Rainbow Falls

Yesterday we did one of the scariest and most dangerous hikes I’ve ever done. In fact, the hike isn’t even listed on the AllTrails app and afterwards I found very little information about it online. We typically do a quick google map search for “waterfalls near me” and try and hit a few as we are traveling. The one closest to where we were staying this week is called Rainbow Falls. It is a 146 foot glacier waterfall flowing from Baker Mountain in the Cascades area of NW Washington State.

A glacier waterfall is always a treat as the water typically has a different color to it than other waterfalls.

Here are the directions to the “trailhead”: From Hwy 20 (N Cascades Hwy) take Baker Lake Rd to a left on Forest Service Rd 1130, continue approximately 4.4 miles to Rainbow Falls. There is no signage for the falls, simply a small turn out where we parked. We also noticed that someone had put some branches and rocks on the gravel road making an arrow symbol to indicate that this is where we should go.

Once we exited the car we could easily hear the water and we could see the beginning of a path. We noticed some rocky “steps” and figured that this must be the way. This is where it got dangerous. The path is more of a primitive trail and is completely overgrown. It is also straight down the mountain on a steep incline. For most of the ½ mile down, we were either climbing or rappelling down using ropes that someone else had tied and left behind or we were using tree roots and hoping that they held.

The reward for our foolishness was an amazing hidden waterfall dropping 146 feet through a narrow gorge to the glacier pool below.

For safety, anyone wishing to explore this waterfall should have walkie-talkies as there is no cell service, as well as gloves and rappelling or canyoneering safety harness equipment.