!!THIS IS A LOW CELL SERVICE AREA. FOR THAT REASON, DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO FIND THE CACHE ARE BELOW. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO DOWNLOAD THE CACHE AND THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE VISITING! PREPARE FOR ROUTEFINDING AND BUSHWACKING!!
CHALK CREEK FALLS
Chalk Creek Falls plummets 50 feet in a freefall splendor. Photo by ExploreColorado.
“...Cars whiz down the straight side of the hairpin just below Fremont Pass, glad to escape the spectacle of the molybdenum mountain that Climax ate. But there is a waterfall hiding out of sight less than a quarter mile off the road…”
- Marc Conly, Waterfalls of Colorado
Welcome to the Colorado Waterfalls Series! This is hopefully the first of many, starting with the waterfall that inspired it for me.
Waterfalls have always been a spectacle to me. I remember visiting Boulder Falls near Nederland, Colorado, when I was 5 years old. I fell in love with these beautiful creations of nature, the mezmerizing water and thundering noise, the spraying mist and beautiful canyon backdrop. Over the years, I have visited well over half of the 81 "official" waterfalls named by the USGS, as well as many of the other unofficial waterfalls scattered around the state. Marc Conly's book Waterfalls of Colorado was an amazing resource, as he covered many falls that were completely unknown as they weren't on maps. Including the 81 official falls, minus a few because of private property and general hazardous conditions, he covered 265 falls in 260 entires. So many of these had never even been discovered before, and over 30 years after the book was published there are so many entries that have zero information on them at all. This series will shed light on the forgotten falls of Colorado, as well as the popular ones, to celebrate and honor the beauty of these wonders.
One of these hidden beauties is Chalk Creek Falls! I visited for the first time many years ago and was shocked that a waterfall this beautiful was almost visible from the road, yet shrouded by a few trees to keep it a complete secret. No matter how hard you squint while driving to Leadville (and I've tried) you cannot see this falls. Yet it is one of my all time favorites, as the sparkling water drops completely vertically in an eroded, sulpur-ridden chasm over 50 feet. Besides the occasional ice climber, hardly anyone visits this area. This is partly due to the fact that access to the bottom of the falls/the overlook that Marc Conly describes in his book became private property in 2014. Luckily for the waterfall hunters, there is another (much harder to get to) overlook that is on National Forest land. Though the view isn't as good, it's still difficult not to be impressed by the falls. Please respect the landowners of the property and obey any private property signs.
Also, this one is going to be seriously difficult in winter. Don't attempt between the months of November-May. I tried to hide this cache in April, along with #2 and #3, and it was completely inaccessible. Then I tried in May, and again, completely inaccessible. I had to come back in July to be successful! You have been warned!
Anyways, here's how to get to this falls! A bushwack is required, so you have been warned!
HOW TO FIND:
Firstly, here is the property map of the area. Stay out of the orange box! The falls itself is on private property (blue "X"), but the overlook *techinically* isn't (green arrow)... still respect the signs. The owner probably had a little too many people visiting here because of the book over the years and put up the signs. The star and the yellow arrow are the route/cache, both on public land and stay well away from the boundary.
Starting up the road from the lower parking. Not too bad with high clearance, nothing my Outback couldn't handle!
At the upper parking. The red "X" marks the route Conly describes in his book, but it is private now.
Keep heading up the road, if you'd like to cut off some unnesecary mileage go up this hillside.
Walk along the trail until you see this small rut in the road. This is your turnoff point, and from here there is NO TRAIL! Go to the forest.
This is an area with so many beautiful wildflowers. Try your best not to trample them, some of these high-altitude species take centuries to fully recover! Keep heading towards the forest. Since there are so many ways to the cache's location, I didn't use any photos of my route. My advice: walk through the forest to where you can see Chalk Creek (there will be a pretty steep drop off there!) Then, follow the edge of the cliff downstream. You will eventually get a birds-eye view of Chalk Creek Falls.
The elusive Chalk Creek Falls. The cache is nearby. This photo is so interesting because you can see CO 91 and the lower parking from this spot... yet it is still so hidden. So crazy!
Locate this tall, dead tree and look down low in the adjacent tree. There is a dead log underneath the tree with the cache.
The cache, #1 in the series! Have fun!
This is one of the CO Waterfall Series caches, inspired by worldwaterfalldatabase.com and Marc Conly, author of Waterfalls of Colorado. Other caches in this series can be found here!