Fish Creek Falls is a waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 located about 5 miles to the east of Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

The city of Steamboat Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The city is also known as "Steamboat," "The Boat," or "Ski Town USA". As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,088.The city is an...

 in Routt National Forest. Fish Creek runs from several small lakes in the Rabbit Ears Range of Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. In the summertime, the road to Fish Creek Falls becomes often clogged in mid-afternoon with tourists wanting to see the 280 feet (85.3 m) waterfall. It is possible to hike all the way to the terminus of the waterfall through giant boulders and rushing water. There are two hiking trails from the parking lot at the end of Fish Creek Fall Road. One is 1/4 of a mile (1/4 mi) and goes through several Aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

 groves with the occasional Subalpine Fir

Subalpine Fir

The Subalpine Fir or Rocky Mountain Fir is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of Yukon, British Columbia and western Alberta in Canada; southeastern Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, northeastern Nevada, and the...

. It ends at a viewing station where the entirety of the falls can be seen. The other trail goes straight down into the U-Shaped valley

U-shaped valley

A U-shaped valley also known as a glacial trough is one formed by the process of glaciation. It has a characteristic U-shape, with steep, straight sides, and a flat bottom. Glaciated valleys are formed when a glacier travels across and down a slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring...

 formed by glaciers. As it nears the bottom of the valley, one can hear the rushing sound of water over the fall and see beautiful Fish Creek. The trail continues on to Upper Fish Creek Falls and then on to the Wyoming Trail, a long trail running the northwestern mountains of Colorado to Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. The falls provide a great place for ice climbing

Ice climbing

Ice climbing, as the term indicates, is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. For the purposes of...

in the winter when 300+ inches of snow (300 inches (7.6 m)) fall on the mountains east of Steamboat Springs.