In my job as a Realtor I am out driving around Boulder County every day. Most of the time I’m on a tight schedule and am running from one thing to the next. Recently, I was driving to Nederland to take photos of my new land listing at 79 Wildewood Drive and I passed the sign for Boulder Falls and realized that I had never stopped to see it. I am a Boulder native so that means many missed opportunities. So I stopped and shot a few photos and this video.
Near the end of the video a person stands just to the left of the top of the falls. This gives a good perspective of the size of the falls. Hiking of the trail is strictly prohibited so don’t do what this guy was doing.
Here is some information on the falls from the City of Boulder website:
Boulder Falls Trail is closed from November 1 through April 30.
Boulder Falls is located 11 miles west of Boulder, on the north side of Boulder Canyon Drive (SR 119) between Boulder and 
Nederland. It consists of five acres of mining claims that were given to the City of Boulder by Charles G. Buckingham, president and co-founder of Buckingham Brothers Bank (now Norwest Bank). Buckingham had held a U.S. Patent since 1881 on the American Mill site that included the Falls. He donated it to the City of Boulder for recreational purposes in 1914, hence “saving this beautiful spot from the encroachment of the great tungsten boom.”
For many years the Boulder Falls (sometimes referred to as the “Yosemite of Boulder Canyon”), was the popular destination for picnic groups. Carryalls brought visitors up for a visit to the Falls, especially after the narrow gauge railroad washed out in the great flood of 1894. When the railroad was rebuilt four years later, stage and tourist travel was diverted and the popularity of Boulder Falls declined.
Today, Boulder Falls receives heavy visitation by tourists heading to the high country from Boulder. Boulder Falls is quite lovely and well worth the brief stop for a look at the cascading water. There is a large parking area just across SR 119 from the Falls; please cross the road with care to access the short trail that leads to a viewing area. Visitors are required to stay on the main path that ends at a viewpoint just below the falls. Here you will have an excellent view of the Falls, forming where North Boulder Creek plunges approximately 70 feet to enter Middle Boulder Creek. For your safety, the area beyond the viewpoint has been closed. The rocks and water past this point are deceptively dangerous, and several people have been killed while scrambling around the falls.
“Picture Rock” is a large gray boulder located just next to the road at Boulder Falls, appropriately named for the large round hole which has framed the faces of countless visitors as they posed for photographs here. The rock eroded naturally to produce the hole and was hauled up from Boulder Creek when the “new” highway was built in the 1940s.
