Qualla: Seven Falls

Seven Falls: Introduction

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 3.0. Each waterfall has a name, given in alphabetical order rather than by position: Bridal Veil, Feather, Hill, Hull, Ramona, Shorty, and Weimer. Together they form Seven Falls, Colorado's only waterfall on the National Geographic list of international waterfalls, a distinction earned not by sheer height but by something rarer -- seven distinct cascades tumbling through a granite box canyon so narrow that at one point its walls stand just feet apart. Author Susan Joy Paul described them as "seven leaps of plunge, cascade, punchbowl, fan, and horsetail spray." The canyon itself, carved by South Cheyenne Creek along the Front Range southwest of downtown Colorado Springs, has been called "The Grandest Mile of Scenery" in Colorado.

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Image: Fredlyfish4 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Seven Falls: Pillars and Profiles

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA, CC BY 2.0. The approach to Seven Falls sets the stage. Just inside the entrance stand the Pillars of Hercules, massive rock formations rising from the canyon floor. Across from them, erosion has carved a profile in the stone that locals call the George Washington. At this point the canyon w...

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Image: John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA | CC BY 2.0

Seven Falls: A Toll Road Through Paradise

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 3.0. Nathaniel Colby homesteaded this stretch of South Cheyenne Canyon in December 1872, then sold the land rights nine months later for $1,000 to the Colorado Springs Land Company. In 1882, naturalist James Hull purchased the property, fearing that logging operations would ruin the s...

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Image: Fredlyfish4 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Seven Falls: Light in the Canyon

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 3.0. Al Hill, a Colorado College student and Texas oilman, bought Seven Falls in 1946 and reimagined it for the modern era. In 1947, he installed lights throughout the canyon, extending visiting hours into the night. That first Christmas, Hill opened the illuminated canyon free of cha...

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Image: Fredlyfish4 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Seven Falls: Twice Destroyed, Twice Reborn

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 3.0. Water gives, and water takes away. A flood in 1965 wiped out the Seven Falls park entirely. The attraction was rebuilt, only to face nature's fury again. In mid-September 2013, five days of heavy rain hammered the southwest side of Colorado Springs. The torrent reduced seven fall...

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Image: Fredlyfish4 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Seven Falls: Canyon Chorus

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 3.0. The wildlife at Seven Falls keeps its own schedule. Hummingbirds dart among the spray, their iridescent feathers catching the canyon light. The American Dipper -- also called the Water Ouzel -- bobs on rocks before plunging into the creek to walk along the bottom, a songbird that...

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Image: Fredlyfish4 | CC BY-SA 3.0