Niagara Gulch Falls

Starting in the town of Silverton, take Highway 110 through downtown Silverton and then bear right onto Animas Forks Road (County Route 2) at the east end of town. Continue for 8.65 miles to the second bridge across the Animas River. Niagara Gulch Falls will be visible on the south side of the valley just after crossing this bridge. Closer access to the falls may be possible by walking through the adjacent campground to the mouth of Niagara Gulch, then scrambling upstream on the rocky streambed - whether the falls will actually be visible from below is not known.Niagara Gulch Falls is a low volume, but potentially rather tall waterfall found in the upper Animas River valley east of Silverton. The falls drop down a narrow slot within a deep recess in the mountainside, partially obscuring the upper section from view. The larger and more visible lower section of the falls however appears to drop at least 200 feet in nearly vertical fashion, and topographic data suggests that the total height of the falls could potentially approach 400 feet in height. We were not able to obtain an accurate measurement of the falls on our initial survey of the site. The drainage basin of Niagara Gulch encompasses an area of approximately one square mile. There are no permanent snow fields or glacier in the basin, but there are two small lakes which will help (somewhat) to ensure a more consistent release of water into the stream later in the season, however due to the small size of the basin the stream will still exhibit highly seasonal behavior. When partially surveyed in October 2017, the stream was flowing with slightly more volume than would be considered a trickle.