East Alluvial Fan Trailhead
- nps.gov
- Estes Park
About
This is the east parking area for the Alluvial Fan, up Endovalley Road in Horseshoe Park. It's where you go to see what one broken dam did to a mountain valley. Short walk, loud water, and a lot of boulders. Easy to love, easy to crowd.
From Highway 34, drive about 2 miles west of the Fall River Entrance and turn north onto Endovalley Road. The Alluvial Fan sits roughly three quarters of a mile to a mile up. The NPS describes a cascade of water tumbling through a boulder field, with a footbridge over the Roaring River, paved paths, and a viewpoint looking at Horseshoe Falls. The NPS lists the area as accessible for people with mobility impairments, and there are vault toilets at the west lot.
All of that rock came down in the 1982 Lawn Lake flood, and it still looks like it happened last week. Stand there and read the landscape. I'd come early or late, because this is a heavy-visitation spot and the lots are small. Roads and trails in this corner have been closed and reopened over the years, so check the NPS road and trail status before you go. Inside the Park, dogs are only allowed on roads, in parking areas and picnic areas, never on the trail.
