“…Talus slopes, which are abundant in Loch Vale and throughout the Colorado Front Range, help sustain base flow, contribute substantially to total annual solute export (Clow & Mast, ; Clow & Sueker, ), and have the largest groundwater storage capacity in this watershed, although only a portion of that capacity is ever full (Clow, Schrott, et al, ). Previous hydrograph separation analyses indicate that subsurface water, including soil water and talus‐slope groundwater, contributes nearly 70% to 100% of the Andrews Creek streamflow during the winter and early spring but only 20% to 32% of the total annual streamflow and as little as 15% during peak snowmelt (Clow & Mast, ; Clow, Schrott, et al, ; Webb & Parkhurst, ). In the summer, snowmelt that is routed to the stream via surface run‐off and shallow, subsurface flow paths is the dominant source of water to Andrews Creek (Mast, Kendall, Campbell, Clow, & Back, ).…”