Bridal Veil Falls, Rocky Mtn Natl Park

jderuby  Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Adventure Review

We hiked this trail, starting at the Cow Creek Trail Head, on July 4th.  It is rated easy/moderate.  We brought our 5 year old along, and, while she did slow us down a little and my husband carried her for some very short and steep portions, she was able to complete it.

There are lots of open meadows, which probably have some pretty cool animals in them at the right times, but we didn’t see any right smack in the middle of the day.  You can definitely tell when you are entering a thicker forest, but the path is still very clear.

This was our first hike in RMNP and we severely underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete.  It is just over 6 miles round trip and it took us close to 6 hours.  Until you get pretty close to the falls it is a pretty gentle upward climb.  It is a very nice path with some stairs set into it.  At the base of the ‘mountain’ area there is a place to leave your horse, should you be riding one.   It would be impossible for a horse to climb the rocks.  It is almost as steep as a staircase on the last part, but there ARE many places where the rocks are placed like stairs, which makes it easier to traverse.  The elevation gain is roughly 900 feet, but it takes most of the 3 miles to the falls to cover most of that height.  (The last bit is pretty steep.  But I repeat myself…)

There were a couple of guys who passed us on the way up and we passed several groups on the way down.  In all, I would say there were about 30 people or less on the trail.  We spent about 20 minutes or more at the falls by ourselves before another group joined us and we left.  Not a lot of room to share up there.

I would definitely recommend bringing a bit of food.  We don’t like to carry a lot, so next time I would bring a snack.  Yeah, we were hungry, but we survived.  We each had a water bottle, which we finished before the end.

I kept saying what a perfect hike this was for us.  The weather was great, the grade wasn’t too hard, there were very few people,  the reward at the falls was amazing, and the view was just incredible.