Winter Hike to Rainbow RIdge

Turn left off of the Grandy-Baker Lake Road onto FS RD 1130 just past the Boulder Creek Campground. Stay right at the first fork in the road. At 3.9 miles go right towards Rainbow Falls.  The falls are located at a large bend in the road at approximately 4.5 miles.  I have never found a good safe way of seeing these falls in their entirety. At 9.5 miles arrive at the trailhead.  Please note that in the winter you may not be able to get this far by vehicle.

From the trailhead continue up the abandoned road to your left for approximately 0.5 miles before entering the forest.  When there is no snow the trail is evident.  Not so much in the winter.  I recommend hiking this one at least once during the summer to get familiar with where the trail is.  I also recommend using flagging tape to mark your trail on the way up and mark often.  Finding the ridge at the top is easy, finding your car on the side of mountain on the way down might not be.  Don't count on being able to follow your tracks back down as new snow may cover them.

Go up. Go up some more.  You'll know when you are there.  I wish there were better directions in the winter but if you've hiked this one in the summer you'll understand.  The trail isn't all that nice to start with and it does go straight up for the most part. Once on the ridge there are miles to explore.  Views of Baker Lake, Mount Baker and Shuksan are right in your face.  You can see Shannon and Ptarmigan ridges from here, heck you can see forever on a clear day. Plan on spending several hours up here if your day allows; remember that the days are short and once the sun dips behind the flanks of Mount Baker its going to get cold and dark fast.