Boulder Falls is one of those places that earns an outsized reputation for a minimal investment of effort. The walk from the parking area on Highway 119 is roughly 100 yards — down 37 stairs, up 53 stairs, and you're at the base of a 70-foot waterfall crashing through a granite alcove in Boulder Canyon.
The canyon walls rise close on both sides and funnel the sound of the falls into something bigger than the falls themselves. In spring when snowmelt is running, the spray carries and the rock faces go dark with moisture. In summer, the flow drops but the canyon keeps its drama. The five acres that include the falls were donated to the City of Boulder by Charles Buckingham, a bank president, back in 1914 — one of the earlier examples of private land being given to a municipality for public recreation.
I went on a September afternoon after a wet summer, and the water was still running well. The stairs down to the viewing area are steep enough to make you hold the railing, and the turnaround back up is felt in the legs. But the whole experience takes twenty minutes and leaves you with the specific satisfaction of having stood at the base of something that the canyon makes feel genuinely remote, even though you can hear traffic on the highway above.
Check current conditions before going — Boulder Falls has been closed periodically due to rockslides, most recently for an extended period. The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks website has current status.