Fish Creek Falls is a 155-foot tiered waterfall on Fish Creek in Routt National Forest, Routt County, Colorado, in the hills just east of Steamboat Springs. A paved quarter-mile trail leads to an overlook, and a second short path drops to a footbridge at its base.
The falls
Fish Creek rises in small lakes of the Rabbit Ears Range and pours out of a U-shaped, glacier-carved valley lined with aspen and subalpine fir. Lidar puts the falls at about 155 feet in three steps of roughly 15, 95 and 45 feet, with small cascades between them; earlier inventories gave 130 feet, and some sources list 283 feet.
Getting there
The trailhead and picnic site sit at the end of Fish Creek Falls Road, about 4 miles from downtown Steamboat Springs. A day-use fee of $5 per vehicle is payable by card, cash or check at the automated station or in advance on Recreation.gov. The site is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Two trails start at the lot. The paved, wheelchair-accessible overlook trail runs a quarter mile through aspen to a viewing platform. The dirt Fish Creek Trail, a National Recreation Trail since 1979, descends a quarter mile to the footbridge below the falls. It then climbs 2.5 miles to Upper Fish Creek Falls and continues about 4 more miles to Long Lake.
Because high water has eroded its abutments, a Forest Order closes the footbridge and about 4 miles of the trail beyond it each spring from April 1 to July 1, as it did in 2026, and may continue through 2027 until the bridge is rebuilt. During the closure the overlook, the picnic site and the path down to the bridge stay open.
When to go
Snowmelt drives the strongest flow in spring, when the bridge is also closed. On summer afternoons the access road is often clogged with visitors. In winter the falls freeze, snowshoers pack the trail to the base, and ice climbers work the frozen face.
On site
The overlook looks across at the falls; the lower trail reaches the base and the bridge. Dogs are welcome on a leash. The lower trail is steep, and local guides urge extra care in winter, when it is packed with snow and ice.
Nearby
Upper Fish Creek Falls, on the same creek and reached by the Fish Creek Trail, is about 1.2 miles away. June Falls on Walton Creek is about 5 miles away and Red Canyon Falls about 18.6 miles.
Distances are straight-line.