Fish Creek Falls — Attraction in Steamboat Springs

My boyfriend and I went to this trail in the late morning in the winter (November 2014). There was a good amount of snow and snow-pack, so the falls were stunning with ice and snow and the trail was easy. Too little water or too much snow would have changed the experience.

We saw people ranging in age from child (about age 10) to elderly (in their 70's) plus a few dogs. (I wouldn't personally have brought my dog given that the temperature drops as you get closer to the falls!) There are latrines at the trailhead, which is nice because you want to stay hydrated at that elevation.

The trail to the overlook is a quick-- maybe 10-15 min easy walk. We doubled back and also took the Picnic Trail to the bridge closer to the falls. It didn't take long either. The Falls are just stunning! The snow and ice packed all around them with the water bursting out-- a beautiful site to see. The rocks in the stream below had a beautiful coating of snow on them, but the temperature dropped probably 10 degrees when you get out of the sun and closer to the water.

Need to know: Wear appropriate clothing. It's an easy hike, but if there in winter or early spring, you'll need footwear with good treads. Season: It was stunning with all the snow and ice. Perhaps earlier or later in the winter there wouldn't be enough snow or melting runnoff, but perhaps a few more inches of snow, it wouldn't be an easy hike. Wear sunscreen and a hat year-round! Bring water in winter-- there's none available because the pipes freeze. Bring $5 cash per car for the fee. We forgot our National Park pass, but that would have been allowed too!

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Fish Creek Falls trails was quite a difficult hike, I am a pretty proficient hiker and I would definitely rate this a four out of five in difficulty. I believe that there is about a 1500 ft elevation change, the entire hike is all uphill until you get to the upper falls. I believe it's about 2.5 MI to the top, but the good news is that the entire hike back is downhill.

The falls at the top are really beautiful but unless you are a experienced hiker and don't mind the difficult hike up I wouldn't bother, there are easier hikes for equally beautiful waterfalls.

I am definitely not detracting from the beauty of this hike in general though, I enjoyed it very much and would probably do it again, we went while the sun was setting and hiked back in the dark, but the view from the top with the sun setting was about a 9 out of 10 view.

Some people confuse the lower Falls with the upper falls, the lower Falls are only probably a 0.2 mile hike from the parking lot, whereas the Upper Falls are the 2.5 miles, it might be 2.7 but I know it's around that.

I would 100% advise bringing water or a water purifier, I brought a ultraviolet LED purifier light and purified water right out of the waterfall and tasted really good, I didn't get sick or anything. And I would also definitely advise bringing some food as the hike up here will definitely get you famished.

All of my photos were shot in the Canon 5D Mark IV and are unedited and uncropped, they are all owned by me and are not to be downloaded or distributed without credit, and definitely should not be distributed for profit under any...

Absolutely stunning. However, I do think I caught a picture of a Sasquatch..behind a tree..you can see the paw & reddish hair coming around a tree and what looks like a body between the trees.. (has the same reddish fur color... I did a close up on the picture as you can see)I was sitting on a giant rock in the middle of the trail.. it started drizzling... Suddenly..everything went dead quiet in the forest .. no squirrel or chipmunk sounds or birds at all even the breeze just the sound of drizzling rain... This is when I decided to take some pictures.. one of the pictures I look really freaked out and I actually texted my two sons who are in their twenties and told them what I heard on the trail and how quiet it got and sent them the picture... I smelled something musty and my intuition said to get out of there so..I decided to turn around and go down the mountain at this point. I went about 30 ft and I suddenly heard three large cracking sounds as if two giant dry sticks were being banged together really hard... I was only about two and a half miles up the trail... Thank God I met this guy coming down.. he asked if I was okay because I looked visibly shaken I told him what happened and we hiked down together he agreed it was eerily quiet and smelled something musky when he saw me down the trail. We actually became friends & I later showed him the picture and he agrees. He thinks it's a Sasquatch as well. My theory has always been that Sasquatch are guardians of portals in the forests and I think they are mostly benevolent unless you're an a-moral...