Piney River Trail (Upper), Vail

09/26/2021. Beautiful time day of the season. Unpaved road but super easy drive with our rubicon. Parked by Piney Lake. There is a gift shop and restaurants there and it was their last day of the season and planned to open again in mid June next year. Splendor fall colors throughout the drive and hiking trail. Wanted to rent a boat after our hike but they were closed by 4pm for the wedding.

I'm not sure why other reviewers said trail access isn't welcome at the lake, I never experienced this. Additionally, it was stated that there's no restrooms, also not true. So here's the review on the hike. We went during the snowmelt on June 26. There's a total of 3 switchbacks headed up and one from the summit of the hike down to the falls. There's no less than 20 small springs that you have to walk across. There's a decent amount of mud. Therefore waterproof hiking shoes should be a must at this time of the year. The trail isn't that heavily trafficked, but there's a decent amount of people. Dogs and children as young as 4 were seen on the trail. The views are amazing, however the waterfall was underwhelming in our opinion. If I had seen pictures I probably would have gone just for the best views which are from the start of the trail to the first switchback.