Zapata Falls is a waterfall located in the
San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...
near the base of the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
)
, country= United States
, subdivision1_type= States
, subdivision1=
, parent= Rocky Mountains
, geology=
, orogeny=
, area_mi2= 17193
, range_coordinates=
, length_mi= 242
, length_orientation= north-south
, width_mi= 120
, w ...
on
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
land adjacent to
Rio Grande National Forest
Rio Grande National Forest is a 1.86 million-acre (7,530 km²) U.S. National Forest located in southwestern Colorado. The forest encompasses the San Luis Valley, which is the world's largest agricultural alpine valley, as well as one of ...
and south of
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is an American national park that conserves an area of large sand dunes up to tall on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and an adjacent national preserve in the Sangre de Cristo Range, in south- ...
in
Alamosa County
Alamosa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,376. The county seat is Alamosa. The county name is the Spanish language word for a " grove of cottonwood trees."
History
Alamosa ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
.
The waterfall has a drop of about . Access to this waterfall entails a mildly steep hike. Viewing the falls requires fording the stream and climbing rocks.
Black swift
The American black swift, or more simply black swift (''Cypseloides niger''), is a species of bird that is found from northern British Columbia in Canada through the United States and Mexico to Costa Rica and Brazil. They are also found in the Ca ...
s nest near the falls, one of the few known breeding sites for this species in Colorado.
See also
*
Waterfalls of Colorado
This is a list of waterfalls in the U.S. State of Colorado.
__TOC__
Waterfalls of Colorado
The following list includes all 81 waterfalls in Colorado that have official names according to the United States Geological Survey. There are also numer ...
References
External links
{{commons category, Zapata Falls
DesertUSA: Zapata FallsZapata Falls Tribute Site
Landforms of Alamosa County, Colorado
Waterfalls of Colorado
Tourist attractions in Alamosa County, Colorado
Cascade waterfalls