Drive south on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Highway toward Castolon for about four miles. You'll see a sign indicating Sam Nail Ranch and a paved pullout on the right. On the left is an unmarked dirt road heading toward the mountains. Take this dirt road, which is very rough and barely passable for passenger cars, across the desert, down into a rough wash, and up to a large parking area near a vehicle gate. Walk past the gate and continue down the road to Oak Spring, where a beautiful "tie down" tree spans a stream of clear water.

Cross the stream and continue hiking up the road to the sign that points to Oak Spring Trail on the left. Take the trail as it climbs STEEPLY up the lower flanks of the Chisos Mountains. After 3/4 of a mile or so, the trail gets closer to the sheer cliffs of the Chisos, and you can see the canyon below to your right where the falls is located. Leave the trail and walk to the edge of the canyon.

You will see the high waterfall at the head of the canyon where it pours through The Window and into the desert below. Descend the loose rock (scree) very carefully to the bottom. BE CAREFUL!!! You could easily start a rockslide that will bury you alive! Usually there are some tracks in the scree, which you can follow to the bottom.

At the bottom, head upstream to the base of the falls. There is no pool of water here, as there is at Cattail Falls, and the canyon is NOT narrow and lush. It is open to the high cliffs that surround it, and you can look up and see the water fanning out over the massive column of mineral deposits it has built up over millennia. The column is draped with moss and is quite spectacular.

Return the way you came.

This is a challenging hike and should not be attempted by novice hikers or anyone in poor physical condition. Take water, as the hike will be hot and steep. There is usually water flowing at Oak Spring, but not always. And, again, this is a disappointing hike if there is not a good flow of water through the Window, so be sure to ask a ranger!

Turn down this road. Within 1/2 mile it will dip down into a rocky streambed. This road is difficult but passable in a passenger car if you drive carefully.

The roads officially ends at a parking lot at an iron gate. Park here and walk 1/4 mile down the road to an oasis where a stream crosses the road. Cross the road and walk uphill, watching for the iron sign on the left hand side pointing to the Oak Spring Trail.

Follow this trail left off the road as it climbs high into the desert on the shoulder of the Chisos Mountains. Within a mile you will come to a high overlook toward the Window, and the waterfall that pours out of it.

From here, you break away from the main trail and scramble down the dangerous scree slope into the deep canyon below. Then turn left up the creek to the base of the falls.

There is usually at least SOME water coming over the falls, but in the driest years, the falls dry up in summer.

This scramble is dangerous. Care should be used. Mountain lions haunt the oasis past the parking lot.