Let’s go chasing waterfalls!! The Colorado Springs area has a few easy waterfall hikes. The kids and I have hiked them all. So far we have hiked 4 trails that have waterfalls on them. I plan to add more to this list.

4 Easy Waterfall Hikes

We moved to Colorado about 6 months ago. And by the end of November I already had these easy waterfall hikes planned. Finally when, I thought, the snow had melted the kids and I set off for some waterfall viewing. WELL… in March there is still snow in the mountains… and the waterfalls are not quite flowing.

It’s now June and we had to revisit some to soak in the full effect of their beauty.

If you are new to the area, have kiddos with tiny legs or here on vacation, we highly recommend checking these out.

Helen Hunt Falls

Some say that this isn’t a hike because it is short and has stairs. Call it what you wish but it’s still amazing!

There is a parking lot with a visitor center, that we’ve never been in, because it’s been closed. The waterfall is visible from the main parking lot. In order to reach the bridge above the waterfall you climb 33 steps.

BUT there is a hike through the forest. If you park at the lot BEFORE the main parking lot, then you’ll see an area where there are picnic tables and a creek. You can walk around and feel how cold the water is. Then go right and there is a little hike through the forest. You’ll cross a bridge. Then wander through the forest a little bit. You’ll come to a fork, go left. That’ll take you over another bridge, up a set of steps, and then you’ll reach the main parking lot for the visitor center of Helen Hunts Falls.

Don’t forget to get a good family photo of you all and the waterfall. To the right of the falls, there is a trail,that takes you up the steps, to reach the top of the falls. Once you cross the bridge that is the trail to Silver Cascade Falls. You can go up or turn around and go back to the parking lot.

MOM TIP: Even though the trail up to the top of the falls is stairs, it can get slippery and there are 33 steps just on the way up. Do the math, and that’s 66 steps round trip, that might be slippery or icy, depending on the time of year. On your way up, there is a sign that says not to climb on the rocks. Yep, we missed that sign the first visit. Don’t be us. They were slippery and not safe. Hence the sign.

The trail was busy. We passed several other hikers along the way. And no dogs. We had on hiking shoes/boots and didn’t have any footing issues.

Silver Cascade Falls

Helen Hunt Falls is what you’d expect from a waterfall. Silver Cascade was not what I envisioned. I did not do ANY research on this waterfall. I just knew that it was only 20 minutes further. And I didn’t know that there were 188 stairs ONE WAY! Do the math, that’s A LOT of stairs.

The Silver Cascade Falls looks like liquid silver cascading down the flat rock. NOT water falling from the rocks. Just trying to give you a visual.

The hike was fun for the kids, and the dog. On the way back down my old lady knees started to get weak and tired. I’m not old, but I sure felt it. The hike was very pretty. The stairs were fun. The kids did lose count a few times. So there may or may not be EXACTLY 188 stairs. Some “stairs” didn’t look like stairs, but they were counted anyway. It took us about 20 minutes to the top and 15 minutes back down to Helen Hunt Falls. We are slow hikers and sound like a circus coming down the trail.

The trail wasn’t busy. We passed 2 other hikers along the way. And no dogs. We had on hiking shoes/boots and didn’t have any footing issues.

Cherry Creek Falls

If you go to Alltrails.com or another website, it’ll tell you that this hike is a loop and about a mile. There is a short cut. If you enter the park on the other side you can get to this waterfall much faster; Well, kinda. I learned about this short cut from another website. I was researching waterfalls around the area and stumbled upon the site. Low and behold this person is correct. I highly recommend checking out his short cut.

The trail is fun and has rocks to climb on. When we went, the poison ivy wasn’t flourishing yet. But there are signs warning you about it.

The trail is busy and we passed many other hikers along the way. And a few dogs. We had on hiking shoes/boots and didn’t have any footing issues.

Green Mountain Falls

This hike is my favorite waterfall hike. I love this little town. It’s so pretty and looks like something out of a movie. If you go to the town’s website, you can print the trail map. Once on the Green Mountain Falls website scroll down to the navigation bar, click on “Services”, then “GMF town hiking map”. Print the map so you don’t get lost. You might not have service once you get into the forest.

NOW…let’s talk about the town right quick. You can’t drive to the trailhead. The “roads” are for residents only. In order to get to ANY trailhead you have to park your car at the designated parking lots and walk to the trailhead, then enjoy your hike. Which to us, that was super odd. The first time we came here we drove to the trail head that we wanted to go to. We kept getting these funny looks from people. AND one driver actually blocked a street so we couldn’t go down it. He literally gave us no choice but to turn down another street.

We finally made our way to the trailhead and parked. BUT there wasn’t any place to park. So then we get on the website again, surfed around a bit then figure out hey… we can’t drive around here.

So we made it back to the post office and just parked around there. We walked around the town for about an hour then left. We decided to do more research on the trails and the town before we come back again. So that is what we did.

The next time we came to Green Mountain Falls, we met a friendly gentleman. He stopped to chat when he saw a crazy lady with 3 kids, a dog, holding a map, and looking lost. Yep that was me. He asked if we were looking for the falls. I said yes so he told us how to get there. His way wasn’t on my map. But we followed his directions anyway.

To this day we still go his way to the falls. We haven’t been on any of the other trails lol. His secret I’m going to pass on to you. In order to get close to Crystal Falls it’s a short distance from Lake Park, parking lot B.

If you are standing at the lake looking at the Green Mountain Falls sign, you are in the right place. Now look left. That is Hotel Street. Go up that street. Then you’ll come to another street called Park Ave, go left. The first street on the right is Boulder. Turn down there. You will keep heading up on an incline. It’s a thigh burner but it’s worth it. Once the pavement ends you have reached the trail head.

Go straight first. You’ll come to a little bridge, cross it. Then you’ll see a sign that tells you to be a good human 😉 , go right around the tree. The view up there is awesome!

Once you’ve soaked in the view, go back the way you came. Once you get over the bridge go left up the trail. Now wander as far as you’d like up the trail. We have spent an hour just wandering around the rocks near the falls. We haven’t finished the trail nor have we gone up farther than the falls.

Once you have soaked up enough nature, you can head back the way you came or finish the trail.

The trail wasn’t busy. We passed 1 other hiker along the way, and no dogs the first time we came upon this trail. We did not have on hiking shoes/boots and that was a mistake. The trail is short and I have no idea why we didn’t have proper shoes on. Mom fail. Too many kids and a crazy dog I guess. We did have footing issues because the road was inclined and loose gravel. Didn’t help that the dog wanted to chase every woodland creature…

The second time we went on the trail we wore proper shoes and didn’t have any footing problems. There were also several other people walking in the neighborhood with their dogs. This time we actually came upon several deer in the neighborhood. It was so exciting for all of us….even the dog!

Conclusion

The 4 easy waterfall hikes are Helen Hunt, Silver Cascade, Cherry Creek Falls and Green Mountain Falls. My 5 year old with tiny legs hiked them all. I certainly say that all 4 are kid friendly, easy waterfall hikes.

These hikes are dog friendly hikes too. Our dog, Luna, goes on almost all our hikes with us. She’s only in two photos above but she’s there.

What easy waterfall hikes have you been to around Colorado Springs? What about other parts of Colorado? We’d love to visit them too.