Amos Falls is one of those waterfalls that’s been known to me since I started waterfalling in Kentucky. It’s off the beaten path, but not too far from Cumberland Falls State Park, and its location is shown on USGS…
Cumberland Falls · the moon tonight: waxing gibbous
The next moonbow nights begin in 5 days, 2 hours: 24 – 28 October, around the full moon on Monday, 26 October.
Clouds those nights, 8 pm to 3 am
Sat 24 OctClear6% cloud
Sun 25 OctOvercast98% cloud
Mon 26 OctMostly cloudy56% cloud
Tue 27 OctOvercast97% cloud
Wed 28 OctPartly cloudy30% cloud
A moonbow needs a clear sky. Cloud forecast from Open-Meteo.com, made Mon 19 Oct, 4 pm.
The next four windows
24 – 28 Octoberfull moon Mon 26 Oct
22 – 26 Novemberfull moon Tue 24 Nov
21 – 25 Decemberfull moon Wed 23 Dec
20 – 24 January 2027full moon Fri 22 Jan
A moonbow is a lunar rainbow, made when full moonlight shines through the waterfall’s mist. Cumberland Falls is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where one appears on a regular schedule.
Princess Falls is located near the mouth of Lick Creek in McCreary County, Kentucky. The name of this falls is supposedly from the folklore and story about Princess Cornblossom, a Cherokee princess. To note, the Cherokees had no royalty and no royal titles, so this story is probably no more than just a tale.
You hike a little over a mile to get to Princess Falls along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, starting at Yamacraw where the bridge crosses the river. It is an absolutely spectacular hike in early to mid spring as the wildflowers abound along the hillside above and below the trail.
I have been to this waterfall many a time. The most memorable was when Ronald and I hiked to Princess Falls when Lake Cumberland was at its highest level ever and had just started receding. We could not hike the trail as it was well underwater for its entire length, so we walked the hillside on the sides of our feet well above the actual trail. A couple of things I remember are the amount of trash that was up on the hillside from where the waterline had hit its historic mark, due to how polluted some of these rivers are, especially in flood stage. The other was when we got to Princess Falls, the water had only just recently receded away from the falls, and I’m pretty confident that the lake had made its way all the way to the waterfall. The first thing to note was the sandbars. Completely different. They did not exist before the lake went up, but the lake had pushed all that sediment up into Lick Creek and into that alcove below the falls. It made it beautiful and vastly different than I had ever seen it, before or since. The picture above is from that trip right after the lake had been so high.
If you are heading to McCreary County to do any kind of hiking, most likely you already know about Princess Falls. But if you don’t, you need to go. It’s a relatively easy, level hike along the river to a beautiful waterfall, and it’s well worth visiting for people of all ages.
Angel Hollow Falls in Laurel County is found upon a deep descent. As you off trail hike down from the ridge above to the hollow below, you come around a corner and you can take a path to go straight down to the base of…
Singing Falls is roadside in Carter County, Kentucky. Across the street is an old building that says Fort Falls on it. I don’t know where that name came from, but that is what this waterfall was called for years. Part…
Lower Yocum Falls is located nearly roadside in a rural part of Rowan County near the locale of Yocum, Kentucky. This little waterfall lies below its plunge upper waterfall that is just out of sight around the corner…
Southeast of the Red River Gorge is a little town called West Liberty, Kentucky. It’s been over a decade ago that a devastating tornado ripped through the town, killing several people. At the time, I remember watching a…
South Fork Koger Creek Falls is located in McCreary County, Kentucky, not too far off an old service road in the Daniel Boone National Forest. This is a road that at one time was gated but is no longer gated…
Driller Falls is located in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, which runs between some southern counties in Kentucky and across the border into a good swath of northern Tennessee. This area, managed…
I had visited Mill Springs several times over the years and had no idea that there was a spectacular waterfall that reminds me of a mini Cumberland Falls in the same park, hidden away just beyond the tree line. Meadow…
This week we’re going down to Wayne County to a little park and historical area called Mill Springs. There’s an old mill here that the park service still runs occasionally. If you have the chance to go on one of the…
Upper Boy Scout Falls is just inside the border of Oldham County near Louisville, Kentucky. When you work and live in the cities around Kentucky instead of near the Daniel Boone National Forest, you often search for…
