About
Length (round trip)0.8 mi
ShapeOut-and-Back
DifficultyModerate
Elevation gain150 ft up
Typical time30 min
TrailheadZapata Falls Recreation Area (rough road, outside the park)
SurfaceRocky path then a wade up a stream gorge
Best seasonLate May and early June for Medano Creek; September and October for cool sand. Summer sand surface reaches 150F.
DogsLeashed / limited stretches
What you'll see 💧 Waterfall🌊 River or creek

The falls are tucked inside a slot in the rock, invisible until you wade into the gorge itself. In winter the whole thing freezes into a wall of ice that ice climbers use.

Tips
Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, not the park, and reached by three miles of very rough gravel road. The water is snowmelt and painfully cold - sandals you do not mind soaking are ideal.
Location

Zapata Falls Recreation Area (rough road, outside the park)

Other Hikers
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