Fern Falls is a 50-foot series of steep cascades on Fern Creek in Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado, tucked just below the Fern Lake Trail. It sits a short way downstream of the drop most hikers know by the same name.
The falls
Fern Creek slides through a chain of steep cascades estimated at about 50 feet from lidar data. These cascades lie 150 to 200 feet below Marguerite Falls, the waterfall beside the trail, and the lower falls do not appear to be visible from the Fern Lake Trail.
Getting there
The Fern Lake Trailhead is at the end of Moraine Park Road, which branches off Bear Lake Road. The park's Fern Falls stop, the trail-side waterfall, is 2.5 miles one way with 645 feet of gain; the lower cascades sit just below it. There is no documented route down to them.
Admission to Rocky Mountain National Park is $30 per vehicle for one day or $35 for seven days, card only, plus $100 per person for non-US residents aged 16 and older unless they hold an Annual or America the Beautiful Pass. Moraine Park is in the Bear Lake Road corridor, so from May 22 to October 18, 2026, a Timed Entry+ reservation is required to drive in between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m.; the only cost is a $2 Recreation.gov processing fee. A free park shuttle runs along Bear Lake Road in summer.
When to go
Snowmelt drives the strongest flows in this part of the Southern Rockies, so the cascades run strongest in spring. Reservations are needed from late May to mid-October.
On site
Pets are prohibited on all park trails. Trees and branches can fall without warning in forested areas; watch overhead.
History and name
Photographs from the 1930s on show Fern Falls and Marguerite Falls as separate waterfalls. The mix-up, in which the trail-side Marguerite Falls is usually called Fern Falls, traces to mapping errors that began in the 1950s.
Nearby
Spruce Creek Falls is about 0.2 mile away, Windy Gulch Cascades about 1.6 miles, Grace Falls upstream on Fern Creek about 2.2 miles and Alberta Falls on Glacier Creek about 3.4 miles.
Distances are straight-line.