Near Colorado Springs is one of Colorado’s most captivating natural wonders. Seven Falls is the only waterfall in the state on National Geographic’s list of International Waterfalls, and often called “The Grandest Mile of Scenery in Colorado.

We drove to where a shuttle picked us up and brought us into Seven Falls. You can take a shuttle from there or walk to the falls, we walked and we got to see some great scenery along the way.

The hike to the Falls is a paved canyon trail it’s about a mile to get to the tiered waterfall. Along the way we saw stunning views of the Cheyenne Canyon and it’s incredible rock formations, along with beautiful wild flowers along the way. In the last picture you can see that you can also take a zip-line across the park.

What you see is Seven Falls, a magnificent series of cascading waterfalls located in a 1,400-foot-wall box canyon. Each of the falls have names :Ramona Falls, Feather Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Shorty Falls, Hull Falls, Weimer Falls, and Hill Falls.

To get to the top of the falls you have to climb all these stairs, oh what the heck.

When we reached the top we put our hands in the falls.

There is also trails above the falls to take.

On the way back down

Seven Falls would pass through many more hands over the decades, but, fortunately, each owner saw the value in protecting the falls.   Before Seven Falls was officially known as Seven Falls, it was a simple chunk of land given to Nathan Colby in 1872 as part of the Homestead Act. His wife is in the picture above. While different owners would make new trails and add safety changes or other features to accommodate visitors to the waterfalls. One of the owner’s even added an elevator in the 1990s, It has been nature that has changed 7 falls. Floods had a huge impact on the falls and the visitor park. The first, in 1965, wiped the entire visitor park off the map and the second Seven Falls flood in 2013 re-shaped the park forever. Five days of powerful rain stuck area after two summers of tragic fires and long dry periods. The water running through Cheyenne Creek and surrounding streams was referred to as a “500-year flood” with water levels so catastrophic that it destroyed the visitor park and the road leading to Seven Falls. Trees were upended, pavement completely disappeared and mud covered the region. Despite the best efforts of the Walker family, who owned the land at the time, the park was forced to close for over two years until its ultimate sale to the Broadmoor Hotel just down the road. The Broadmoor are still the owner’s today, they own a beautiful resort just down the way.

We then went to a very unique restaurant for dinner.

The Airplane Restaurant, opened in 2002, is literally a diner inside the middle of a restored KC-97 tanker.

Forty-two passengers can actually eat in the plane so that’s where we went.   You also got a chance to fly the plane, as you can see below.

The rest of the restaurant that isn’t in the actual plane

Built in 1953, this airplane was used for refueling aircraft all over the world. It was used by the U.S. Air Force for cargo and troop transport, as well. Almost lost at sea, it was safely returned and ended its career in the Texas Air Guard. The plane was later purchased by a couple, and in 2002 it was converted into a restaurant open to the public.

Fun place to eat and the food was good too!