Sight · Rocky Mountain National Park
Two small cascades make a quick creekside detour in Wild Basin.
Overview
Copeland Falls is a pair of small cascades on North St. Vrain Creek in Rocky Mountain National Park’s Wild Basin. From the Wild Basin Ranger Station, it’s about 0.3 mile one way to the falls, with 15 feet of gain on the listed route. The lower and upper falls sit off separate short spurs, so seeing both adds a little walking. It’s a good quick detour, but come for creekside cascades rather than a towering waterfall.
Parkwolf’s verdictA worthwhile short stopMap
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Rocky Mountain Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Rocky Mountain National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Rocky Mountain audio tourRecorded for this place
Wild Basin: A Short Walk or Ouzel Falls“The Wild Basin trailhead is ahead, with a choice of creekside waterfall walks. Lower Copeland Falls is the quick option: about six-tenths of a mile round trip from the summer trailhead.”
Plays as you drive up to Copeland Falls in the Parkwolf Rocky Mountain Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“…No cell service for majority of the day but had continuous access to the app - the maps, the tour guide as you drive is amazing. Highly recommend purchasing the subscription.”
Guide
Take the lower falls spur first, then follow the creekside spur to Upper Copeland Falls and reconnect with the main Wild Basin Trail. Keep going toward Calypso Cascades if you want a longer outing; Copeland can be a quick out-and-back or the start of one. For photos, include some stream and boulder foreground around the water; the scene is more than a white plume.
Snowmelt can make the falls run strongest in June. Later in the season, they may look modest, and the creekside walk becomes as much of the appeal as the water.
Botanist William Cooper named the falls while mapping Wild Basin in 1911, choosing the name for John B. Copeland, a local pioneer and farmer. Cooper sold his map for fifteen cents.
The trail starts at Wild Basin Ranger Station, where toilets and drinking water are available. Parking there is limited, and reports differ on overflow, so don’t count on easy roadside parking. The approach road is narrow and gravel. Dogs aren’t allowed on park trails.
Wildlife
3,124 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
1,601 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
19 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
19 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
30 sightingsGolden EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
270 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Rocky Mountain. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingLake of Many Winds Trail15.3 mi · 11 hr · 0.1 mi awayClimb past Wild Basin waterfalls to a high lake beneath Boulder-Grand Pass.
ModerateHidden Falls Trail1.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.1 mi awayA short, faint Wild Basin path to a sudden waterfall.
ChallengingBluebird Lake Trail12 mi · 9 hr · 0.2 mi awayA long climb past two waterfalls ends at a high alpine lake.
ModerateOuzel Falls Trail5.4 mi · 3.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayThree waterfalls reward the climb well before the turnaround.
ChallengingLion Lake No. 1 Trail13.6 mi · 8.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayWaterfalls lead to Lion Lake beneath a wall of high peaks.
EasyCopeland Falls Trail1 mi · 45 min · 0.2 mi awayA short creekside walk to Lower and Upper Copeland Falls.
ChallengingThunder Lake Trail13.6 mi · 6 hr · 0.2 mi awayWaterfalls and creek cascades break up the climb to a high lake.
ChallengingOuzel Lake Trail9.8 mi · 6.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayThree waterfalls punctuate the long climb to Ouzel Lake.
Sight · 1.4 mi awayCalypso CascadesSpring runoff turns this boulder-and-log waterfall into a roar.Sight · 1.8 mi awayOuzel FallsCopeland and Calypso Cascades come before the 40-foot finale.
Picnic area · 1.9 mi awayCopeland Lake Picnic AreaA lakeside picnic stop beside the Sandbeach Lake trailhead
Sight · 2 mi awaySandbeach LakeSandy lakeshore, peak views, and a 1,970-foot climb.
Sight · 2 mi awayFinch LakeA shallow backcountry lake reached by a long Wild Basin hike.Sight · 3.4 mi awayOuzel LakeA high lake beyond Wild Basin’s chain of waterfalls.
Sight · 3.7 mi awayPear LakeA high lake two miles beyond Finch, reached on a long hike.
Sight · 4.1 mi awayChasm LakeA high alpine lake under Longs Peak, reached by a hard hike.Parkwolf’s Rocky Mountain ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
