Rainbow Falls is a waterfall on Le Conte Creek in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the Blue Ridge region, with a total height of about 75 feet. It lies about 4.5 miles southeast of Gatlinburg and roughly 32.9 miles southeast of Knoxville as the crow flies.
At 75 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of Tennessee’s 332 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 46th; the typical Tennessee waterfall is about 30 feet. The water comes down as a plunge, where the water drops vertically and loses contact with the rock face.
The Blue Ridge is the highest part of the southern Appalachians, a range of forested peaks and coves with oak, hickory, tulip poplar and hemlock and spruce-fir on the summits, in one of the wettest climates in the East. Steep mountain streams drop over granite, gneiss and quartzite ledges, giving the region hundreds of waterfalls.
There are 37 recorded waterfalls in Sevier County. Upper Grotto Falls, 20 feet high, is about 1 miles away. Grotto Falls, a 25-foot plunge waterfall, is about 1.1 miles away. Big Branch Falls, is about 1.1 miles away.
Rainbow Falls is located at 35.6622° N, 83.4632° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The creek name is confirmed against the federal Geographic Names Information System. The exact position has not yet been verified on aerial imagery, so treat the map pin as approximate. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.