Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers many photographic opportunities, ranging from spring wildflowers to autumn color, from wildlife to moody early morning mist to fiery sunsets. Despite all the other possibilities, the almost innumerable streams and waterfalls within the Park are my favorite photographic subjects, regardless of the season. One of the more popular and more spectacular falls within the Park is Rainbow Falls, reached by a hike of about three miles from Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. It is one of the few actual waterfalls in the Park, as many other "falls" are actually cascades. At Rainbow Falls, LeConte Creek drops 75 feet over a ledge of Thunderhead Sandstone to the waiting rocks below, and then immediately cascades about ten more feet on its rush down the mountainside. It is an impressive sight, and a photographic subject offering many compositions, including this one, which compresses the distance from the falls to the cascading creek 100 yards or more downstream.