Rainbow Falls Trail

Rainbow Falls Trail ascends LeConte Creek from the Cherokee Orchard trailhead to the park's highest single-drop waterfall — an 80-foot plunge off a sandstone lip that earns its name from the midday rainbows generated in its mist on sunny days. The trail parallels LeConte Creek through a classic Smoky Mountains cove hardwood forest of tulip poplar, yellow birch, and eastern hemlock — though hemlock woolly adelgid has claimed many of the largest hemlocks along the lower creek since the early 2000s, and the NPS is conducting ongoing biocontrol treatments. Spring wildflower bloom peaks in mid-April with trillium, bloodroot, and jack-in-the-pulpit carpeting the forest floor. The creek crossing below the falls requires rock-hopping that can be treacherous at high water in March and April. Rainbow Falls freezes partially in January and February, forming spectacular 40-foot columns of blue ice that draw ice climbers on permitted winter ascents. The trail continues past the falls another 2.7 miles to Mount LeConte's summit at 6,593 feet, the third-highest peak in the park. The lower trailhead is the most convenient access from Gatlinburg (3 miles), making this one of the park's most-hiked strenuous routes; parking fills by 9 a.m. on summer weekends. Reservation-based parking permits are required May through October.