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Newt Lake

Wedgemount Lake

Northair Mine

Cirque Lake

Brandywine Meadows

Callaghan Lake

Adit Lakes

Joffre Lakes

Whistler Train Wreck

Logger's Lake

Wedgemount Lake

Black Tusk

Black Tusk

Spectacular Whistler!

Whistler hiking is wonderful! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month guides! WeRentGear.com rents tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp stoves, packs, complete kits and more!

Best Trails This Week!

Best This Week: Whistler Train Wreck and Parkhurst Ghost Town are easy, fun and dog friendly. Check out our May and June Whistler and Garibaldi Park guides here!

The short, scenic and easy hiking trail to Rainbow Falls is located just a short, half kilometre from the Rainbow Lake or Rainbow Trail trailhead. The trail begins by ascending into deep forest and the trail winds left, right, up and down constantly.  Twentyone Mile Creek, always on your right can be either seen or heard as you hike through beautiful forest to the somewhat hidden Rainbow Falls. 

  • Short trail through beautiful forest to hidden falls
  • Much quieter than most other trails
  • Easy to bike or walk to from Whistler Village
  • Trail is always winding up & down, never boring
  • Great to see on the way to Rainbow Lake
  • Rainbow Park is great to see and close by
  • The falls are not very big or impressive
  • Tricky to get a nice view of the falls
  • Not a lot to see on the short trail
  • Nice to see, but not a must see

Twentyone Mile Creek begins, 8 kilometres away as it drains from Rainbow Lake, making its way eventually to the River of Golden Dreams, before finally draining into Green Lake north of Whistler Village.  A couple minutes into the Rainbow Trail and you come to a fork in the path. You can take either path as they rejoin further up the trail, however taking the right fork is more scenic and only a little more of a steep climb.  A second fork in the trail appears a couple minutes later again, and once again taking the right fork is better. You will then come to a small trail sign indicating "Rainbow Falls". This short trail takes you to the little oasis that Rainbow Falls flows into. After seeing Rainbow Falls, there are a couple more nice vantage points just a short hike further up the Rainbow Trail. If you backtrack from the falls and rejoin the Rainbow Trail, you will zig-zag up some short switchbacks, before coming out to the gravel access road to the water treatment building. Here you will find a nice mapboard showing the Rainbow Trail and some of the connecting trails.

Rainbow Falls Hiking Trail Map

Rainbow Falls Map v11

This section of trail overlaps with the 40 kilometre, Rainbow-Sproatt Flank Trail, so you will see some "Flank Trail" signs as well as Rainbow Lake signs.  If you follow the Flank Trail as it ascends past the water treatment building on its right side, you will quickly come to the beautiful bridge across Twentyone Mile Creek. This is a great vantage point over this very scenic creek. The Flank Trail continues for several kilometres beyond this bridge, eventually coming out near Ancient Cedars, well north of Whistler Village.

Rainbow Falls South of the Main Falls

Rainbow Falls Map v6a

The Rainbow Trail

Rainbow Falls TrailheadThe trailhead is a short 15 minute drive from Whistler Village. There is parking at the Rainbow Trail, trailhead as well as Rainbow Park just a couple hundred metres further up Alta Lake Road. At the trailhead you will see an excellent map-board indicating the trails in front of you. There are no signs to Rainbow Falls and you will just see signs for Rainbow Lake, The Flank Trail and Madeley Lake. To find Rainbow Falls you just follow the Rainbow Lake trail from the trailhead for about a half kilometre until you reach the water treatment building (Rainbow Lake is Whistler's water source).  Just before the building the trail forks.

Rainbow Falls in Whistler

Rainbow Falls Boulders in 21 Mile Creek

Rainbow Trail Directions Map

Rainbow Lake Map v11

More Rainbow Falls Hiking info...

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

Brandywine Meadows Maps

Brandywine Meadows is a nice, relatively short hike to a massive flower filled valley high up in Callaghan Valley. Located 40 minutes south of Whistler, this tough and ...
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Parkhurst Ghost Town Maps

Whistler has an absurd number of wonderful and free hiking trails and Parkhurst Ghost Town certainly ranks as one of the most unusual, exotic and interesting. Parkhurst was a little ...
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Wedgemount Lake Maps

Wedgemount Lake itself is a magnificent destination for a day hike or spectacular overnight beneath the dazzling mountain peaks and stars. Many sleep under the stars on one of ...
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Cheakamus Lake Maps

Cheakamus Lake is a wonderfully relaxing way to get in the wilderness easily and quickly from Whistler Village.  The trail begins on the far side of Whistler Mountain, 8 ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

Complete West Coast Trail Hiking Guide

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

Cirque: a glacier-carved bowl or amphitheater in the mountains.  To form, the glacier must be a combination of size, a certain slope and more unexpectedly, a ...
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Western hemlock (tsuga heterophylla) is a large evergreen coniferous tree that is native to the west coast of North America. Unlike many other trees in ...
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The second Caterpillar tractor in Parkhurst Ghost Town is considerably harder to find despite being just a few metres from the hulking Caterpillar at the shore ...
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The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is a line of mostly dormant stratovolcanoes and subglacial volcanoes largely centred around Whistler and extending through much ...
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The Garibaldi Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains.  Deriving its name from Mount Garibaldi, the Garibaldi Ranges cover the huge ...
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Whistler, the surrounding mountains, and Garibaldi Provincial Park are home to two types of bears.  Black bears and grizzly bears.  Black bears are ...
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Porteau Cove is a beautiful little stop on the drive to or from Whistler. You will notice the lack of convenient washroom stops on the way to or from ...
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The sawmill at Parkhurst operated on the triangle of land that juts out into Green Lake and also extended north between the train tracks and the lake.  The ...
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More Hike in Whistler Glossary

Free Camping Gear Delivery to Garibaldi Park

The Best Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Trails!

The Rainbow Trail is a convenient and popular trail near Whistler Village that takes you to Rainbow Lake as well as the Rainbow-Sproatt Flank Trail, Rainbow Falls, Hanging Lake, Madeley Lake, Beverley ...
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The short, winding, and ever-changing hiking trail to Rainbow Falls is the same as the much more popular trailhead for Rainbow Lake.  The trailhead is marked as the Rainbow Trail, and the trail quickly ...
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Ring Lake is a fantastically serene and wonderfully remote lake similar to Cirque Lake, but considerably farther to hike to reach it. The 10 kilometre(6.2 mile) hike takes you through a rarely hiked forest, ...
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The alpine hiking trails on Whistler Mountain are the ultimate in luxurious, quick-access alpine hiking. Little effort gets you amazing views of turquoise lakes, snowy mountains, valleys of flowers and ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trails & Maps

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