Rainbow Spring Trailhead is located in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 1-1/2 hours west of Las Vegas, but not in the Scenic Loop Road area. The trailhead is located off Lovell Canyon Road (north of Highway 160, west of Mountain Springs Summit). This trailhead is not in the fee area.

From the Red Rock Visitor Center area (Table 1, Site 0519), drive west then south on West Charleston Blvd (Hwy. 159) past Blue Diamond Town to Highway 160 (Site 0848). Turn right onto Highway 160 and drive west over the mountains towards Pahrump. About 3 miles past the town of Mountain Springs, turn right onto the signed Lovell Canyon Road (Site 1013). Drive north on Lovell Canyon Road for 1.0 miles to an unsigned dirt road on the right (Site 1014).

The unsigned dirt road is U.S. Forest Service Road 45537F (Rainbow Spring Road) and leads to Rainbow and Bootleg springs. The road is in fair condition and should be passable for carefully driven sedans, weather permitting, to near the trailhead (but probably not all the way to the trailhead).

Link to trailhead map.

Driving east on Rainbow Spring Road, at about 0.4 miles out, a dirt powerline road to the north marks the boundary of the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness Area. Beyond the powerlines, everything to the left is Wilderness. At about 1.9 miles from the pavement (Site 1015), the road leaves Forest Service land (Spring Mountains NRA) and enters BLM land (Red Rock Canyon NCA). Continuing another 1.2 miles eastward, the road ends at a narrow spot in the canyon with a metal post-and-pipe fence. Park here; this is the trailhead.

This sturdy fence was placed to prevent ATVs from continuing through the narrows into wilderness area and damaging riparian vegetation and wildlife at the spring.

The Rainbow Spring Trailhead primarily provides access to the crest of the Spring Mountains Range and the Little Zion area; however, it also provides access to miles of moderate to strenuous off-trail hiking.

Trails: Little Zion, Crest of the Spring Mountain Range.