October 10, 2024 • 14 mins
💎What hidden gem in Colorado leaves even seasoned RV travelers in awe?
Read the full show notes 👉 here for more resources to get you to Rifle Falls!
This week on Tick It Before You Kick It, Alexandra and her mother share their surprising adventure to Rifle Falls State Park.
🧐Initially skeptical, they quickly found themselves enchanted by the park's breathtaking triple waterfalls, which are just a brief two-minute stroll from the parking lot.
🏔️With interconnected trails offering multiple stunning viewpoints and the unexpected discovery of intriguing caves, this episode promises to inspire your wanderlust and show you why Rifle Falls should be on your adventure bucket list.
💦Journey with us as we question the value of venturing off popular tourist paths to uncover lesser-known marvels like Rifle Falls.
🌲We provide all the essential details, from the park's convenient location near Rifle and Glenwood Springs to its rich historical background.
Lace up your hiking boots and prepare for an unforgettable escapade with us! 🥾
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lex (00:00):
I could be running around naked and you'd still be like
waterfall.
Hey there, adventurers, my nameis Alexandra and welcome to
Take it Before you Kick at thepodcast where we talk about
everything that should be onyour adventure bucket list and
some hilarious travel stories.
So this week we are going to betalking about one of the most
hidden gem Colorado state parks.
You do actually two.
We are currently at Rifle GapState Park and about eight
(00:23):
minutes away is Rifle FallsState Park, and we're going to
be coming to you telling you allabout this beautiful
destination and how we've neverheard of it.
Have you heard of it?
No, I am joined here by mymother, who lives full time with
me in this RV adventure.
We are traveling across the USand Colorado, bringing you all
the things that you can put onyour adventure bucket list, and
this one really took my breathaway here.
(00:46):
So let's start a little bitabout what is Rifle Falls State
Park.
It basically was an establishedpark in 1966.
And this area was originallypart of a settlement used by
early pioneers in the late 1800s, so the falls themselves has
always been the main attraction.
I mean, it steals the showAbsolutely, and that's saying a
lot, because this area is very,very beautiful.
(01:08):
It was originally settled foragricultural purposes, but then
people just began to realizethat it just had stunning
natural beauty and thesurrounding areas.
It's about what 45 minutes awayfrom Glenwood?
Pam (01:20):
Springs.
Lex (01:21):
So and we actually hiked Hanging Lake, which is another
beautiful waterfall.
We'll have to do a littlepodcast on that one later,
however, that was about an houraway, so it's really
conveniently located away fromeverything.
But you don't need to go far,because we're set up here in
Rifle Gap State Park and, yeah,rifle Falls is only about eight
minutes away.
It's wonderful.
And what makes this so amazing?
(01:43):
So the crown jewel of RifleFalls State Park is undoubtedly
the triple waterfalls and yes, Isaid triple.
They are 70 feet high.
I looked up a picture of this,as did you right, and I was like
, oh, that's really cool, but Ibet it's really lame.
I've just seen so many amazingwaterfalls everywhere else, like
Bali and Fiji, and I'm just notused to these cascading long 70
(02:07):
plus foot waterfalls andthere's three in this location.
So tell us your experience ofseeing these waterfalls for the
first time.
Pam (02:15):
You know what I really liked about this is whenever I
go someplace, I'm alwaysthinking who needs to come back
here and see it?
Who?
Lex (02:22):
needs to come back here and see it.
She's a people pleaser.
Pam (02:25):
I am a people pleaser and an enabler, but these falls are
so spectacular, it's not a crazyhike.
No, really.
Anybody can go Probably liketwo minutes.
Yeah, maybe two minutes, so youjust park your car and just
walk to the falls.
Lex (02:40):
Yeah, because that's the thing about Hanging Lake is that
, yeah, it's beautiful, but youneed to hike three hours in
order to get to it.
Pam (02:46):
Exactly, but with these ones you really don't need to
hike at all, they're right there.
Lex (02:50):
They do have an interconnected woven trail
network that can let you see thewaterfalls from different
angles, which is pretty cool.
Like you can actually go abovethe waterfall to both sides and
out in front, so that was reallycool, but the initial trek to
the waterfall is really nothing.
Pam (03:07):
It's really not.
So I'd say it's really a fallthat anyone can go see.
My knees are terrible and itwas an easy, easy jaunt from the
parking lot and then you justturn the corner and the power
and the noise it justspectacular like jaw-dropping
spectacular, yeah, well, yeah,our jaws dropped to the floor.
Lex (03:29):
Oh yeah, absolutely yeah, and then, um, talk a little bit
about, when we went to the leftand started going up these
trails, what we foundaccidentally caves there's caves
.
Pam (03:39):
We love caves.
We had no clue that there werecaves and so we just kind of
thought they were mere dents inthe mountain.
But you can actually go insidethese caves and explore.
Yeah, there's some pretty bigchambers in there, yeah, and we
actually are going to go backand just do the caves.
We were just so obsessed withthe waterfall that we just
couldn't leave.
Lex (03:58):
There's so many caves and one of the caves you kind of
squeeze through and it's sosurprisingly dark, very dark,
for how shallow it is, I don'tknow.
It's like not that deep.
I mean, it's a pretty goodchamber for a cave.
Pam (04:12):
I mean, if you're a caver, these are lame, but if you're,
for somebody who doesn't gocaving or spelunking that often,
it was such a treat, just acomplete surprise.
Lex (04:22):
Yeah, and we had no clue.
Pam (04:23):
We were going for the waterfalls and then whoop,
there's the caves and I thinkthere's a lot of them, and so I
think we missed a lot of them.
We missed a lot of them.
We're gonna have to go back, Iknow, gotta go, just have to go
back.
Lex (04:34):
So let's talk about some of the logistics of rifle falls
and these waterfalls, just tobetter help you if you do want
to go here.
So let's talk about thelocation.
This is about 14 miles north ofthe town of Rifle, colorado,
which, again, have never heardof.
We were previously staying inSilt.
We had never heard of, hasnothing into it, but, as I said,
(04:54):
it's a little bit farther awayfrom Glenwood Springs.
Glenwood Springs is about what?
Two and a half hours, threehours from Denver?
Yeah, oh, yeah.
So it's definitely a day hike.
You could do it.
You basically go up I-70, whichis we make a joke it's
Colorado's most terrible road.
I don't know what do you thinkis Colorado's most terrible road
Colorado Boulevard or I-70?
(05:15):
The potholes?
I-70, it's the only way in andout from the mountains and if
you want to go skiing in any ofthe major resorts like
Breckenridge and Keystone andA-Bay, loveland, copper, vail
literally all of them are upI-70.
And there's just only one wayin, one way out, unless you want
to drive like five hours overIndependent Pass and I just feel
like, oh man, what was the jokethat they were making?
(05:36):
It's like, oh yeah, they callit I-70 because you're either
going seven or zero.
The amount of times I've beenstuck on this road, oh, anyway,
so you do have to go up by 70.
However, once you get past,there's this drive called
Glenwood Canyon.
Pam (05:50):
Oh.
Lex (05:51):
And it's one of my favorite things ever.
It actually is.
It's incredible, Like it'sliterally a drive where you just
drive and you have rock facesgoing straight up.
Pam (06:00):
And.
Lex (06:00):
I'm, again, a good sucker for mountain roads.
If you do want to hear myglenwood springs bucket list
because I have an entire articleon everything that you can do
in glenwood springs, plus hikinghanging lake, if you are
interested in that yeah, sothat's close to rifle and then
you just would basically keepgoing on i-70 and then it's
about like a 25 minute drive.
Once you get off of i-70, itwas definitely interesting
(06:23):
bringing the rig.
Um, we drive this massive rigand we always make this joke she
goes forwards and I gobackwards.
But I wanted to mix it up.
Pam (06:31):
Because she just thought oh , look, a 20 minute drive, how
bad could that be?
And then these roads ended upbeing very narrow, two lane and
windy, so you're just going andjust praying that you just don't
clip something.
Oh gosh, yeah, and I was.
Lex (06:48):
I missed the left turn into Rifle Gap and started going
towards Rifle Falls and ended upturning on this random road and
making this really tight U-turnand I'm so glad that I ended up
making it, but, yeah, superstressful.
So keep that in mind, if you dohave larger vehicles, that
these roads are a little bittight, at least for our massive
42 foot fifth wheel.
(07:09):
Exactly, exactly Some of thethings that you can do at Rifle
Falls.
As I said, you can go caving,you can go hiking.
I did read that there were somewildlife watching and camping.
When we were actually going toRifle Falls, we saw some of the
rangers giving a class withshooting, so I'm not quite sure
(07:31):
what that was all about, butthat's really cool.
Like a hunting class maybethat's pretty fun.
And then camping.
So we're currently camped atRifle Gap, which again is about
eight minutes away from RifleFalls, because it has.
Pam (07:38):
It's right on the water.
The water is beautifully greenand you can paddleboard to your
heart's content.
It's just this small littlelake, surrounded by mountains.
Lex (07:49):
Honestly, I love it here.
This is an amazing RVdestination.
If you have an RV, this needsto be on your list 100%.
There are some really, reallygood spots here.
Pam (08:02):
And we are going to label them for you, so you know which
spots to get.
Lex (08:05):
Yes, I'm going to do an entire guide to Rifle Gap State
Park, so definitely keep youreye out for that.
I will link it in the shownotes and it's also on my
website, thebucketlistmermaidcom.
And then also there's actuallycamping at Rifle Falls itself.
It's very tiny.
At Rifle Falls they have 13spots and the little ranger said
(08:30):
that they do fill up prettyquickly from like three to six
months In advance yes, andthere's a lot of shade.
Pam (08:33):
So as far as wooded and shaded, it's awesome, but
there's no lake.
Lex (08:38):
You are like walking distance within the waterfall,
so that's a perk.
Oh yeah, from every spot.
Yeah, definitely there's somepull through spots like it's
pretty nice and shaded it wasvery clean yeah.
Pam (08:46):
Just very organized well.
Lex (08:48):
Very clean Rifle Gap, I feel like is more for the
panoramic lake, mountain views.
There's not a ton of shade, butWe'll take it.
You know we'll take it.
So best time to visit I wouldsay summer or winter.
We are here in the heat ofsummer and it's beautiful.
It is a little toasty.
It did cool off a little bit,but it's kind of perfect for
going and exploring thosewaterfalls.
(09:09):
You might get more crowds,since it's summer.
It was pretty crowded when wewent.
People know it's cool, so keepthat in mind.
Yes, however, I did see apicture of it on the official
Rifle Falls State Park websiteof it in winter, oh, and
something about how, becausethere's constant water, it like
(09:30):
crystallizes and makes theselittle ice structures and caves
in there.
So this might be pretty cooltoo in winter.
Pam (09:38):
So I think it's summer, winter, but yeah, I mean, spring
would be fine, fall would befine.
I should have fall, you wouldget the fall leaves, so really
anytime.
And plus it's not if you coulddo come here in the winter.
You don't have to cross a lotof icy terrain to get to this
waterfall.
Lex (09:56):
Yeah, that is true, you would only have to, you know,
breathe it.
I mean, unless you wanted tohike the trails.
But hey, I'd still do it.
I would do it too.
I'd still do it 100%.
But we're crazy.
Yeah, yeah, we are.
We are just a little bit crazy.
If you haven't heard ourepisode on Rafting the Royal
Gorge, we joked that little tinyvoice that tells you that this
probably isn't the entrance fee.
This is a state park, so keepin mind that you will need to
(10:30):
show your vehicle registration.
If you do have that state parkpass on your vehicle
registration.
If not, I believe the dailyentrance fee is $10.
Yeah, it's not bad.
So, yeah, not terrible.
But if you do have that statepark entrance fee pass on your
vehicle registration, go for it,work it out and you'll get in
for free.
But very impressed.
I'm going to be honest.
It did not feel like Colorado.
(10:51):
I felt like we were in Africaor something.
Yes, like it just felt so cooland I just love any sort of
waterfall.
But to see those threecascading waterfalls and you can
actually kind of walk behindthem to the left a little bit,
the back of them, or go around,they're just stunning.
Pam (11:11):
But seeing a waterfowl from the back is just fun, because
you don't really get to do itthat often, right, right?
Lex (11:17):
And of course I had to take my mermaid tail, because I'm a
traveling mermaid and thepictures are just.
Let's just say you're not,you're not looking at my tail,
you're looking at the waterfall.
Steal the show A hundredpercent.
I could be running around nakedand you'd still be like
waterfall.
Yes, oh yes.
It's definitely a must visitfor anyone looking to experience
(11:39):
just the beauty of Colorado ina serene and pretty accessible
Like.
I feel like it's wheelchairaccessible.
I think we could take Bapa upthere.
Yes, bapa is our handicappedgrandfather and we're just
constantly looking for thingsfor him to do.
Pam (11:55):
Yes, if we got a neat shot of his wheelchair, I think we
could four wheel it for just alittle bit.
Lex (11:59):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're very aware of all of the ADA stuff,
but I think I think he couldactually do that one, and that
would be one heck of a jaunt forEl Bapo?
Pam (12:08):
Yeah, because I think the only time he's been behind a
waterfall is Casa Bonita.
Lex (12:11):
So this definitely beats Casa Bonita.
Definitely different from CasaBonita.
Oh my gosh, if you didn't know,casa Bonita is a very iconic
restaurant down in Denver.
Oh, absolutely, and it'scurrently being renovated.
Pam (12:24):
Yes, and they did a phenomenal job.
Lex (12:26):
They just finished it and people are lining up just to get
on the waiting list.
Pam (12:29):
I think we actually waited over a year.
Lex (12:36):
But they have a huge waterfall.
I'm going to be honest thiswaterfall better than Casa
Bonita, oh sure.
Pam (12:39):
However, there are not any cliff divers at this waterfall
Full disclaimer yes, you are notallowed to put any appendage
into the water.
Lex (12:44):
Yes, and because it's so clear, it's so clear.
Pam (12:47):
The water is so clear, absolutely love it.
Lex (12:51):
The triple waterfalls alone are worth the trip, worth the
drive, but you know just all theparks, trails, the caves, the
camping spot.
It just makes it a destinationlike we're.
We're gonna come back.
It's I would come back everyyear.
It is absolutely amazing.
So definitely tell us what youthink.
Would you go a little bit outof your way to go to this
colorado hidden gem that not alot of people, including
(13:11):
including locals, know about, orwould you stick to the more
touristy areas?
Definitely, let me know in thecomments, in the show notes, and
definitely go visit those shownotes, because I'm going to be
putting in all the resources toget you here just to make sure
that you can check this off ofyour adventure bucket list.
I just want to see you packyour bags, lace your hiking
boots and just get ready to fallin love with Rifle Falls.
Pam (13:32):
Absolutely, huge, huge thumbs up to this.
Now, I don't think it had aPokestop, so it doesn't get a 10
out of 10.
Lex (13:39):
My mother- is still obsessed with Pokemon.
For all my Pokemon lovers,please let me know, because she
is still knee deep in thePokemon.
Pam (13:46):
Oh yes, way past, when it was really cool.
Lex (13:49):
So there is no Pokestop at Rifle Falls State Park, but
there is no poke stop at riflefall state park, but there is a
hanging lake.
Yeah, she was playing pokemonall the way to hanging lake.
Oh, thank you guys.
So much for listening and wewill see you next week.
Keep adventuring.
I could be running around naked and you'd still be like
waterfall.
Hey there, adventurers, my nameis Alexandra and welcome to
Take it Before you Kick at thepodcast where we talk about
everything that should be onyour adventure bucket list and
some hilarious travel stories.
So this week we are going to betalking about one of the most
hidden gem Colorado state parks.
You do actually two.
We are currently at Rifle GapState Park and about eight
(00:23):
minutes away is Rifle FallsState Park, and we're going to
be coming to you telling you allabout this beautiful
destination and how we've neverheard of it.
Have you heard of it?
No, I am joined here by mymother, who lives full time with
me in this RV adventure.
We are traveling across the USand Colorado, bringing you all
the things that you can put onyour adventure bucket list, and
this one really took my breathaway here.
(00:46):
So let's start a little bitabout what is Rifle Falls State
Park.
It basically was an establishedpark in 1966.
And this area was originallypart of a settlement used by
early pioneers in the late 1800s, so the falls themselves has
always been the main attraction.
I mean, it steals the showAbsolutely, and that's saying a
lot, because this area is very,very beautiful.
(01:08):
It was originally settled foragricultural purposes, but then
people just began to realizethat it just had stunning
natural beauty and thesurrounding areas.
It's about what 45 minutes awayfrom Glenwood?
Pam (01:20):
Springs.
Lex (01:21):
So and we actually hiked Hanging Lake, which is another
beautiful waterfall.
We'll have to do a littlepodcast on that one later,
however, that was about an houraway, so it's really
conveniently located away fromeverything.
But you don't need to go far,because we're set up here in
Rifle Gap State Park and, yeah,rifle Falls is only about eight
minutes away.
It's wonderful.
And what makes this so amazing?
(01:43):
So the crown jewel of RifleFalls State Park is undoubtedly
the triple waterfalls and yes, Isaid triple.
They are 70 feet high.
I looked up a picture of this,as did you right, and I was like
, oh, that's really cool, but Ibet it's really lame.
I've just seen so many amazingwaterfalls everywhere else, like
Bali and Fiji, and I'm just notused to these cascading long 70
(02:07):
plus foot waterfalls andthere's three in this location.
So tell us your experience ofseeing these waterfalls for the
first time.
Pam (02:15):
You know what I really liked about this is whenever I
go someplace, I'm alwaysthinking who needs to come back
here and see it?
Who?
Lex (02:22):
needs to come back here and see it.
She's a people pleaser.
Pam (02:25):
I am a people pleaser and an enabler, but these falls are
so spectacular, it's not a crazyhike.
No, really.
Anybody can go Probably liketwo minutes.
Yeah, maybe two minutes, so youjust park your car and just
walk to the falls.
Lex (02:40):
Yeah, because that's the thing about Hanging Lake is that
, yeah, it's beautiful, but youneed to hike three hours in
order to get to it.
Pam (02:46):
Exactly, but with these ones you really don't need to
hike at all, they're right there.
Lex (02:50):
They do have an interconnected woven trail
network that can let you see thewaterfalls from different
angles, which is pretty cool.
Like you can actually go abovethe waterfall to both sides and
out in front, so that was reallycool, but the initial trek to
the waterfall is really nothing.
Pam (03:07):
It's really not.
So I'd say it's really a fallthat anyone can go see.
My knees are terrible and itwas an easy, easy jaunt from the
parking lot and then you justturn the corner and the power
and the noise it justspectacular like jaw-dropping
spectacular, yeah, well, yeah,our jaws dropped to the floor.
Lex (03:29):
Oh yeah, absolutely yeah, and then, um, talk a little bit
about, when we went to the leftand started going up these
trails, what we foundaccidentally caves there's caves
.
Pam (03:39):
We love caves.
We had no clue that there werecaves and so we just kind of
thought they were mere dents inthe mountain.
But you can actually go insidethese caves and explore.
Yeah, there's some pretty bigchambers in there, yeah, and we
actually are going to go backand just do the caves.
We were just so obsessed withthe waterfall that we just
couldn't leave.
Lex (03:58):
There's so many caves and one of the caves you kind of
squeeze through and it's sosurprisingly dark, very dark,
for how shallow it is, I don'tknow.
It's like not that deep.
I mean, it's a pretty goodchamber for a cave.
Pam (04:12):
I mean, if you're a caver, these are lame, but if you're,
for somebody who doesn't gocaving or spelunking that often,
it was such a treat, just acomplete surprise.
Lex (04:22):
Yeah, and we had no clue.
Pam (04:23):
We were going for the waterfalls and then whoop,
there's the caves and I thinkthere's a lot of them, and so I
think we missed a lot of them.
We missed a lot of them.
We're gonna have to go back, Iknow, gotta go, just have to go
back.
Lex (04:34):
So let's talk about some of the logistics of rifle falls
and these waterfalls, just tobetter help you if you do want
to go here.
So let's talk about thelocation.
This is about 14 miles north ofthe town of Rifle, colorado,
which, again, have never heardof.
We were previously staying inSilt.
We had never heard of, hasnothing into it, but, as I said,
(04:54):
it's a little bit farther awayfrom Glenwood Springs.
Glenwood Springs is about what?
Two and a half hours, threehours from Denver?
Yeah, oh, yeah.
So it's definitely a day hike.
You could do it.
You basically go up I-70, whichis we make a joke it's
Colorado's most terrible road.
I don't know what do you thinkis Colorado's most terrible road
Colorado Boulevard or I-70?
(05:15):
The potholes?
I-70, it's the only way in andout from the mountains and if
you want to go skiing in any ofthe major resorts like
Breckenridge and Keystone andA-Bay, loveland, copper, vail
literally all of them are upI-70.
And there's just only one wayin, one way out, unless you want
to drive like five hours overIndependent Pass and I just feel
like, oh man, what was the jokethat they were making?
(05:36):
It's like, oh yeah, they callit I-70 because you're either
going seven or zero.
The amount of times I've beenstuck on this road, oh, anyway,
so you do have to go up by 70.
However, once you get past,there's this drive called
Glenwood Canyon.
Pam (05:50):
Oh.
Lex (05:51):
And it's one of my favorite things ever.
It actually is.
It's incredible, Like it'sliterally a drive where you just
drive and you have rock facesgoing straight up.
Pam (06:00):
And.
Lex (06:00):
I'm, again, a good sucker for mountain roads.
If you do want to hear myglenwood springs bucket list
because I have an entire articleon everything that you can do
in glenwood springs, plus hikinghanging lake, if you are
interested in that yeah, sothat's close to rifle and then
you just would basically keepgoing on i-70 and then it's
about like a 25 minute drive.
Once you get off of i-70, itwas definitely interesting
(06:23):
bringing the rig.
Um, we drive this massive rigand we always make this joke she
goes forwards and I gobackwards.
But I wanted to mix it up.
Pam (06:31):
Because she just thought oh , look, a 20 minute drive, how
bad could that be?
And then these roads ended upbeing very narrow, two lane and
windy, so you're just going andjust praying that you just don't
clip something.
Oh gosh, yeah, and I was.
Lex (06:48):
I missed the left turn into Rifle Gap and started going
towards Rifle Falls and ended upturning on this random road and
making this really tight U-turnand I'm so glad that I ended up
making it, but, yeah, superstressful.
So keep that in mind, if you dohave larger vehicles, that
these roads are a little bittight, at least for our massive
42 foot fifth wheel.
(07:09):
Exactly, exactly Some of thethings that you can do at Rifle
Falls.
As I said, you can go caving,you can go hiking.
I did read that there were somewildlife watching and camping.
When we were actually going toRifle Falls, we saw some of the
rangers giving a class withshooting, so I'm not quite sure
(07:31):
what that was all about, butthat's really cool.
Like a hunting class maybethat's pretty fun.
And then camping.
So we're currently camped atRifle Gap, which again is about
eight minutes away from RifleFalls, because it has.
Pam (07:38):
It's right on the water.
The water is beautifully greenand you can paddleboard to your
heart's content.
It's just this small littlelake, surrounded by mountains.
Lex (07:49):
Honestly, I love it here.
This is an amazing RVdestination.
If you have an RV, this needsto be on your list 100%.
There are some really, reallygood spots here.
Pam (08:02):
And we are going to label them for you, so you know which
spots to get.
Lex (08:05):
Yes, I'm going to do an entire guide to Rifle Gap State
Park, so definitely keep youreye out for that.
I will link it in the shownotes and it's also on my
website, thebucketlistmermaidcom.
And then also there's actuallycamping at Rifle Falls itself.
It's very tiny.
At Rifle Falls they have 13spots and the little ranger said
(08:30):
that they do fill up prettyquickly from like three to six
months In advance yes, andthere's a lot of shade.
Pam (08:33):
So as far as wooded and shaded, it's awesome, but
there's no lake.
Lex (08:38):
You are like walking distance within the waterfall,
so that's a perk.
Oh yeah, from every spot.
Yeah, definitely there's somepull through spots like it's
pretty nice and shaded it wasvery clean yeah.
Pam (08:46):
Just very organized well.
Lex (08:48):
Very clean Rifle Gap, I feel like is more for the
panoramic lake, mountain views.
There's not a ton of shade, butWe'll take it.
You know we'll take it.
So best time to visit I wouldsay summer or winter.
We are here in the heat ofsummer and it's beautiful.
It is a little toasty.
It did cool off a little bit,but it's kind of perfect for
going and exploring thosewaterfalls.
(09:09):
You might get more crowds,since it's summer.
It was pretty crowded when wewent.
People know it's cool, so keepthat in mind.
Yes, however, I did see apicture of it on the official
Rifle Falls State Park websiteof it in winter, oh, and
something about how, becausethere's constant water, it like
(09:30):
crystallizes and makes theselittle ice structures and caves
in there.
So this might be pretty cooltoo in winter.
Pam (09:38):
So I think it's summer, winter, but yeah, I mean, spring
would be fine, fall would befine.
I should have fall, you wouldget the fall leaves, so really
anytime.
And plus it's not if you coulddo come here in the winter.
You don't have to cross a lotof icy terrain to get to this
waterfall.
Lex (09:56):
Yeah, that is true, you would only have to, you know,
breathe it.
I mean, unless you wanted tohike the trails.
But hey, I'd still do it.
I would do it too.
I'd still do it 100%.
But we're crazy.
Yeah, yeah, we are.
We are just a little bit crazy.
If you haven't heard ourepisode on Rafting the Royal
Gorge, we joked that little tinyvoice that tells you that this
probably isn't the entrance fee.
This is a state park, so keepin mind that you will need to
(10:30):
show your vehicle registration.
If you do have that state parkpass on your vehicle
registration.
If not, I believe the dailyentrance fee is $10.
Yeah, it's not bad.
So, yeah, not terrible.
But if you do have that statepark entrance fee pass on your
vehicle registration, go for it,work it out and you'll get in
for free.
But very impressed.
I'm going to be honest.
It did not feel like Colorado.
(10:51):
I felt like we were in Africaor something.
Yes, like it just felt so cooland I just love any sort of
waterfall.
But to see those threecascading waterfalls and you can
actually kind of walk behindthem to the left a little bit,
the back of them, or go around,they're just stunning.
Pam (11:11):
But seeing a waterfowl from the back is just fun, because
you don't really get to do itthat often, right, right?
Lex (11:17):
And of course I had to take my mermaid tail, because I'm a
traveling mermaid and thepictures are just.
Let's just say you're not,you're not looking at my tail,
you're looking at the waterfall.
Steal the show A hundredpercent.
I could be running around nakedand you'd still be like
waterfall.
Yes, oh yes.
It's definitely a must visitfor anyone looking to experience
(11:39):
just the beauty of Colorado ina serene and pretty accessible
Like.
I feel like it's wheelchairaccessible.
I think we could take Bapa upthere.
Yes, bapa is our handicappedgrandfather and we're just
constantly looking for thingsfor him to do.
Pam (11:55):
Yes, if we got a neat shot of his wheelchair, I think we
could four wheel it for just alittle bit.
Lex (11:59):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're very aware of all of the ADA stuff,
but I think I think he couldactually do that one, and that
would be one heck of a jaunt forEl Bapo?
Pam (12:08):
Yeah, because I think the only time he's been behind a
waterfall is Casa Bonita.
Lex (12:11):
So this definitely beats Casa Bonita.
Definitely different from CasaBonita.
Oh my gosh, if you didn't know,casa Bonita is a very iconic
restaurant down in Denver.
Oh, absolutely, and it'scurrently being renovated.
Pam (12:24):
Yes, and they did a phenomenal job.
Lex (12:26):
They just finished it and people are lining up just to get
on the waiting list.
Pam (12:29):
I think we actually waited over a year.
Lex (12:36):
But they have a huge waterfall.
I'm going to be honest thiswaterfall better than Casa
Bonita, oh sure.
Pam (12:39):
However, there are not any cliff divers at this waterfall
Full disclaimer yes, you are notallowed to put any appendage
into the water.
Lex (12:44):
Yes, and because it's so clear, it's so clear.
Pam (12:47):
The water is so clear, absolutely love it.
Lex (12:51):
The triple waterfalls alone are worth the trip, worth the
drive, but you know just all theparks, trails, the caves, the
camping spot.
It just makes it a destinationlike we're.
We're gonna come back.
It's I would come back everyyear.
It is absolutely amazing.
So definitely tell us what youthink.
Would you go a little bit outof your way to go to this
colorado hidden gem that not alot of people, including
(13:11):
including locals, know about, orwould you stick to the more
touristy areas?
Definitely, let me know in thecomments, in the show notes, and
definitely go visit those shownotes, because I'm going to be
putting in all the resources toget you here just to make sure
that you can check this off ofyour adventure bucket list.
I just want to see you packyour bags, lace your hiking
boots and just get ready to fallin love with Rifle Falls.
Pam (13:32):
Absolutely, huge, huge thumbs up to this.
Now, I don't think it had aPokestop, so it doesn't get a 10
out of 10.
Lex (13:39):
My mother- is still obsessed with Pokemon.
For all my Pokemon lovers,please let me know, because she
is still knee deep in thePokemon.
Pam (13:46):
Oh yes, way past, when it was really cool.
Lex (13:49):
So there is no Pokestop at Rifle Falls State Park, but
there is no poke stop at riflefall state park, but there is a
hanging lake.
Yeah, she was playing pokemonall the way to hanging lake.
Oh, thank you guys.
So much for listening and wewill see you next week.
Keep adventuring.
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