Clear Creek Falls is a small waterfall on Clear Creek in Chaffee County, Colorado, mapped at about 10 feet high in the Sawatch Range. It is a modest feature on the South Fork of Clear Creek, and whether it qualifies as a true waterfall has been questioned.
The falls
The total height is 10 feet. A lidar survey suggests that, at best, the creek drops through a 10- to 12-foot series of cascades rather than a single plunge, with a chance the feature falls short of the standard threshold for a waterfall. The stream runs through the spruce-fir and lodgepole forest of the Southern Rockies.
Getting there
Forest Service assessments for the Continental Divide Trail name Clear Creek Falls among the features near the Three Apostles, in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest landscape. A trail to the falls themselves isn't documented.
When to go
In the Southern Rockies, snowmelt drives the strongest flows in spring, when a small cascade like this carries the most water.
On site
The falls sit at about 11,207 feet, in high, rugged terrain below alpine peaks.
History and name
The site carries only a generic "Falls" label on topographic maps; Clear Creek Falls is an unofficial name. Marc and Nancy Conly included it in their guidebook Waterfalls of Colorado.
Nearby
Bedrock Falls on Pine Creek is about 6.6 miles away, Belford Falls on Belford Gulch about 7.5 miles and Snyder Falls on Lake Creek about 9.7 miles. The nearest town, Buena Vista, is about 18.7 miles east.
Distances are straight-line.