Hiking Mount Beacon Casino Trail to Rainbow Falls Loop
Who knew that Mount Beacon had some amazing hiking trails and mountain views? I certainly did not. For some reason, we never explored Beacon other than going to the flea market and estate sales. This time we were on a mission to see what Mt Beacon has to offer and we were not disappointed. We decided to do a nice seven mile loop at Mount Beacon following the casino trail to the rainbow waterfalls. If you can make it up the first mile, the rest is easy sailing.
Once we parked our car and got our things, I started walking. I looked back and my partner in crime was still at the parking lot taking photos. Fast forward a few minutes of impatiently waiting for him and we were on our way up the metal stairs.
The First Mile
Is it just me or do those stairs make you a little dizzy? Maybe it’s just me but those 200 stairs were an interesting challenge on their own. After reaching the top of the stairs, you get to go more up. If you see yellow trail signs, just make a sharp right and keep following the red trail markings instead. For the first mile of walking you’re going up and more up until you come to the plot where the old casino and hotel used to be.
After more pictures and beautiful views, we continued on the trail. From this point on it was an easy trail until we had to make a right to the Fire Tower. We followed the path someone on All Trails did and didn’t realize that there was an easier way to go up to the fire tower in Mt Beacon. Next time, we’ll make sure to follow that path and come down the way we went up. On our way up someone lost his GoPro 8 SIM card. Somehow, it flew out of the GoPro and landed in the brushes. Once we got to the Mt Beacon fire tower, we were hit with wind and great views.
After taking videos and photos of the mountain views, we continued back on the path following the white trail we came up on. Back at the intersection we continued on the Casino Trail on our way looking for Lambs Hill. After some uphills and wrong turns, we finally made it. There are way too many different paths at Mt Beacon so be sure to either memorize the trail or take your phone out and check your location.
Rainbow Falls at Mt Beacon
After Lambs Hill you’ll keep going down until bam you start to hear something. I had no idea we were going to see a waterfall even though I was the one following the AllTrails map route. To be fair, the title I saw said “Casino, Fire Tower, Scofield Ridge, La…”. In order to see the full title you would go to trail details and see that “Lambs Hill, and Rainbow Falls Loop” was in it. Anyway, once we got closer to the water I was amazed. The waterfall was gorgeous and long! We didn’t have the craziest rainy days but Rainbow falls did not disappoint us.
Apparently, a lot of people come to Mount Beacon never seeing the Fire Tower or the waterfall. If you want to see some Hudson Valley views, you have to check out the tower! Be sure to wear a hat or ear muffs if you have sensitive ears like I do. If you don’t want to do a seven mile loop you can see the waterfall by following the yellow trail after you climb the stairs. There are other trails and cut offs so be sure to follow the trail map.
Overall, Mount Beacon was a great hike and we can’t wait to go again. It helped us add on some miles for our 101 miles challenge. Last year it was 100 miles. One thing to note is that we ended up doing over eight miles following AllTrails but that could be due to making some wrong turns and going back looking for people and a SIM card. You’re going to really enjoy this hike if you love history, views, waterfalls or abandoned vehicles.
