Rainbow Falls

The day after a rather exhausting hike to Shadow Lake, I opted for a shorter hike from Reds Meadow to Rainbow Falls. The route is popular with day-trippers who shuttle down from Mammoth Mountain, and it’s easy to see why. The trail is about 3 miles round trip and gently undulates through forest and meadow. The reward is Rainbow Falls, a 101-foot waterfall, the highest on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River.

A carpet of lupines and coyote mint.

The hike begins in the forest, where two kinds of flowers thrive: lupines and coyote mint. They were so abundant that the trail seemed lined with a thick, purple, multi-textured carpet.

The forest then opens into a broad meadow rich in grasses and shrubs, with occasional tree stumps standing as reminders of the past. This landscape is the result of the Rainbow Fire, sparked by lightning on August 21, 1992. The fire burned more than 8,700 acres, including 690 acres within Devils Postpile National Monument, where it affected about 82 percent of the park. Although the mature trees are gone, the meadow now provides habitat for many small mammals, insects, and birds. I heard several species that were new to me: MacGillivray’s Warbler, Fox Sparrow, and Green-tailed Towhee, all identified with the Merlin app.

The site of the 1992 fire.

Before I could see the waterfall, a faint rainbow shimmered in the drifting mist. But as I rounded the corner and the falls came fully into view, the rainbow disappeared. The best time to see the rainbow in July is around noon. I arrived just before 10:00 a.m.

Rainbow or not, Rainbow Falls is an unforgettable sight. The thunder of the water, the cool mist rising from the plunge, and the seemingly endless volume of water pouring over the cliff made for a wonderful start to the day. One day, I’ll return at the right time to see Rainbow Falls live up to its name.