Rainbow Canyon

Distance: 2.2 miles round trip Hiking Time: 1.5 Hours Elevation Gain/Loss 500′/500′ Difficulty: Moderate

Directions: At Sissors Crossing (12 miles easy of Julian via Highway 78), turn southeast on Highway S-2 and drive about 11 miles. Park off the pavement at mile 27.7, where there is a space for a few cars on the shoulder.

From your parking spot along Highway S-2, head northeast across a sloping alluvial fan towards a nearby mouth of a rocky canyon. Starting at just .3 miles you’re inside the canyon proper. At mile .7 you arrive at a major canyon fork – stay right. At mile 1.1 the canyon bends left, widens and becomes less interesting.

If you do press onward up the canyon, you eventually reach about 2 miles east, the far south-end of Blair Valley.