Cumberland Falls - A Majestic Waterfall in Heart of the Appalachia & Home of the Moonbow

Hello everyone, it's been a little while since my last post, as I was busy traveling to the US for my sister’s wedding. She got married in the beautiful state of North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have only briefly visited this area before, so I decided to take some extra time to do an epic road trip around the greater Appalachian Mountain range. I was fortunate enough to visit some really beautiful natural places, and I am excited to share some of them with you all over the next few weeks. The first place I will share with you will be a first for the Worldmappin community map, the lovely and unique Cumberland Falls, located in Southeastern Kentucky.

This waterfall is located in the massive Daniel Boone National Forest, and it is famously known as the Niagara of the South, although I had not heard this before visiting. Something unique about this waterfall is that it is one of the few places in the world where you can see a moonbow, which is a sort of rainbow that is formed by moonlight. This place was just a sort of pitstop on a long journey, so I didn’t stick around at night to see it, but I did think it was fascinating, as I had never heard of a moonbow before visiting.

After some winding roads through the national forest, I parked in the parking lot by the main lodge. From there, I took a short trail down to the waterfall. I think the trail was only about one and a half kilometers, down to the falls, but that was perfect enough for me to stretch my legs after a long day of driving around. The trail itself was mostly clear, with a few stairs and a steady decline. The forest air was fresh and rejuvenating, and there were many interesting mushrooms along the trail to peak my curiosity.

Near the beginning of the hike were these cool rocky overhangs just off the trail. I’d imagine that these had been used as a sort of makeshift shelter for early explorers in this area who may have been caught in a storm or were simply looking for a dry place to camp out for the night.

Walking down the trail was a mostly peaceful experience, with the exception of the pack of howling wolves we began to hear about 10 minutes into our hike. Normally, I would find this to be super cool, but when the sun is starting to set and you have no big sticks around for protection, the potential threat starts to feel much more real. Luckily, it wasn’t long before we started to hear the sounds of rushing water, and the path opened up to the Cumberland Falls visitor center. There was also a parking lot here that we could have parked at, but we purposely chose to park a bit farther away so we could get the opportunity to hike a bit.

The falls were really nice to see, and there is something about the sound of falling water that has always put my mind at ease.

After a refreshing dose of misty air to rejuvenate us, we began to start heading back towards the trail. On our way out, I came across this sign warning of black bears, which was exactly what I needed to see as I set back into the forest and the sky was growing darker, haha. Luckily, there were no bear sightings today, and everyone made it back to the car park safely.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to the Cumberland Falls.

All photos are owned and were taken by me. Have a wonderful day! :)