Road Trip: Zapata Falls

Zapata Falls is located just a few miles from Great Sand Dunes National Park, and it is the perfect place to go to cool off in the summer. Mostly because the water is ice cold.

The hike to the falls is short, only about a half-mile. But to get to the falls, you do have to wade the creek. We guessed the water temperature was about 40 degrees, since most of it was probably snowmelt. But it is definitely worth getting your feet wet. The falls are about 30 feet tall, and they sit in the back of a cave/crevasse. The falls were created long ago from meltwater from a receding glacier, which carved out the narrow notch where the creek powers through.



There was a lot of mist and spray blowing out from the falls, so it was hard to get a close-up picture without the camera getting drenched. But here is a view of the bottom of the falls, as it flowed out of the cave.



The trailhead to the falls also provides a great view of the Sand Dunes and of the San Luis Valley. They valley is massive, and is about the same size as the state of Connecticut.