Fish Creek Falls, Routt National Forest

We recently spent a week in Steamboat Springs, CO with our family. As with most families, everyone had different preferences when it came to activities. The short hike to Fish Creek Falls was a hit for everyone though, including little one-and-a-half year old Kion. It was such an enjoyable yet easy hike, we came back a second time later in the week.

A paved path led us very gradually uphill to a gorgeous overlook of the falls. The warm day melted large amounts of high elevation snowpack, so the falls were gushing.

Melting snow brought out another kind of beauty too: glacier lilies. One of the first flowers to bloom after the snow recedes, they were in full bloom along the trail. Their delicate bowed heads always remind us of origami.

We then backtracked a bit and turned onto the Picnic Trail, which led us down towards the base of the falls. The sound of pounding water intensified as we drew closer. We soon reached a bridge over Fish Creek which provided a great view of the Fish Creek waterfall — all 283 feet of it!

Peter and Kion climbed down the rocks to touch the water. Being recently melted snow, it was ice cold.

The trail continued further past the bridge but it was still snow covered so we turned around. Kion was a champ and walked a lot of the path back himself. We didn’t mind his slower pace. It allowed us time to observe the details next to the trail, such as this smaller waterfall cascading down the hillside.

Want to see more of our discoveries and observations? In between blog posts, we post pictures to several social media sites. Follow us at WanderTheWild on Twitter, Wandering the Wild on Facebook, and our newest feed WanderingtheWilderness on Instagram. (There’s a cool picture of a mother and baby moose with mountains in the distance that we spotted on our way to Steamboat Springs. You should go check it out.)