City: Colorado Springs, CO

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (719) 632-0752

Address: 2850 S. Cheyenne Cañon Rd.

Description: The falls, which drop 181 feet from canyon rim to the floor, were part of a homestead in 1872, later sold to the Colorado Springs Land Company and then, in 1885, to James Hull, an early environmentalist who thought the best use of the site was not development, but tourism. He installed a gate at the canyon’s entrance and created one of Colorado Springs’s first tourist attractions. Visitors came by horse and by carriage to view the site and climb the wooden stairs built alongside the waterfall. Today, visitors come in cars and can ride an elevator up to view the falls—or they still can climb the modernized 224-step staircase. Be on the lookout for hordes of chipmunks around the visitor center and gift shop. They’re cute but may carry diseases, so don’t feed or pet them! Also look for American dippers (also called water ouzels) plunging into the stream in search of food (insects and larvae), and watch the feeders for hummingbirds.