Rainbow Falls
A steady, rocky 5.4-mile round-trip climb up Le Conte Creek from Cherokee Orchard to the Smokies' tallest single-drop waterfall, an 80-foot plunge that throws rainbows in afternoon mist.
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- Length
- 5.4 mi
- Elevation gain
- 1,600 ft
- Difficulty
- hard
- Route
- out-and-back
Trail conditions
No recent condition reports. Hiked it lately?
Report current conditions →Elevation
2.3 mi · 1,603 ft of climbing · high 4,203 ft · low 2,610 ft
Find the trailhead
Parking
Two paved Rainbow Falls/Bull Head lots on the Cherokee Orchard loop above Gatlinburg; they fill early on weekends and a park-wide parking tag is required.
Directions to parkingWeather at the trailhead
74°FOvercast now
Sunrise 6:17 AM · Sunset 8:50 PM
- TodayOvercast83° / 71°F29% precip
- SatFog83° / 67°F21% precip
- SunDrizzle81° / 65°F84% precip
Forecast from Open-Meteo. Mountain conditions change fast; check again before you go.
Rainbow Falls earns its hard rating not from distance but from relentless footing: the trail climbs about 1,600 feet in 2.7 miles up the flank of Mount Le Conte, and almost every step of it is rock, root, or eroded staircase. From the Cherokee Orchard parking loop the route follows Le Conte Creek through hemlock and rhododendron, crossing the creek on two log bridges before arriving at the 80-foot plunge, the highest single-drop waterfall in the park; on sunny afternoons the mist throws the rainbow that named it, and in deep winter cold it builds an impressive ice column. The trail continues past the falls all the way to the summit of Le Conte, so turn around at the base unless you have planned a much bigger day. Do not climb the wet rocks around the falls — people are injured here every year — and carry water, since the grade and the slick tread make the descent slower than you expect.