Deep in the heart of Roaring Forks Motor Trail lies a well-traveled hiking trail to Grotto Falls. We arrived around 9:30 am for our hike and lucked out with a parking spot near the trail head. These falls were not as crowded as Laurel Falls, but still quite popular.
The trail was well-packed dirt and rocks all the way up. The forest service shored up and installed steps throughout the trail. These were great going up, however, I found them to be a bit of a tripping hazard coming back down for my clumsy feet in some places.
On our trek, there were a total of 4 small water crossing areas. We’re talking six or so inches with a few steps between rocks or man-made steps, not neck-high swimming holes!
As we neared the waterfalls, the air temperature dropped significantly. I heard a fellow traveler indicate it was only 69 degrees, much cooler than it was down in the valley at 84 degrees.
There are plenty of rocks to climb over and even places to stake out and enjoy a packed lunch while watching and listening to the waterfall as we did. The big draw of course is the grotto itself. Everyone there took turns walking behind the falls and enjoyed the nice cool down before heading back to the parking area.
Even though AllTrails has rated this trail at a moderate difficulty, I found it to be about the same effort as Laurel Falls. My husband swears it’s because we took our hiking poles, which may be the case, however we saw many people without them. I’m a klutz at times, so those poles definitely have saved me a time or two. According to AllTrails, Grotto Falls is a 2.6 mile out and back trail with an elevation gain of 544 feet. This was one perfect outing!
BewilderedBrownEyes 