Rainbow Falls

Joe Van Tassel

This spot is hard to pass up if you find yourself near by. It's a mostly paved (some crushed gravel) easy walk with a gradual incline up along the step falls to the main waterfall. It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes to walk there from the parking area. If you desire to do some wading in the ankle deep water under the CDOT bridge, or to head towards the waist deep section under and behind the falls, I'd strongly recommend some sort of water shoes (Merrell Choprocks are great), the stones can be pretty brutal on the feet. The water is cold but refreshing. There are also volunteers there who have a great knowledge of the history of this little park. The parking is limited and narrow. I can't be certain but it looked like a few people who had attempted to park outside the designated area along the main road were ticketed, so best to avoid that. If you've got a few minutes to spare though, definitely gives this spot a look.

Kristina H

For me personally, this was a fun trip because we were able to enjoy nature and hike up the mountain to the Falls since there weren't any parking spaces. HOWEVER, I noticed around lunch time spaces open up. So if you're wanting to plan it where you have a chance of having a parking spot actually in the Rainbow Falls gate, try going then. My experience started rocky, pun intended. We arrive at 9:15 not knowing they didn't open until 10 and that's when we noticed there's hardly any parking spots inside that gate. My mom had already tried to visit 3 times before this most recent but didn't have time to wait for a spot to open, so she had to leave. Anyway, the Rainbow Falls attendant came out and told us to drive around until 10 and come back. Which we did. And when we came back, right at 10, every spot was taken as we knew would happen. It was frustrating at first. After we backed out, we decided to find a spot in town and just walk, mind you had a five year old with us and didn't know if she would be able to hang it there. It was also getting in the 90s, super hot. Thankfully, we all had brought water bottles so we were able to hike it. It really was a beautiful walk, at times there's weren't sidewalks so we had to walk in the road with traffic. There's also construction going on, a bit of a mess but we made the best of it and decided to soak in the nature! Once we reached the Falls, BEAUTIFUL!!! It was very cold and I would recommend wearing crocs or shoes you can walk in the water with, there's rocks that will hurt. For us, it was perfect since we were hiking up and down the mountain to get to/from our vehicle, so the water felt great and refreshing. We came on a Saturday right as they opened, perhaps during the week might be better, parking wise? If hiking sounds like your ideal thing, then DO ITTTT. Plan to pay for parking in town and take your time walking, it's worth it :)

Andrea Archer

I'm giving this 4 stars because the parking area is small and confusing. The falls are pretty. It's 1/8 mile from the parking area to falls. They're nice but honestly I liked the path along the creek better than the falls themselves. It's worth a visit if you have 20 minutes.

Pete Mardis

OMG what a beautiful place!! Whenever I travel for work I look for cool things to go see! This I a beautiful place and is very relaxing!! The only down side was I couldn't fly my drone to get some good Arial pictures and video!! That was a real bummber