Mount Leconte via Rainbow Falls Trail | Cinematic Hiking in the Smokies

Rachel: Hey guys we're An Adventure with Nick and Rachel and we bring you the best places to hike and explore in the Southeast and more so if you're into that kind of thing make sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell because we bring you weekly videos just like this. Today we are in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and we are doing the Rainbow Falls trail to Mount LeConte. It's 13 miles round trip and you get nearly 4,000 feet in elevation gain. So let's go check it out. So as always All Trails is a little bit off it's about 14 and a half miles from the parking lot and back. We'll have a link in the description below of the route that we walked if you'd like to use that for a reference. It's so beautiful here during the summer time getting to see the mountain laurel blooming with its pinks and whites, enjoying a beautiful summer day with the breeze blowing through the leaves. We wish we could live closer sometimes we would be out here every day enjoying every season. Rachel: The sun's rays filter through the trees casting a warm glow on the forest floor and the trail ahead, revealing nature's captivating play of light and shadows. So after the fires that swept through here in 2016 the National Park Service took over, took on a major project in this area because this trail used to be like really like a rough, rugged footpath. And so they wanted to make it safer for hikers, a more durable surface to eliminate a lot of the erosion that was occurring. And so it was a two-year project and they installed over 350 steps, so those steps that we've been going up the stone steps they installed those. They created nearly 600 feet of elevated trail surfaces, installed over 400 drainage elements, and placed over 1,000 native stones along the route to make it more durable and make it safer because there were a lot of like little footpaths off that hikers had made so they made it a lot more safer and a lot easier to hike. So I mean so far this trail has been a moderate, I would say moderate. It's a little bit difficult, I've been breathing pretty heavy so I couldn't imagine what it was like prior to 2017 when they did all the repairs and stuff. So speaking of wildfires there are wildfires going on in Canada and what you're seeing over there in that light beam all that haziness, smokiness is the smoke coming down from those fires up in Canada. That is crazy that the smoke has like worked its way all the way down here to the Smoky Mountains. Which makes them a little more smoky I guess. Nick: Yep they're living up to the name. Rachel: Plants are one of my favorite things so get ready for some fun plant facts. The Great Smoky Mountains is home to over 1800 species of vascular plants from trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ferns, vines and more. Ferns happen to be one of my favorite plants, possibly due to watching Fern Gully so much growing up, but there are over 50 different types of ferns in the Smokies. This coolest part to me is that the Smoky Mountains are so diverse that the plant count continues to rise each year with new discoveries. Rachel: Look at the size of that tree. It's got to be one of the lucky few that made it through the logging boom in the early 1900s. Rachel: It's pretty cool how ferns unravel like little Fruit Roll-Ups. Check out the little spores on the back side of the leaves. That's how they reproduce rather than seeds. So the earlier you can hear the better. We got here around eight o'clock/ 8:30 and it's a Thursday, a weekday and the parking lot was already full. We ended up having to park in the overflow parking lot. We were the first ones there but people were showing up left and right after we got there. Nick: And here recently in the Smokies they've been putting rocks where people used to just park now they got big boulders there so there's less parking. You also need your parking pass if you're going to do any of these hikes. So keep that in mind. Rachel: As we rounded the bend in the trail anticipation filled the air. Suddenly there it was the site of Rainbow Falls emerging into view. The rush of water tumbling down the rocky cliff, the mist dancing in the sunlight, and the powerful roar echoing through the forest. The site of Rainbow Falls from around that bend reminded us of the raw beauty that awaits around every corner. So right behind me is Rainbow Falls. It's about 2.6 miles up the trail and it has the distinction of being the highest single drop waterfall in the Great Smoky Mountains at 80 feet. It gets its name from the rainbow that'll form in the mist of the water coming off of the waterfall if the sun hits it perfectly on those like pretty sunny days. I mean there's a lot of sunshine up there but I don't think we're gonna get that rainbow today but that would have been really cool to see. But we're going to continue up the trail to Mount LeConte. A lot of people do congregate at the waterfall but just like when we did Alum Cave they turned back at that main attraction so we'll get a more peaceful hike up to Mount LeConte. So lets get going. So on these day hikes when we know we're going to be around water this water bottle is perfect to take to like replenish our water bottles that we do take so we take maybe like three or four of those regular water bottles drink those and fill those up with the filtered water that we get through this. It's perfect. Super lightweight, easy to keep in our backpack. Nick: Just gotta make sure there's water on the trail. Water bottle won't do you any good unless you know there's a river or some kind of water source. Rachel: Mountain Water is good. Nick: Oh yeah and you ain't got no problem with the Smokies there's water everywhere Rachel: So since most people turn around at Rainbow Falls the trail gets pretty overgrown since not many people walk up through this way but you can still see exactly where the trail is but during the summer time all this green is covering the trail so. Nick: You practically need a mosquito net to wear over your face in here because there's so many bugs flying around and gnats. I've already inhaled probably two and snorted one at least. Rachel: Yeah definitely wear your bug spray because ticks and mosquitos. Nick: Especially huffing and puffing you can't help it. They get around your face and you breathe them on in. Rachel: My gum is like a bug trap. Nick: Oh you're gonna chew them up. Rachel: Stick on in their extra protein. Nick: You can see them floating around your face right now. we're coming around this corner and I don't know if you've ever seen bears in the woods but they're super super quiet they're like ninjas even though they're huge I heard like a little snap like and I looked over and there was a a bear like maybe from here to that tree which is probably about 20 feet away 30 feet away and you could barely hear him it was like a full-size black bear and as soon as I heard that snap all I seen was like about that much of his upper body and then he just went down the tree and you never heard him again never seen them again never heard them so as long you might think you're you know hiking by yourself oh there ain't no beer out here just because you don't see it I promise you every hike you go on there's probably a beer like watching you or like near near you at some point so this is a big old dried up Rishi mushroom I guess like bigger than my hand but Nick takes it's a medicinal mushroom and it picks the supplement of it um but if you were ever out here and you come across like mushrooms or plants or whatever do not eat them do not pick them unless you were absolutely 100 sure you know what it is because you could get really hurt doing that yeah there's actually some mushrooms out here that will kill you and you will die a very painful death really hurt as in die they're called uh destroying angels and they're white and they grow on the ground but there's also fakes that look just like it that are edible that's why they tell you do not eat it unless you know 100 because you might be just playing with your life but that is a big O Rishi the Shelf pretty much those mushrooms are really pretty the older they get the Browner they get and they start getting like the the Rings towards the edges I'm just telling you how big they get look how crazy big that one is that's like it's massive it's really really huge get a better look from the top that's like at least four of my hands yeah they get really really big that's one of the bigger ones I've seen a mushroom hunter you ain't supposed to take anything like that out of the national park anyway but other places and around this area they still grow so you see them out in other woods and you know who owns the property are you on the property for free but there's a gross rotten one on the other side of that tree oh yeah [Music] thank you it literally looks like everything's burning down over here like once you get out of that canopy you realize how bad and hazy it really is like let's take a look at that that is insane being in like the tree Cemetery yeah we're in the tree graveyard now so this looks so like ominous [Music] you can't really see that far you see this little Hill right here you can't really see too much you can vaguely I don't know if you can even pick it up on camera but vaguely see the mountain range behind it it is so so like hard to see Hill [Music] it looks kind of more like a heel because we're up high but it sorry man [Music] you can hear this bird it's gonna be right up in here right there he's calling his baby his baby fell out of the nest he's right there and he can't really fly he was in the trail and he got scared off the trail but hope you don't go too far and get eaten or whatever or his mom can't find him to bring him some delicious snacks until he gets uh able to fly he looks way too young his wings ain't long enough at all like he was just hopping around he's I still see him but he's getting further and further away we need to move so you know we don't scare him further off just for I was trying to take a risk too thank you for a second snack break and we're at that point in the trail where we're just thinking about all we can think about is what we're going to eat for dinner what do you want we haven't eaten our actual lunch yet but I'm really hungry we're like a little more than halfway through and we still got a long ways to go um more than likely this Trail is going to probably be over 14 miles the usually the signage and all Trails is usually off so it wasn't surprised if we log about 14 and a half by the time we out of here um so you already got to be like always got to be prepared for stuff like that bring extra water and snacks just because you never know a lot of that signage is off yeah bring your headlamp if you might be stuck out here after Dark looks like we are I want Mexican you always want me so tacos all right they're doing this tacos are settled [Applause] [ __ ] not only is there incredible diversity of plants in the Smoky Mountains but also among animals we got to see a really cool elusive red cheek salamander their habitat is almost completely the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a little bit into Raiden County Georgia speaking of the diversity of animals in the Smokies we recently wrote a book introducing children to some of the awesome animals that live here it's already live on Amazon but we'll be making a formal announcement about it soon we just thought we would give our dedicated viewers we've made it this far into the video a surprise announcement it's called My homeless Smokies by Nick and Rachel and if you'd like to go ahead and check it out that would be awesome this is our first time ever doing anything like this so if you enjoy it please leave us a five star review there's a Kindle and a paperback version foreign we are so close to 10 000 subscribers we may already have surpassed that by the time this video comes out but if you watch our Channel regularly please consider subscribing that really helps our Channel and you get to see awesome content like this but we just wanted to say thank you guys for watching and we enjoy making this content for you guys and enjoy hearing from you so let us know down in the comments how we're doing and make sure you subscribe Does that taste good [Music] I was in the middle of recording like two seconds ago if I could have just like if you were in the middle of talking that would have been so funny a little old blizzard [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] his mom up here to build it it's really cool so definitely make sure you stop in here and bring cash make sure you bring cash so you can stop in here and get you a cool hat or something [Music] you come up here you gotta make sure to get your picture taken in the front of the lodge that it always says the day you came an elevation that's the dining room [Music] something smells good foreign [Music] Lodge we are going to end our trip here because we've seen from the overlooks and um just from the sky up here that we're not going to have a really great view because of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires but the trail all the way up here was awesome like Rainbow Falls was beautiful that is I love those Trails where you get like two for one so Alum Cave and Rainbow Falls awesome hat I had awesome views but we have done two trips up to mount lacott now which was awesome but we are running out of daylight so we're gonna go ahead and head back down the mountain thank you guys for joining us if you like this video please make sure to like comment subscribe so you don't miss out on anything we look forward to seeing you on our next adventure thank you [Music]

Channel: An Adventure with Nick & Rachel

Views: 7,304

Keywords: Gatlinburg Waterfalls, Rainbow Falls, Rainbow Falls Smoky Mountains, Waterfalls Smoky Mountains, Smoky Mountain Waterfalls, Gatlinburg, Gatlinburg TN, Gatlinburg Tennessee, rainbow falls trail, rainbow falls trail to mount leconte, rainbow falls trail smoky mountains, mt leconte, smoky mountains, best waterfalls in Tennessee, Top Tennessee waterfalls, beautiful waterfalls in Tennessee, hiking the Smoky Mountains, best day hikes in the great smoky mountains, mount leconte, hiking

Id: n--CL-1ikwU

Length: 16min 59sec (1019 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 27 2023