The tenth and final falls of the loop earns its name by keeping a calendar. Winter Falls leaps 134 feet off the far rim across the gorge, fed by a small side creek instead of the main stream, so it lives and dies by the rain: come through in February or March and it thunders fat and white, but return in late August and you might catch a thin silver thread, or nothing but a dark wet stain where the water used to be. Most falls on this trail run hard year-round; this one keeps a calendar. And you meet it differently, from across the canyon on the rim, looking straight at its face instead of walking up under its base, so you get the whole drop at once, the water breaking on a shelf halfway down and fanning into a softer veil. Take a good look at which version it gave you. You're seeing a mood, and it changes with the sky.
Across the canyon, leaping off the far rim and dropping into the green of the gorge, that's Winter Falls — the tenth and last waterfall of your loop, and the only one you'll meet up here on the rim return. One hundred and thirty-four feet of it, and it earns its name. Fed by a small side creek, not the main stream, so it lives and dies by the rain. Come through here in February or March and it thunders, fat and white, throwing spray you can see from across the gap. Come back in late August and you might catch a thin silver thread, or nothing at all but a dark wet stain on the rock where the water used to be. Most of the falls you've passed today run hard year-round. This one keeps a calendar. And notice you're meeting it differently than the others, from across the canyon on the rim, looking straight at its face instead of walking up under its base. You get the whole drop at once, top to bottom, the way a painter would frame it. Watch how the water doesn't fall in one clean sheet but breaks halfway down, hits a shelf in the cliff, and fans out into a softer veil for the bottom half of the plunge. On a full day that shelf throws a haze of mist that hangs in the gorge and catches the afternoon light sideways. Take a good look at which version it gave you. You're seeing a mood, not just a waterfall, and the mood changes with the sky. Ten falls, and this is the one that closes the day.
