Agile Trekker: Rainbow Falls and Jones Gap Falls, Jones Gap State Park, SC

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/7/2024	6 miles	4 hours 19 minutes	1,367'	1.7 mph	141.1 miles

Parking:

Jones Gap Road. $6 per person for parking.

Map:

MBWA%20Trail%20Map%20Current%20August%208%202023 (widencdn.net)
You can also purchase one at the visitor center.

Directions:

Take the Jones Gap Trail to the intersection of the Rainbow Falls Trail. Turn right onto Rainbow Falls Trail and climb up to Rainbow Falls. Return back to the Jones Gap Trail. Turn right onto the Jones Gap Trail and hike to Jones Gap Falls. Turn around and take the Jones Gap Trail back to the parking lot.

Carolina Mountain Club Challenges:

100 Waterfalls Challenge - Rainbow Falls (Greenville)

What a great hike! The park at least this time of year closes at 5pm. Reservations are required for parking on weekends. See the site for more details about hours and parking: Jones Gap Camping | South Carolina Parks Official Site The hike starts out on the level Jones Gap Trail (also the Palmetto Trail), which parallels a river. There are campsites along the trail (requiring registration). After turning onto the Jones Gap Trail, the trail soon becomes steep. Luckily, the trail has a lot of fancy rock work as well as log steps, so it isn't a slippery climb. I was impressed with the quality of the trail! We took our time climbing up, taking rest breaks as needed. The trail is popular, so we saw quite a few other hikers, even though it's a weekday. Rainbow Falls is really impressive! Beautiful, and we were lucky to have it to ourselves for a while. We still had time, so we returned to the Jones Gap Trail and headed over to Jones Gap Falls. There were a few flowers on this hike - mostly violets and bloodroot. My plantar fascia felt pretty good, but I did develop sharp cramping pain in front of my ankle - I don't know the cause, hopefully not arthritis. We highly recommend this hike. We'd both like to do and out and back on the Jones Gap Trail at some point - around an 11-mile hike.