McElmo Falls is a waterfall on McElmo Creek in Montezuma County, Colorado, in the Colorado Plateaus region, with a total height of about 25 feet. It lies about 2.6 miles southwest of Cortez and roughly 120.6 miles south of Grand Junction as the crow flies.
At 25 feet it is on the modest side for Colorado, where the typical waterfall with a recorded height stands around 65 feet; it ranks 128th of 162. The water comes down as a plunge, where the water drops vertically and loses contact with the rock face.
The Colorado Plateaus are a high desert of layered sandstone mesas, canyons and plateaus with pinyon-juniper woodland and sagebrush. Waterfalls here are often seasonal, spilling over sandstone ledges after storms or snowmelt.
There are 2 recorded waterfalls in Montezuma County. Fall Creek Falls, is about 27.2 miles away.
McElmo Falls is located at 37.3195° N, 108.6160° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The creek name is confirmed against the federal Geographic Names Information System. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.