Big Green Falls

Big Green Falls is located just off of Forest Road 861 in the Middle Fork Cimarron River valley southeast of the Silver Jack Reservoir. The area can be accessed by taking Forest Road 858 south from US Highway 50 for 24 miles, or by taking Forest Road 860 for 6 miles north from Owl Creek Pass (itself about 17 miles from US 550 in Ridgeway). Roads 860 and 861 intersect on the south side of the bridge over the East Fork of the Cimarron. From this junction, follow Road 861 towards the Middle Fork camground and trailhead for another 3 miles and watch for a poorly signed trail on the left side of the road - a brown plastic post may or may not mark the trail. The path leads to the waterfall in about 400 feet.Big Green Falls is a relatively minor waterfall found along an unnamed tributary stream to the Middle Fork Cimarron River near the Silver Jack Reservoir. The falls drop approximately 70 feet over a rugged cliff set in a deep alcove, veiling outward slightly in a narrow fan-shape as it descends. The stream which produces Big Green Falls drains from a small basin which covers an area of approximately 0.4 square miles. The small drainage area ensures the falls will have a significant fluctuation in volume as the seasons progress, but the high elevation of the area also ensures heavy winter snow fall will help sustain the falls for about half of the year. When surveyed in October 2017, the stream was flowing with just a trickle of water, but still enough for the falls to stand out against its dark cliff.The name of this waterfall was proposed by Marc and Nancy Conly, authors of Waterfalls of Colorado, as a juxtaposition of the verdant nature of the alcove around the falls with the adjacent Big Blue Wilderness area. The forest service doesn't seem to recognize the waterfall by any name.