7.2 miles | 858 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium | Rating ★★★★

Spring brings high water and mud. While hiking might be a bit dirtier than other times of the year, it is the perfect time for chasing waterfalls. We took a few days up in the Hudson Valley to do just that. Rainbow Falls in Minnewaska State Park, not to be confused with Rainbow Falls in the High Peaks region, feeds into Peter Kill. While the falls can be dry in the summer, snow melt and saturated land allows for a brilliant cascade.

We started at the parking lot, often overflowing on weekends, but only had a few cars at 10:30am on a Thursday. Starting on the carriage road, we soon turned left onto the Mossy Glen footpath. For the next mile or so we traveled alongside and across Peter’s Kill, eventually making a sharp left and climbing steeply up the Blueberry trail to a wide footpath.

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Across the cliffs, we could see the slaps from which the falls fell, though saw little water from the distance. After a mild stroll along the foot path, we made a sharp right onto the Rainbow Falls trail down to the foot of the forest, then across and up to the falls. Cascading from above, the falls were a fantastic sight. It was also the perfect spot for lunch.

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After a nice break we continued on the Rainbow Falls path, climbing up again to the cliffs, then along the rock ridges for a while. Finally returning to a carriage road. The remaining 2 miles back to the lot were relatively unremarkable. Definitely a trail to take advantage of in the Spring. I imagine summer will mean a dryer kill and falls.