Hike to Rainbow Falls - NC

It's been a while since we've had a good family hike, so we packed up Saturday morning and headed to Gorges state park in North Carolina.  Rainbow falls is roughly a three mile hike round trip and is rated as strenuous (for a good reason).

The five of us and the dog all headed down the trail and Cari quickly pointed out that the first section of the trail was steadily going down hill.  This was a bad sign for the tiring hike back out, but we'd worry about that later.

There were a lot of people on the trail but their destination wasn't Rainbow falls.  They were looking for adventure just beyond that.  More on that in a minute.  The trail has a few warnings that leaving the trail could cause you harm. . . or worse.  In fact several people died last year trying to wade in water above the falls and slipped, sending them over the edge.  We planned on staying on the trail.

Roughly half way into our hike it started drizzling rain.  We kept moving along the trail in this light rain and we weren't getting too wet.  After crossing a small creek, the rain picked up until it became a steady hard rain.  We took cover under a large Pine that was surrounded by Mountain Laurel.  We were still getting a little wet, but considering how hard it was raining, I'd say we were pretty dry thanks to the large Laurel leaves.  The rain seemed to last for about fifteen minutes, just long enough to create giant mud puddles and slippery slopes along the trail.

We continued until we reached the clear slope that revealed this massive waterfall.  There was a lot of water pouring over the cliff and it was an impressive site.  Several other visitors hiked down to the base and jumped into the water.  I watched as they swam across the deep pool and climbed onto the rock face adjacent to the waterfall.  The three of them were up a good distance.  They also made a good reference to show the size of the waterfall in my photos.  In this next photo you can see them on the rocks to the left of the water, near the trees.

After taking a break and watching the jumpers and the water for a while we continued along the trail for about ten more minutes.  This took us up river from the falls to another set of falls called Turtleback Falls.  This was a crowded and popular place.  This is where everyone was headed.  I don't have a good photo of Turtleback, but it's a smooth rock waterfall that drops into a pool of water.  Some people were jumping off rocks into the water, but most were climbing on top of the falls and sliding into the pool.

We didn't come prepared to slide into the cold water, but it did look like fun.  At this point the kids were starting to lose interest in this hike so we knew it was time to start trekking back.  When we got back to one of the two creek crossings I noticed that the kids made no attempt in trying to keep their feet dry.  Instead of walking on the large stepping stones, it was easier just to stomp into the water.  Easier and probably more fun.

When we crossed the half way point we started to find that first section of the trail that I mentioned earlier.  The one that was pointing downward on the way to the falls was now, when we were tired, pointing uphill.

It was great to get out again and take a family field trip.  The kids should expect more of this before they start back to school.