Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve — Attraction in Madison

My family and I had a fantastic time exploring the Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve in Huntsville. The trails are well-maintained, the scenery is beautiful, and it's a wonderful natural escape right near the city. We truly enjoyed our hike and the fresh air. However, a word of caution to fellow parents of young children: we chose the Rainbow Loop trail, and the name gave us a slightly misleading impression of a gentle, kid-friendly stroll. For our two small kids and our dog, this trail was quite a challenge! There were some steep sections and rocky terrain that required extra care and effort for the little ones. While it was a great workout and an adventure for the adults, it was definitely more strenuous than we anticipated for the kids. If you're hiking with very young children or pets who aren't used to more rugged paths, you might want to check the trail map for an easier route. Overall, Rainbow Mountain is a gem, and we highly recommend it. Just be aware that the Rainbow Loop offers a bit more of a challenge than its whimsical name...

I love Rainbow Mountain Nature Preseve, have been going here for about a year. It's not an easy hike, with lots of rocks and some steep areas, so come prepared.

This was the first Land Trust property that I visited and I quickly donated $ and starting going to the others. So much natural beauty in the Huntsville area, and the trails on all of the Land Trust properties are so well marked and well taken care of. I highly recommend the Land Trust trails.

For Rainbow Mountain I take the Rainbow Mountain Loop to the left/clockwise, to Ja Moo Ko trail, back to Rainbow loop and continue clockwise to the Balance Rock, then back to the lot. That is about 2 1/2 miles. You can wander around exploring the boulders in that area by Balance Rock for hours, though....

I took my two sons and daughter, age 13, 11, and 9, to Rainbow Mountain for a Sunday afternoon hike. Beautiful place and we had a great time! We did get off the beaten trail -- literally -- and ended up going down Spring Trail and back up Wild Trail instead of taking the Rainbow Mountain Loop, I guess because we missed the signs. The Wild Trail is definitely wild, but it was fun challenge! And the kids had fun wading in the creek. So now we want to come back to do the "regular" trail. It's a pretty drive through a pretty neighborhood to get to the trailhead, and if you've got littles who can't handle the hike, there's a cute little playground at the...