Seven Falls, Colorado Springs, CO
Oct 15, 2022
Written By: J.Couch
Again, with family in town, we decided to head down to Seven Falls and explore that area. We have heard a lot about it but have never been down there. The only waterfall in the state of Colorado that is listed on the National Geographic’s list of International Waterfalls. Some call it “The Grandest Mile of Scenery in Colorado.”
We drove the hour plus drive from Denver down to Colorado Springs to the parking area for the falls. You are not able to drive right to the falls area since it is too small for all the people that visit, no parking and the gates are closed. You have to drive to a parking area located at the Norris Penrose Event Center and catch a free bus to the falls entrance. Once you ride the bus to the falls you can purchase a ticket to access the falls and for an extra fee there is a bus that runs back and forth from the gates to the falls.
If you are just walking, from the gate to the falls is a beautiful 3/4 walk up through the steep walled canyon. There is a nice paved road with the South Cheyenne creek meandering down through the canyon on the left. High above is the Zipline adventure that takes you back and forth across the canyon, which looks like a lot of fun. You can hear the whoops of excitement and the whine of the zipline as the people fly past high above.
There is a bathroom stop along the way and again up at the base of the falls. Once you get to the top of the road, at the base of the falls, there is a gift shop on the left side, an elevator and stairs to take you up to the eagle’s nest. Just to the left of all that sits Restaurant 1858, named after the Gold Rush era, but it was not open while we were there. After a massive flood in 2013, that closed the canyon for almost 2 years, the old gift shop was renovated and renamed as 1858. It reopened in August of 2015 to serve traditional Rocky Mountain flavors.
Just behind the restaurant is a small viewing area at the base of the stairs and a daunting staircase up the rock face to a stop at the top of the first three falls. They do have a nice sitting area with rocking chairs if you are not up to tackling the stairs. There are a total of 224 steps to the very top, it’s not very wide, so it’s a little tight passing people that are coming down. If you take it slow and hold on to the railing, it’s not bad. The altitude and stairs don’t always do well for the out of towner’s and even the locals that have been around here for a while. The base of the falls sits about 6500 feet and totals 181 feet to the top of the falls. Once you make it to the very top, there is a trail that takes you along the creek and even more the take you out to inspiration point and a small loop. It’s very pretty at the top and in the future maybe we could explore more up there. If you have the time, it may be worth spending more time at the top.
Once back down near the gift shop, there are stairs that take you up to the eagle’s nest or an elevator if you have had enough stairs for the day. Along the inside of the tunnel to the elevator there is history of the native Americans that used to live in this area. Up top, at the eagle’s nest there is a small rock shop which has a lot of interesting rocks and jewelry. There is a viewing platform the overlooks the falls and restaurant below. It’s definitely a good view from there if you don’t conquer the main stairs to the top of the falls. We stopped in the small rock shop and I ended up buying a small crystal skull that I have always wanted to buy. It’s very small, but really where would I put one that is any bigger than this.
We enjoyed the walk back down to the main gate to catch the bus, back to the parking area. The trees along the creek were very pretty and had turned yellow for the season and some were turning red. The weather was beautiful and the temperature was just right.
Overall, it was a great day of wandering and adventure to Seven Falls and I would highly recommend checking out this place. We will probably be back again with other family and friends in the future.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
