Cumbres
Falls
Cumbres Falls is a tiered-cascade type
waterfall that descends about 100 feet elevation over conglomerate bedrock.
This photo was taken October first 2010...
a dry autumn. I have seen this
waterfall gush all white and foamy during late May.
Wolf Creek Cascades are about ¼ mile
southwest of Cumbres Falls. Wolf
Creek Cascades fall about 30’.
Up stream about a third of a mile above the
train tracks is a 100’ high monolith out cropping of conglomerate rock. This marks the Wolf Creek Cascades. The bright yellow aspen grove marks the
canyon that holds Cumbres Falls.
beta facts:
name- Cumbres Falls
height- 100’
type of waterfall- a tiered-cascade
elevation- 10,000’
GPS coordinates- ±37°01.527’N 106°28.227’W
flow- perennial
season-May thru Oct …earlier is better
accommodations- none
ownership- Rio Grande National Forest
access- 1¾ mile hike... half trail... half
old hard –to-follow old trail or “route”
nearest town- Chama NM is about 10 miles
southwest of here
fun fact- this is my favorite country
essay bro
There are two ways to hike into this
waterfall. The way mentioned above
is to hike the Colorado Continental Divide Trail for a short mile, to the first
set of steep short switchbacks in the trail. Instead of ascending these switchbacks... leave the trail by
turning west or left and cross a deep gully... then head west over the country
side about three-fourths - mile to the falls.
The other way is to cross-tie walk the
narrow gauge train tracks west to the hair-pin curve that bridges Wolf Creek, a
strong half-mile above Hwy 17.
Leave the tracks continuing upstream past the beaver dams to a large
canyon that joins Wolf Creek from the north. There are lots of aspen trees here. You will find Cumbres Falls about 300
yards up this steep tributary.
By ignoring this tributary and continuing
up Wolf Creek to the huge 100’ high monolithic conglomerate rock out
cropping... you can visit Wolf Creek Cascades. Ah... er... might wanna purchase a Colorado fishing license
and wet-a-hook here...
I hope to hike up the Continental Divide
Trail in the near future because I am told that upper Wolf Creek holds a fine
waterfall near the trail about 3 miles from the trailhead... I dare ya to beat
me there... please feel free to
right-click-save-as to print yourself a copy of my map below. It is much more accurate than any other
map I know of.
Enhanced
National Geographic 7.5’ topo map
Thin
red lines above are one-mile squares
Send questions and comments to dscott@TheMarbleSculptor.com