Rainbow Creek Trail

Rainbow Creek Trail is a remote, steep 9.7-mile point-to-point route from the lower, southern Rainbow Loop trailhead on Stehekin Valley Road to McAlester Pass. The total includes about 1.8 miles on the lower Rainbow Loop approach, then 7.9 miles on Rainbow Creek Trail, with 4,800 feet of gain. Allow about 8–10 hours to reach the pass. This is a through-route, not a loop: turning around makes a 19.4-mile day, while continuing over the pass toward State Route 20 creates an 18.5-mile itinerary across several trails.

The approach climbs moderate switchbacks through dry ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. Keep an eye on the sandy tread for antlion pits, tiny funnels dug by larvae to catch ants. At about 1.6 miles, the Boulder Creek junction and a nearby rock outcrop open toward Lake Chelan, the Stehekin River and Buckner Orchard. Continue about 0.4 mile to cross Rainbow Creek, then leave Rainbow Loop at the Rainbow Creek Trail junction. Grassy slopes, forest and rocky outcrops can hold wildflowers in May and early June. From the outcrop, include a strip of rocky foreground in a photo so the drop to the lake reads.

The 7.9-mile climb from the junction to McAlester Pass is steep and sustained. Rainbow Ford, Bench Creek and Bowan backcountry camps break up the route, but they are camps, not road access or services. The destination is a broad subalpine meadow pass, with boggy ground possible early in the season; the trail continues toward McAlester Lake beyond the pass.

The lower approach crosses the remnant of an old alluvial fan. Ice carved the main Stehekin Valley deeper than its smaller tributary glaciers cut Rainbow Creek valley, leaving the creek valley perched above the main floor. When the ice retreated about 10,000 years ago, Rainbow Creek spread pulverized rock across the fan; the Stehekin River has eroded it since.