Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
A short creekside walk to Lower and Upper Copeland Falls.
Overview
Map & elevation
Plan your hike
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 trailhead
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 this trailhead 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.”
Trail guide
Copeland Falls is a short out-and-back on the Wild Basin Trail, following North St. Vrain Creek from the Wild Basin Ranger Station to Lower and Upper Copeland Falls. Plan on about 1 mile round trip and 30–45 minutes with stops. The lower falls area is about 0.3 mile one way; continue roughly 0.2 mile each way to include Upper Copeland Falls. Both are modest cascades, so this is a gentle creek walk rather than a big waterfall hike.
The broad, mostly smooth dirt path winds through pine and aspen beside the creek. A short spur reaches Lower Copeland Falls; a rockier branch continues to Upper Copeland Falls. Turn around there for this outing. The Wild Basin Trail carries on toward Calypso Cascades, Ouzel Falls and other longer hikes, so keep going only if you meant to take on a much longer day.
The creek is part of the payoff: water runs over low rock shelves among boulders and forest, with the two falls close to the trail. Give yourself time to visit both viewpoints. For a photo, frame the whitewater with the rock ledge and a little of the creek or trees around it; the falls are small cascades, not tall drops.
Start at the Wild Basin Ranger Station trailhead at the end of Wild Basin Road. The gravel road narrows to one lane in places, parking is limited and often fills early, and large RVs are a poor fit. The summer access is seasonal. In winter, use the separate Wild Basin Winter Trailhead; the approach to Copeland Falls is about 1.1 miles one way. The trailhead is around 8,500 feet, and pets are prohibited 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
ChallengingThunder Lake Trail13.6 mi · 6 hr · At the trailheadWaterfalls and creek cascades break up the climb to a high lake.
ChallengingBluebird Lake Trail12 mi · 9 hr · At the trailheadA long climb past two waterfalls ends at a high alpine lake.
ModerateOuzel Falls Trail5.4 mi · 3.5 hr · At the trailheadThree waterfalls reward the climb well before the turnaround.
ChallengingLion Lake No. 1 Trail13.6 mi · 8.5 hr · At the trailheadWaterfalls lead to Lion Lake beneath a wall of high peaks.
ChallengingLake of Many Winds Trail15.3 mi · 11 hr · At the trailheadClimb past Wild Basin waterfalls to a high lake beneath Boulder-Grand Pass.
ModerateHidden Falls Trail1.8 mi · 1.5 hr · At the trailheadA short, faint Wild Basin path to a sudden waterfall.
ChallengingOuzel Lake Trail9.8 mi · 6.5 hr · At the trailheadThree waterfalls punctuate the long climb to Ouzel Lake.
ModerateCalypso Cascades Trail3.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.1 mi awayTwo Copeland Falls come before a much taller cascade.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayCopeland FallsTwo small cascades make a quick creekside detour in Wild Basin.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayCalypso CascadesSpring runoff turns this boulder-and-log waterfall into a roar.
Picnic area · 1.7 mi awayCopeland Lake Picnic AreaA lakeside picnic stop beside the Sandbeach Lake trailheadSight · 1.9 mi awayOuzel FallsCopeland and Calypso Cascades come before the 40-foot finale.
Sight · 2 mi awaySandbeach LakeSandy lakeshore, peak views, and a 1,970-foot climb.
Sight · 2.1 mi awayFinch LakeA shallow backcountry lake reached by a long Wild Basin hike.Sight · 3.5 mi awayOuzel LakeA high lake beyond Wild Basin’s chain of waterfalls.
Sight · 3.8 mi awayPear LakeA high lake two miles beyond Finch, reached on a long 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.
