Bridal Veil Falls is the tallest free-falling waterfall in Colorado, plunging 365 feet from the cliffs at the head of Telluride’s box canyon. Perched on the brink is a historic hydroelectric power plant that looks almost too dramatic to be real, and the hike or drive up to the base of the falls is one of the classic San Juan Mountain outings in summer and fall.

The falls are fed by Bridal Veil Creek, which drains the high basins above town and spills over the canyon’s sheer rock walls before joining the San Miguel River. The building on top is the Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Power Plant, built in 1907 to supply electricity to the Smuggler-Union mine and mill, back when the Telluride area was helping pioneer the use of alternating current for mining. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and restored in the early 1990s, and it has been offline for repairs since 2016. The plant is privately owned, so admire it from the road and trails, but please don’t trespass.

The easiest way to reach the falls on foot is the Bridal Veil Trail, which starts at the Idarado Mine parking area at the east end of the box canyon. It climbs about 859 feet over 1.2 miles each way through aspen and spruce, with a short spur to a smaller waterfall and swimming hole along the way. You can also walk up the steep switchbacks of the Bridal Veil road, or drive it in a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle when it’s open. From the base of the falls the road continues up toward Bridal Veil Basin and the Forest Service’s Bridal Veil Trail #636, which leads higher into the San Juans. Jeepers coming down the famous one-way Black Bear Pass road also pass right by the top of the falls, one of the most memorable moments of that drive.

With winter on the way, the four-wheel-drive road to Bridal Veil Falls will close for the season, and Visit Telluride discourages hiking and snowshoeing up to the falls in winter because of rockfall and avalanche danger. You can still drive to the end of the box canyon to see the frozen falls, which become one of the region’s best-known ice climbs once they freeze. Check telluride.com for current conditions.