Lower Yocum Falls

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 from the lower falls. To get to the lower falls, you park up at the road, which goes right across the top of the upper falls. You walk down a gravel path on an old, old roadbed, and once you get below the cliff, you hang a right and go through a pretty hemlock forest where the ground is covered in ferns, making it quite a beautiful sight year round. You walk upstream and you will come to the seven foot tall, ten foot wide Lower Yocum Falls that looks like a woman’s long hair splayed out across the rock with the way the water streaks and flows as it cascades over.

I first found out about this waterfall, and really it wasn’t this one but the upper one, through the WPA Road Guide Book that was created during the Depression for the state of Kentucky. Not all 50 states were completed during the Depression before World War 2, but a good chunk were, including luckily for us, Kentucky. In that book, it explains that there’s this roadside attraction of Yocum Falls and gives the mile marker or how far it is from other intersections or towns. I used this information to figure out where the falls was, and upon my first visit, I was lucky enough to find that there was this lower waterfall that is far more beautiful than the main waterfall above it.

Funny story is I had never met Ulrich at this point. On my visit, I had parked and gone to the waterfall. I came back to my vehicle and there was another vehicle that had blocked me in. I waited over an hour. I don’t know where Ulrich went, but eventually he came back, and he thought I was Bill Fultz. I was having none of it. It was funny to look back on once I had properly met Ulrich months later, but at the time I was so irate that to this day I never pull off more than just enough for my vehicle so I can never get blocked in again.

If you’ve never been to Lower Yocum Falls, I would add it to your list. It’s a pretty little waterfall. It’s pretty in the winter. It’s pretty in the summer. And I think you would enjoy visiting it if you never have.

The waterfall: Lower Yocum Falls, Morgan County