RMNP - Three Falls in a Day

The weather kept me home last week, so it has been about 10 days since I was out and about.  Today, there would be a one day break in the light snow and rain we've had, so I tackled a trip that I've been thinking about since early winter.  I've been to Bridal Veil Falls several times, but I learned about an 'Upper Bridal Veil' earlier this year, so I decided to tackle that.  Also, in 2008, I tried to hike to West Creek Falls, but wasn't in good enough shape to complete the trek.  I decided to try and tackle both in one day.

I got a reasonably early start and was on the trail at the McGraw Ranch TH by 0830.  There was no one else there.  The trail works its way up Cow Creek in a nice valley.  I was early enough to get to see more wildlife than I've seen up there in all the other times I went.  I wasn't able to get pictures of everything, but here are some.

Turkey Buzzard

Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey (head of the flock)

I've not seen turkey buzzards in RMNP before, so it was a treat to see a couple sitting around.  I came upon  the first turkey early in the hike.  When I encountered the second on the trail, I stopped and watched for a bit, so as not to disturb it.  Soon, about five or six more came moseying up the hill from the creek, crossed the trail, and headed on up the hill.  My guess is that they went for morning water and were headed back into the trees for the day.

Later on, I saw out of the corner of my eye a coyote on the side of the hill about 50 yards or so away.  That is too far to get a decent picture with my camera.  At first, I was quiet enough that he didn't notice me, but soon turned and checked me out.  As he turned to ignore me, I saw two deer jump up and bound away.  The coyote quickly trotted after them.  My only guess is that he was starting to stalk them and I ruined his hunt.  Bummer for him, although I didn't think a coyote would be big enough to tackle a mule deer.

I soon got to Bridal Veil Falls.  I learned that to get to the upper falls I would have to find and climb a path up the left side of the falls.  I had never crossed the creek before, so this would be a first.

Lower Bridal Veil Falls

Cow Creek below Bridal Veil Falls

 Even though Cow Creek was running high because of early spring runoff, it wasn't hard to find a way across.  It turned out there were a couple of faint paths that seemed to work their way up the 30' or so of climb to get the to top of the falls.  Since most of the rock was wet, I carefully scrambled up what looked like the safest route and soon reached the top of the falls.  Well it really isn't the top of the falls, more like the middle.  From this vantage point it is clear why the falls are named Bridal Veil.

Now Bridal Veil makes sense

I wasn't sure what to expect Upper Bridal Veil Falls to be, but they were supposed to be about a quarter mile on upstream.  There was a decent path that I followed and after a bit a walking I think I found them.  Anyway these were the only decent falls above the main falls for a half mile.

Upper Bridal Veil Falls?

Another view

I decided to hike on a little further, because I've always had the philosophy of "when you think you gone far enough, go a little farther".  I continued on up Cow Creek, running out of trail and bushwhacking for a while, until break time.  I stopped for a quick break at a little clearing then headed down the hill.

Break Spot

When I returned to the lower falls, I got a nice view of what I term 'Cow Creek Canyon'.

Cow Creek Canyon

At the precipice of the lower falls

Another view of the lower falls

I headed back down toward the trailhead to start the second half of the hike.  On to West Creek Falls.

To get to West Creek Falls, you must use the North Boundary trail which follows the RMNP/Comanche Peak Wilderness boundary.  This is a steep climb of nearly a mile that then steeply descends to West Creek.  Let's just say I was pooped by the time I got to the descent and then was careful on the descent.

I was pleasantly surprised by the size of West Creek and how good a spot it would be to fish.

West Creek

Awesome holes for fish!

These were probably 8-10' deep.

I followed the trail to West Creek Falls.  In several places the trail had been rerouted because of flood damage.  West Creek Falls was pretty impressive, especially with early spring runoff.

West Creek Falls (1)

West Creek Falls (2)

West Creek Falls - up close

The weather was starting to get interesting and I knew I had a good climb to get back so after spending some time at the falls I headed back.

Time to head back

While hard, the hike back up was not as difficult as I had thought it would be.  I got back to the truck about 300p and was able to get home a bit before five.  Oh, by the way, the ticks were out in force.  I found two while on the trail and three more after I got home.  Yuck.

Overall Track Statistics for RMNP - UpperBVFalls,   1771 data points

 Length 11.975 miles  :  Garmin Length 13.026 miles

 Start Elevation - 7825.39 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 9042.65 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 7776.51 feet

 Date of Hike - Apr 24, 2017

 Start Time - 08:27 AM

 End Time - 02:53 PM

 Total Duration -     6:26 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3279.33 feet

 Total Descent - 3328.22 feet

 Net Ascent - -48.88 feet

 Maximum Grade - 24.87%

 Average Speed -  1.86 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.02 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 733.23 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.26 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 12.00%

This week I found a cool website, called Hillmap.com, which will give you alot of information about the area in which you hike.  I found the slope shading pretty interesting.  Here you go, fyi.