During a recent work-and-ski trip to Southwest Colorado, we awoke one morning to learn that there was 16″ of fresh snowfall on Wolf Creek Pass, east of the town of Pagosa Springs. Below Wolf Creek Pass lies Treasure Falls. This is a 100-foot waterfall that gets its name from the alleged presence of buried treasure nearby. According to local legend, a group of French explorers in the area were pursued by a band of Spaniards. They buried a chest of gold they were carrying somewhere near the falls before capture. The chest has never been found.
Trailhead Access
We were staying in Pagosa, and we’d been wanting to do the hike to Treasure Falls during this trip. Experiencing the falls with fresh snow sounded perfect. We’d been here previously in summer, so we knew the waterfall to be an easy 1/4-mile hike from a roadside trailhead below the summit of Wolf Creek Pass. With 16 inches of fresh snow, though, the hike – and even accessing the trailhead – would be more interesting.
The first hurdle was getting into the trailhead parking area. The highway leading up Wolf Creek Pass from Pagosa had been plowed, but the trailhead parking area had not. Moreover, road plows had essentially sealed off the entrance to the parking area from the direction of Pagosa.
So coming up from town, I bypassed the parking area altogether. I turned around farther up the pass, and descended again to the Treasure Falls trailhead. From this direction, I could get up and over the wall of road plow crud in my larger all-wheel drive SUV. I wouldn’t have been able to make the turnout in a passenger car. But it was fine in the larger vehicle. It looked like I could probably even get back out again. First challenge overcome.
Snow Hike
During snow-free days, the hike up to the falls is an easy one. It’s short, well-marked, and uses multiple switchbacks for its few-hundred feet of vertical incline. Today, the trail was buried under essentially knee-deep drifts covering rocks, boulders, and tree roots. So it was a little more perilous going. One could still see the trail markers, so we just made our way slowly, finding our footing for each step on the switch-back ascending trail.
There are a couple of points at which one can view or photograph the waterfall from along the trailside. Then, hikers cross a small footbridge to the area offering the best views.
The hike in the snow was beautiful, as was the sunny day that had materialized after the prior night’s snowstorm passed. Near the peak of Wolf Creek Pass, there were some interesting clouds in the sky that lent some additional photographic interest, as well. So overall, the deep-snow hike up to Treasure Falls was well worth the effort.
Photographically, I carried with me just a single mirrorless camera body, a wide-angle zoom lens, and of course my favorite tripod. I own “snow shoes” for my Gitzo tripod (sort of like ski pole baskets) that help your tripod stand on top of snow. But since the snow was deep, I just splayed out the legs and let the whole tripod rest on top of the deep snow. This provided ample stability and allowed me to take my time making each composition.
The Treasure
I did kick around in the snow a bit to see if I’d by chance stumble on that lost treasure chest. No such luck. But to us, the real treasure here was just experiencing this small but absolutely beautiful waterfall under fresh snow. In that regard, yeah, treasure found.
