On a hot sunny day Lower Maxwell Falls is the perfect hike in the shade. When your feet get hot and tired remove the shoes and soak in the cold creeks and enjoy a moment to relax! Postcard views are what you can expect when you aim your camera! It is a challenging course so make sure you are prepared. The trails are clearly marked so no worries about getting lost! read more

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The hike is great exercise. The falls are magical. We went when we had our first sustained freeze and the waterfall was amazing. There were so many different ice crystals and formations. The slow volume of water brought such serenity. Please if you go and have a dog, pick up the poop and haul the bag out. The unsightly views of bagged and loose stoles is a major turn off. read more

I love checking out the trails when I'm not in KC. I was recently in the Denver area and found this trail via the All Trails app. I'm not an experienced hiker but this one was perfect. It's a little under 4 miles from start to finish. The trail did have some other hikers but I didn't find it overly congested. It definitely wasn't deserted but it wasn't overrun either. The trail is moderate. There's some rocky areas and parts of the trail are very sandy so watch your step. There was a little bit of wildlife, mainly deer, chipmunks, and various birds. I wasn't prepared to come across anything larger so that suited me just fine. The waterfalls weren't overly impressive but that's due to the time of year. I'd definitely hike this again if I come through the area when there's a bit more water. read more

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This hands down has become one my top fav hikes! There are no bathrooms and not a lot parking but there is a stream of water along with multiple waterfalls and if you make it to the end a nice gushing waterfall to play and climb around. I will be back again as the hike took 4 hours with two young kids but I also stopped a lot along the way to get here. We love hikes with water streams and waterfalls and this one followed you most of the trip. Best 4 mile hike yet! read more

This is a heavily trafficked trail so be sure to go early in the morning so you park in the lot or you will end up having to park on the side of the road. It is a 4 mile loop or you can go to the waterfall and back out which is almost 4 miles as well. That is what we did. The waterfall is small, not very impressive but a nice short hike and close to the city of Denver. The town is cute and close so you can easily grab coffee/breakfast after the hike. read more

It seems the general consensus is shared: a nice hike close to Denver, the trail just gets too crowded. After doing my own research of Maxwell Falls and having it on my hiking list for some time, I knew when the temps warmed up last Friday I had to jet over to Evergreen. Major plus not coming on a weekend. I snagged the last spot in the parking lot, that only has around 15 spots. When I left cars were starting to line the roads. Now let's talk hike! Though shorts weather, the trails were still snowy and icy. This was the trade I settled for instead of coming on a Saturday. Still worth it in my opinion. I only slipped once! It's a fairly easy hike, though at one time in particular, extremely hard to navigate with all the snow. Myself and a few solo hikers got turned around here, eventually we veered back in the right direction. I doubt you'd have these issues in the summer. It's a very beautiful hike. Tall trees with that Evergreen glow, large boulders with the sun glistening off them just right. The Falls themselves were frozen, but still a sight for sore eyes. Other than the many icy spots, I really can't complain sneaking in a hike on the last day of April! Its close proximity to Denver makes it one of the more highly trafficked hikes, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Took me 40 minutes from my place in Sloan's. Cliff notes: avoid weekends, arrive before 10am, bring lots of water, the trail is dog friendly, there are many spots to relax and have a snack. read more

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This was a good hike on a hot day because there were lots of trees and being up in Evergreen was about 10° cooler. There's not really a reward destination but it is nice being in the trees and there is a stream running alongside you for some of the trail. There was one area that you could sit on these large rocks, with a great view. It is very easy to get lost on this trail because it's not well marked and we came across several people that were frustrated as a result. It was a good 5 mile hike. read more

Are you: ++ Seeking a reprieve from the city? ++ Searching for a hike that appeals to all types/skill of hiker? ++ Looking for a place to spend some time in nature with you four-legged friend? ++ Yearning for a destination that boasts a tree covered trail, wandering stream, and a waterfall destination? Well look no further! Maxwell Falls is the place for you! When a small group of my nature loving friends and I were craving some adventure we made our way to Evergreen, with two pups in tow, and spent our morning roaming about Maxwell Falls. The wide dirt trail has ample trees and foliage along the way to the falls. Occasionally the trail intersects with Maxwell Creek and makes for a great spot for the pups to cool off. Once you get close to the falls - the trail splits, and you can go to the lower or upper falls. Lower Maxwell falls has a little area that makes for a great photo-op when the falls are flowing. Though getting there involves a little rock scramble - nothing too intense. You can also link up a few other trails in the area to make for a longer, more scenic hike. Our group decided to add Cliffside Loop to our adventure, which made for some epic views! As we made our way back to the trailhead it began to rain, making the trail a rather muddy mess. So make sure to come prepared for any and all weather types. Towels in the car is always a must when hiking in Colorado - especially with pups! Maxwell Falls definitely delivered the close to home adventure we sought and made a great way to spend our day. **Pro Tip: To beat the crowds I highly recommend heading there early. Not only will this ensure that you get a parking spot with ease at the trailhead, but the trail will be much less crowded and far more enjoyable. read more

I thoroughly enjoyed this trail. The majority of the trail is lined with towering trees. The gentle sound of the nearby river can be heard for the majority of the hike. I came out at the beginning of August on a 90 degrees summer day, yet the shade, refreshing river, and light breeze kept me cool for the entire hike. Other reviews complained about the number of hikers on the weekend, which almost made me avoid this trail. But I came here in a Sunday morning before 9am, it was well traveled by others, but nothing too uncomfortable. I plan to come back in the spring when there's more wild flowers and and more runoff to fill the river. read more

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Nice maintained trails and ample parking. The waterfalls are pretty and the trail has good shade coverage and is good during the summer. The trail is near the town too. read more

Lower Maxwell Falls Trail Head - Hiking Near Me - Evergreen, Colorado

Don't follow the address that's attached to this it will led you to a residential are. Look up on google "Lower Maxwell Falls Trail" or "Upper Maxwell Falls Trail". I went on the Upper maxwell falls trail and it's was a really beautiful hike but it's really close to a residential area if you get off the trail you will run into houses. Oh and It's not a waterfall it's a really small creek. read more

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Come early to beat the foot traffic! We came here on Mother's Day, arrived around 9.30am and got a parking spot in the little overflow parking just up from the trailhead parking lot. When we got back to the car around 12 noon there were cars all up the sides of the road and the trail was super busy!! I can see why it's popular, it's a beautiful spot and close to Denver. We were slow carrying out 15 month old, 30 lb baby. We were overtaken by a lot of people. But made it to the falls just fine, getting down to the falls when we got there was a little challenging because I had the carrier on the front and I had to climb down the rocks but I got there. The waterfall was still frozen on the top but you could see a little water coming through. The trail started to get slippery and muddy on the way back because of all the people and the little bit of snow remaining on the ground. We only saw one bad of dog poop left on the side of the trail near the start. read more

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Who is the idiot that bags all the dog shit on the trail and leaves it there. Yes you did your part in taking care of for someone else to take care of. I do have some photos of some of the people I saw leave it only to walk past it on their way out. Stay tuned for those. read more

Great hike in about 2.3mi (steep) to a waterfall. Terrain is decent enough to wear a good pair of trail running shoes instead of boots. Like adventurers lol we veered off the trail. Thank God we did because we found a dog!!! She was lost for 6 days in the forest and miraculously we were able to hike her out of here and reunite her with her family... Best birthday weekend ever!!! read more

Lower Maxwell Falls Trail Head - Happy to be saved!!! Hiking her out to be reunited with her family - Hiking Near Me - Evergreen, Colorado

Yeah for hiking close to denver! As mentioned, shaded for most of it. IF you start from the lower trail head it's a good up and down hike. It can be tricky to see the falls - pay attention when the mileage gets close! Lots of people and dogs. Lots of small children that just end up whining that it is too far! Tiny parking lot, tiny over flow parking, and parking on the side of the road leave you on a blind corner. So be careful! It was a fun hike, but go early, stay hydrated. FYI - there are no trashcans at the trail head, so pack it in, and pack it back out to your car - including dog poop! :) read more

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We did the UPPER Maxwell Falls Trail, which is about 2.4 miles. It was a lot of climbing on rocks, and ups & downs, but beautiful. The biggest issue is just that there are a lot of people there. We brought our 3 kids and 2 small dogs, and it was challenging but fun! The waterfall at the end makes it all worth it. read more

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If it's a sunny, hot day, the shaded hike is perfect... Over 2 miles of up and half a mile down and then up again, 3.4 miles total to climb down into the falls... Ya really need to climb down in to get to the falls, and cuz of the Monsoon the week before, the water is flowing immensely... If coming from upper trail, much shorter but many more ppl even for a weekday like this, lower trail had all of 2 ppl besides us... After hitting the top of the falls which includes 1/2 of the Upper Trailhead, we grabbed the loop that starts with a C and wrapped it back down to the bridge where you'll see it connect at the Lower Trailhead... All in all, 9.7 miles, and the pups loved every bit of it... BTW those with kids, the yelling at the falls DOES disturb the peace, the bristling of the leaves and the tranquility of the mountainside with rushing waters... read more

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Hosted an awesome all women's hike at this trail yesterday. The scenery is beautiful, gorgeous vistas if you combine your hike with the cliff loop trail. Even though the river is currently frozen we could still hear a gentle stream of water running. If you plan to hike on a weekend I would definitely recommend arriving early as the parking area is fairly small. I can't wait to return to this trail and have a totally different experience in the summer. read more

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I'm going to let you in In on a little secret Go further To the upper lot A little hard to find Search the web for it Small parking lot But the walk to th3 falls is super short Your out of town guests will appreciate it Greatly I love this waterfall Climb around Look for the ancient stone "gorilla" watching over the falls. Take your lunch Enjoy read more

Great hike! Beautiful scenery! My dog loved it too~~ its not an easy trail, so people passing called her a trooper since she is a miniature pinscher and was trotting along the whole thing. Only downside is there are no bathrooms, not even anything near. So make sure to go before you get thhere. And no trashcans, so take your trash with you. When we were done with our hike, cars were parked in the lot, overflow lot, and up and down the highway! It gets crowded read more

Lower Maxwell Falls Trail Head - Taking a break - Hiking Near Me - Evergreen, Colorado

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This hike was incredibly rewarding; I brought my sister here and my good friend who came back from the Navy as a hero. We hiked a total of 2.3 miles and saw lots of wonder and beauty. Along the trails, we managed to meet the light drops of drizzling level rain. There was even a deer spotted towards the end of our hike and we even wet our toes in the small stream nearby. The first trail is a little challenging, simply because of the steeper hills, the big rocks, the height of the edges and much carefulness is needed. I prefer to go hiking mainly in the late afternoon/early evening, much because of the harshness of the sun is gone. I tend to get a little dehydrated, but there is nothing more to fix that problem than gulps of water. Another cool thing was the fact that I have hiked here before back in 2013 and was disappointed that I couldn't finish the trail. It's almost like God wanted me to revisit an unfinished goal and to show me, "Look how far you've gone, look how much you've grown!" The trails were about 1 hour and a half. We managed to get out of here around 7:30 ish. It's always easier to hike back than hike for the first time in exploring the trail. There are lots of people that may pass you nearby to say hello and they often bring their little, furry friends and sometimes children too. My sister, she loved the hike. I'm incredibly thankful to have brought her here, simply because she wanted to go on a different kind of an adventure and she managed to see it young. I didn't hike much at all, and I want to open those doors to my little sister. 1 star less because unfortunately, we did not find that waterfall. Only a small stream and although we washed our feet, we were looking forward to finding that waterfall, and it just wasn't found. Someone even told us that we were on the wrong park-- but I knew that wasn't right either. We were much too tired to finish it, so we just went back and hoped to come back and try again. Some of the hikers told us to take a left on the trail sign that I took a photo of. We must go left on the crest and then go left. We did that, but it wasn't found. We'll try a different path for the future. Overall, it wasn't much of a waste of time. Still a glorious experience. I'm glad I'm alive. read more

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Decent hike for a few hour. The hardest thing was that it was lots of ups and down, so it felt like it was uphill both ways! Haha. We climbed down to the falls, which wasn't necessarily easy to get to for someone who may not be comfortable with bouldering or crossing a creek. The trail was very crowded for a Saturday even. The trail was mostly shaded, so great for a summer day. read more

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Absolutely beautiful! When it's not too crowded lol. Come early or on a weekday if you can.

From the upper parking lot, there is a 1 mile out and back trail to the falls. Perfect for out-of-towners or people not used to physical exertion at elevation; gives them a sense of hiking in the mountains without fear of killing them. The falls weren't really *falling* when we came late in Fall but it was a still a beautiful little hike and had some good scenery and foliage. Mostly shaded. I know there is also a 3 mile and 4 mile option, so do your research if you want to make this a longer hike. read more

The pluses: quick and easy drive from denver. The minuses: super crowded on an early Saturday morning, far too many dogs for my liking, and parking was limited. We parked along the road but almost got hit 4 times because of the cars flying by. So watch out!!!! read more

My favorite part of this hike was all of the dogs I got to see while trekking up the mountain. This is a dog & horse friendly trail. Make sure to bring dog poop bags. The trail is mostly shady and consists of 4 (?) miles of incline and decline. There are few spots that are just straight/level. There are several areas by the creek that serve as nice resting/eating spots. There is a private parking lot that gets full pretty fast so you might end up parking alongside the road. The falls itself aren't that impressive but the trickling water from the creek is nice to listen to. A fellow hiker mentioned upper Maxwell falls trail which is a loop trail that is less crowded and has its own parking area. Lower Maxwell Falls doesn't loop around. read more

Great hike close to Denver. It's a beautiful shaded trail and a fairly easy hike, which makes it popular. A nice loop with water most of the way, except the cliff loop. The cliff loop had lots of wild flowers to make up for it though. It would have been a 5 star hike for me, if not for all the dog poop bags. We picked up lots of trash along our way, but there were bags of dog poop everywhere. Gross people - pack it out!! If you can't respect our trails, DON'T USE THEM! read more

Lower Maxwell Falls Trail Head - Poop bags litter the trail. Great hike, but let's keep it clean! - Hiking Near Me - Evergreen, Colorado

Hiked when it was about 50 degrees in early November. There wasn't any snow in Denver but on this trail there was a few inches. The trail is pretty well marked, but be careful, it was pretty icy. My dogs were fine, some older or smaller dogs might have issues climbing on some rocks. It's very shady, different terrains, and uphill for awhile. Children would be fine on this trail. I really enjoyed this trail. It wasn't too busy on a saturday, there is some parking. No trash or bathrooms here. Bring snacks and lots of water. read more

Went for the first time today, loved it! Beautiful in all ways. Was not busy at all today (Thursday), seen 4 people and 1 dog in 2.5 hours! Sooooo peaceful! read more

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Went in mid-June, early on a Sunday morning. If you do the full five mile loop there is a good amount of elevation change, but it is rolling not all uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. If you add in the cliff loop, you get a wide variety of scenery. It seems like a great hike to bring your dog, plenty of access to the stream for a little romp! I would definitely recommend going early. We got there around 8:15, and there were 5 other cars in the parking lot. When we got back around noon, both sides of the road where full for 1/2 a mile! read more

This trail is too crowded and not beautiful enough to be that crowded. If you like a boring walk in the woods with half of Denver than this is your trail. Also there are no falls to speak of. Save yourself a trip and go to one of the more beautiful, less crowded trails nearby. read more

Very over-crowded for a relatively short hike. Too many people with dogs off-leash, poop bags and garbage just dropped wherever. The waterfalls are small but pretty after a big rain. Otherwise, it's trickles. This trail is way overrated. read more

Definitely one of mine and my wife's favorite hikes. Great medium difficulty hike. Plenty of shade, great views. You hike through a small stream but it does pick up as you go along. Dog friendly so we brought our husky and he had a great time as well with the hike as well as meeting other dogs. Will definitely revisit soon. read more

This is a good hike but the name is a bit deceiving. Depending upon what time of year you go, there isn't much water coming from the "Falls". It is beautiful and a good workout. For those of you that bring your pets, please do the rest of us a favor and pack out the doggie poo. read more

At the entrance of the trail, there was a sign with a bunch of rules and someone scribbled in a black Sharpie: "Hikers destroyed this trail." I pondered why and asked my cousin. He pointed at the bottom of the sign. There were plastic bags of dog poop everywhere. Then, I saw people going in and out of the area with their dogs. As my cousin and I hiked, we saw litter in certain areas, and guess what else? More dog poop. At the beginning of the trail, there was ICE covering it, so some spikes or Yaktrax for your shoes are highly recommended for better grip and traction. I slipped and fell quite often without my cousin's Yaktrax. Other than that, it was not too hard of a hike and the views on top are quite lovely. Would i go again or recommend this spot? Probably not. Next time, someone should add "Hikers AND their dogs' POOP destroyed the trail." read more

Wow! What an awesome trail. Took my son, daughter and dog. Spent half day trekking through the trails. Plenty of shade. So beautiful. Parking is an issue though so get there early! read more

I loved this hike! Make sure you look at the map before you go so you're not there for 4 hours or more :) but very fun, dogs loved it, it was great! read more

Busy busy busy, but to be expected on a weekend. Nice trail, good footing, oh so many dogs most were on leash as was advised. Plenty of parking on the road as well as a nice parking lot. There was a lot of shade on the first part of the trail! read more

Personally, I really enjoyed this trail. A good mix of up-and-down inclines, which provides a little challenge, but one that is not too hard. It is clean and well maintained, and is great for a family walk. There were many families there the day that we went. read more

Really nice hike, although like previous reviews there was a lot of doggy waste bags that people left on the ground. Disappointed in those people, you should pick up after your pets and that includes taking those bags with you. Other then that it was great! read more

Lower Maxwell Falls Trail Head - Hiking Near Me - Evergreen, Colorado