During the first few years of our relationship, hubby and I had an annual tradition to meet up with his dad and sister to camp over the Easter weekend. It was one of the few times we would all get together since we lived in separate parts of New Mexico. We would usually go somewhere seasonly appropriate and warm, like Utah.

After Pie and I got married and moved to Colorado, the tradition kept going for a couple of years, but it became harder for us to find a central location to meet and more challenging for each of our little, growing family units to find the mutual time off to meet for that short holiday weekend.

We haven’t done that family tradition since 2015, but it didn’t mean we couldn’t start an Easter tradition of our own (as if we really needed an excuse to take another weekend vacation) and April 2021 was a good time to start!

Telluride is one of my absolute favorite places to visit in Telluride, as evidence of our many past trips there. We have visited several times for my winter birthday and once last year, finally in the summer, and I was eager to visit during early Spring!

One of the biggest reasons Telluride is my favorite place to visit in Colorado is because of all the waterfalls in the area. As if “regular” waterfalls don’t get me excited enough, frozen waterfalls are even more thrilling because they are unique and different every time.

Cornet Falls is one such waterfall. We first discovered Cornet Falls in the early winter and although the trek to get to it was quite daunting and even made me turn around during the first attempt, the intimidating hike to get there was eventually worth it because the impressive sight we saw could only be described as that resembling an other-worldly frozen volcano. I couldn’t wait to see it in the early Spring and the it ended up being very impressive!

Ice had accumulated in its usual winter, volcano-like formation, but the warm Spring weather was also causing it to begin to melt and shed a shimmering mist in the late afternoon sun when we visited upon our late arrival in Telluride.

On the next full day of our trip, we started off the morning with a visit to lower Bridal Veil Falls, a trail that was actually new to Telluride in 2020. We had visited two waterfalls on this trail in the summer of 2020 and we were eager to see what the waterfalls looked like in the Spring when they were possibly partially frozen.

After a hilariously frustrating hike post-holing thigh-deep the ennnnnttiiiiiiiiiiiiiire way to the first waterfall in soft Spring snow, we eventually made it to our destination, only to find that the waterfall was sloped in such a way that meant it would not freeze over into a beautiful, winter spectacle, but instead appeared merely as snow clung to a cliffside.

We made the best of the situation by taking some silly poses with two chunks of snow that had formed into round discs resembling that of a couple of inappropriate female body features, and onward we continued back to the vehicle, knowing that attempting to visit the second waterfall on the trail was going to be a waste of time and energy.

After our first hike of the day, we took a quick break for lunch and then set out on our absolute favorite hike in the Telluride area that we knew would lead to some truly magical frozen waterfalls.

We almost didn’t make it to these magical waterfalls when a small, but slippery log bridge stood in the way between me and the rest of the trail. We easily spent 30 minutes at this “obstacle” as I debated whether possibly falling into the icy water below this thin bridge was worth the sight beyond it.

After many tears, a few attempts to find a different way across the cold river, and one very patient husband’s encouragement, I made it across and it ended up being worth it!

Now it’s already time to start thinking where we might go next year!