Upper Rainbow Falls

Take the Sea-to-Sky Highway (99) to the town of Whistler and continue north from the main part of town to the satellite village of Alpine Meadows. Turn left (west) onto Alpine Way, and then almost immediately make another left onto Rainbow Drive. Follow Rainbow Drive, which turns into Alta Lake Road after passing the residential area, for another 3 kilometers to the bridge over Rainbow Creek and the parking area for the Rainbow Lake trailhead located adjacent. There are trails on either side of the creek which converge at a footbridge above Upper Rainbow Falls, so loop hike is possible, however the falls are only visible from the trail on the south (left) side of the creek. Hike the Rainbow Lake Trail on the south side of Twentyone Mile Creek for about 3/4 km to where it intersects the creek near the top of Rainbow Falls. To see Upper Rainbow Falls, follow the boot trails towards the creek, then upstream to a large boulder where the falls can be seen splashing down in the gorge.Upper Rainbow Falls is the first in a series of small falls and cascades along Twentyone Mile Creek as it tumbles down a narrow ravine along the stream's final descent into the Green River valley opposite the resort town of Whistler. The falls occur as the stream wraps around a low ridge and funnels between two large protruding extrusions of bedrock which funnel the creek into a narrow slot where it plunges 27 feet into a small pool. Adjacent to the main fall is a veiling waterfall fed by a stream which seems to emerge from either a small resurgent spring or from overflow of the pipe which diverts a portion of Twentyone Mile Creek to the Whistler town water supply just upstream from the falls. Either way, the volume of the tributary waterfall seems to vary considerably depending on the season, and it may run dry entirely late in the year. Twentyone Mile Creek drains from a basin directly north of Whistler which covers an area of approximately 28 square kilometers (11 square miles), and rising from about 800 meters above sea level to elevations of about 2300 meters at the summit of Rainbow Mountain. Because a substantial portion of the drainage basin occurs at elevations over 1000 meters above sea level, the stream is fed by a consistent heavy winter snow pack and retains a strong flow for much of the year. A small permanent snow field is present on Rainbow Mountain to ensure snow melt continues through the late summer months, and two moderately sized lakes occur in the drainage as well to further help regulate the flow of the stream.It's not entirely clear which of the multiple drops along Twentyone Mile Creek, if any specifically, were singled out to be named as Rainbow Falls. It seems possible that the whole series of falls may have at some point in time been known collectively as Rainbow Falls, but it may also have been applied to just one particular set of falls in the area - which that may be is not known, so we've made an educated guess. After surveying the site in May of 2018 however, we found the uppermost set of falls to be separated by enough distance that it should appropriately be considered a separate entity from the downstream falls which we have guestimated as the Rainbow Falls proper.