Berthoud Falls is a 25-foot cascade on a small snowmelt gulch in Clear Creek County, Colorado, near the hamlet of the same name about 7.5 miles northwest of Georgetown. The name is unofficial, and the waterfall remains unconfirmed.
The falls
Lidar measurements indicate a drop of about 25 feet down an unnamed drainage, though earlier inventories recorded no height. Field notes from 2021 describe the spot as a drainage gulch fed entirely by melting snow, running a total of 1,200 feet down the mountainside. The location sits at about 10,010 feet in the Southern Rockies, among spruce-fir and lodgepole forest.
Getting there
No trail, parking, viewpoint or land-manager information is documented for this spot.
When to go
The gulch carries only snowmelt and is barely noticeable except during heavy runoff, so a visit makes sense only while snow is melting.
History and name
The link between this cascade and the settlement of Berthoud Falls remains unclear. A geocache description weighs three candidates for the original falls: this gulch, Hoop Creek Falls, and a 25-foot chute on West Fork Clear Creek at the Big Bend Picnic Area, which its author considers the true Berthoud Falls because it lies on the main creek and flows steadily. That chute is reached from the picnic-area restrooms, and fences there guard sheer drops.
Nearby
Hoop Creek Falls is about 1.6 miles away, Argentine Falls about 9.7 miles, and Snake River Falls about 9.9 miles.
Distances are straight-line.