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Rainbow Trailhead: A favorite waystation along the Turnagain Arm Trail

I love Rainbow trailhead! It actually serves two hikes: One is the start of Rainbow Knob (or keep going all the way to Rainbow Peak, if you don’t mind some scrambling), and the other is the wonderfully popular Turnagain Arm Trail.

The most obvious stretch of trail here leads to the south. This is technically part of the Turnagain Arm Trail, and if you continued straight along it you’d eventually reach the McHugh Peak Trailhead. However, after about a mile of winding uphill through a lovely birch forest, you may also spot a steep, scree-filled trail darting up the mountain. That’s the start of the trail up to Rainbow Knob or Rainbow Peak.

It takes a little more work to find the trail north out of the Rainbow trailhead, because once summer comes it’s somewhat obscured by grass and brush. Once you’ve found it, though, that trail takes you to Windy Corner or just “Windy,” the last trailhead on the Turnagain Arm Trail. The stretch between Rainbow and Windy is my favorite part of this trail… except that overgrown stretch just out of Rainbow trailhead.

Still, all in all, that’s not bad at all for a trailhead that’s just off the highway. Best of all, there’s still no parking fee here.

Heads up: Grizzly/brown bear sightings around this trailhead seem to be getting more common lately, and black bear sightings have always been possible. Click either link for more information about each species.

Rainbow Trailhead Information

  • GPS Coordinates: Coming soon!
  • Fee: Free!
  • Trails: Rainbow Knob, Turnagain Arm Trail (Rainbow -> McHugh trailhead or Rainbow->Windy Corner trailhead)
  • Driving Directions: Take the Seward Highway south out of town; Rainbow is the next trailhead after McHugh Creek. The turnoff is to the left of the road at about mile marker 108, but the little hiker sign that tells you it’s coming up is actually on the right side of the road.

Pictured: Even though the Turnagain Arm Trail runs quite close to the Seward Highway, you still get lovely views like this — especially on the portion that runs from Rainbow to Windy Corner.

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