterfall to be very photogenic.
At the same time, the majority of the other visitors here simply enjoyed playing within the cold water at the waterfall’s base as well as further downstream.
On-and-Off Accessibility To Boulder Falls
Ever since I first became aware of Boulder Falls back in the 2017 time frame, I noticed that its access would go long stretches of being closed.
In fact, I avoided visiting this waterfall back then despite visiting Colorado Springs and Denver on that trip as a result of this waterfall’s closure at the time.
According to the signs here, the waterfall would typically be open only between May 1st and November 1st as well as between sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset.
However, one of the big reasons for its extended closure was trail work that was being done to widen and stabiilze the footpath to handle its heavy visitation.
Even after the trail’s re-opening in 2018, there were still other episodes of access closures, which became apparent to me once we saw the amount of road construction and delays that would occur on Boulder Canyon Road (State Highway 119).
Indeed, Boulder Canyon was narrow and flanked by steep cliffs so it was clear that this place was prone to rock slides and avalanches given its rugged terrain.
Therefore, it’s wise to check the trail status on the City of Boulder page before seeking out this waterfall.
Authorities
Boulder Falls resides in Boulder Canyon just west of the city of Boulder in Boulder County, Colorado. It is administered by the City of Boulder. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
The Boulder Falls parking area and trailhead was merely 9 miles west of downtown Boulder along Boulder Canyon Drive, which became Boulder Canyon Road.
Although this modest distance might make this seem like a very short visit, we had to endure roughly a half-hour delay due to road construction to even get into Boulder Canyon.
Nevertheless, without this complication, driving to the falls was pretty straightforward.
Perhaps the only tricky part was trying to cross the Boulder Canyon Road safely since we had parked on the south side of the road.
That was because traffic moved pretty fast on the road, and there were lots of curves, which made for blind spots (i.e. less reaction time for drivers gunning it on this road).
For context, Boulder was 33 miles (a half-hour drive) northwest of Denver, about 37 miles (about an hour drive without delays) southeast of Estes Park, 66 miles (over an hour drive) south of Fort Collins, 85 miles (about 2.5 hours drive with tolls required) southeast of Grand Lake, 97 miles (over 1.5 hours drive) north of Colorado Springs, and 102 miles (over 1.5 hours drive) south of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
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Distant sweep of the Boulder Falls from further downstream on the trail leading closer to it
360 degree sweep from the viewing area of Boulder Falls before following along its stream towards the end of the video
Downstream to upstream sweep of the Boulder Falls from closer to its base
Downstream to upstream sweep of Boulder Falls from further downstream along its banks
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