Rainbow Lake Trail

Rainbow Lake sits in the Stehekin Valley, one of the most remote corners of the North Cascades — you can't even drive here from the outside world. The trail climbs steadily through old-growth forest, thick with western red cedar and Douglas fir, before opening up to subalpine meadows that explode with wildflowers in midsummer. The lake itself is a stunner: a deep alpine cirque backed by jagged peaks, with water so clear you can see the bottom in the shallows. The Stehekin setting means you'll likely share the trail with a handful of people at most, making this feel like your own private slice of the range. This is a trail for hikers who don't mind earning their solitude — getting to the trailhead is half the adventure.