Rainbow Falls in Reliance, Tennessee

I have to say that the drive along the Ocoee River in Polk County, Tennessee is one of my favorite. Winding curves and picturesque landscapes make for relaxing scenery. It also makes me long for a Jeep again so I can take it all in with the top down. Rainbow Falls lies in the Cherokee National Forest and can be reached from the Clemmer Trail Head. Turning off of US Highway 64 onto Tennessee Highway 30, this trailhead is the next immediate left.

Secret and I headed out early one morning to go to Rainbow Falls. Once again it was obvious we were the first ones on the trail that day because of the spider webs we walked through but we persevered. There are actually 3 different "falls" on this hike ending with quite the spectacular last one. It's labeled as 1.7 miles of moderate trails but you are going to have to cross the creek twice along the way. I would suggest downloading the All Trails map for the trail so you can make sure you are following the trail.


When Secret and I headed out on the trail it had rained a lot in the area earlier. Crossing the creeks were a little harder than I expected for a moderate trail because the water current was flowing briskly. I honestly didn't expect Secret to want to cross. As soon as I stepped into the water she was right behind me in the first crossing and I could tell she was quite proud of herself for managing the feat.

The next crossing was a little deeper, coming up to her shoulders and I thought for sure she would just stand on the bank and bark at me but once again she followed me through it. I will say this is the summer of Secret somewhat overcoming her fear of water.

In July who cares if you have to cross creeks? It felt refreshingly cool. By the time we made it to the big falls I felt we had traversed an adventure. We had seen a couple of ladies when we started off but they chose a different trail and we had the entire falls to ourselves. I walked along the edge of the cliffs under the spray of trickling small waterfalls and found a place to sit. I sat down and realized there were small translucent bluish butterflies (or moths) all around. It wasn't long before I had 3 landing on my feet at all the same time- I felt like the butterfly whisperer!

I didn't stay as long as I would have liked to at the last waterfall because Secret the Wonder Pup obviously thought she was invincible and kept trying to find a way to get down to the water below. Because I wanted this to be a relaxing hike and not a catastrophe, we headed back.

On the way back, to my surprise, she even swam a bit in the deepest of crossings. She was obviously feeling sassy so when we happened upon a lady trying to walk 3 dogs and her pit bull miss got loose to be aggressive with Secret, Miss Secret did not back down. No dogs were hurt, mainly just egos were shown and another hiker happened to see the issue and heroically grabbed the pit bull's leash and saved the day. I'm glad we chose to head out early because the trail was much busier as we headed out!

Rainbow Falls in Reliance, Tennessee was a beautiful treat and Secret and I both enjoyed it a lot.