Fun Walks
Rainbow Lake Wilderness Area
Free
Rainbow Lake Wilderness Park304 Ohio Avenue, Signal Mountain, TN 37377Get directions →
A 239-acre town wilderness area built around a lake dating to 1916 (part of the old Signal Mountain Hotel, now Alexian Village). The trailhead is on Ohio Avenue, past Alexian Village — easy gravel walking to start, with a rockier loop option around the lake and a suspension bridge over the creek nearby. This is also one of the access points toward Edwards Point on the Cumberland Trail.
Photography tip: the lake, the old spring house along the way, and the suspension bridge all make good stops — remember it's closed Mondays.
Before swimming: check the swim water advisory — WaterWays tests E. coli levels here weekly through Labor Day.
Getting around
Not checked yet
- Surface
- mixed
Open Tuesday-Sunday 6:00 AM - 10:00 PM — closed Mondays. From the Ohio Avenue trailhead near Alexian Village, an easy gravel path leads to a junction at the half-mile mark: left descends to the dam, straight circles the 239-acre lake on a rockier, more challenging 2.3-mile loop. A 100-foot suspension bridge over the creek is part of the Cumberland Trail nearby.
This is what we’ve observed, not a formal accessibility certification. Things change — tell us if this is out of date.