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on the pictures
above/below Cumberland
Falls, KY
2009
& 2010 Cumberland Falls Moonbow Schedule Cumberland
Falls State Resort Park
Moonbow
and Lunar Rainbow Links Cumberland Falls pictures by Mike
.....History....
about the Falls
Weather at Cumberland
Falls
Scroll/Click
7351 Highway
90 Corbin, KY
40701-8857 800-325-0063
Cumberland
Falls@ky.gov
The Falls area has been featured
in 3 movies. 'The
Kentuckian' -
Burt
Lancaster
& Amos
Miller 'Raintree
County'-Montgomery
Clift & Elizabeth Taylor and a flyover
in 'The Fire Down Below'
{#2} corbin falls ky Correct Me If I'm Wrong or If
There's More
with a map of the
area
Cumberland
Falls
Moonbow If you have a popup blocker and
missed the moonbow panorama on the previous page
Pictures of Kentucky
Cumberland Falls is
located: Travel
Distances
from
Cumberland
Falls Ky
Corbin 18
miles Birthplace of
Kentucky Fried Chicken Whitley City 15
miles Williamsburg 18
miles Gateway to the
Cumberlands Stearns 18
miles London 28
miles Levi Jackson State
Park DuPont
Lodge 3/4
mile Yahoo
Falls
Trailhead
19 miles Natural
Arch
Trailhead
15 miles The
Grove Marina
16
miles Blue
Heron 28
miles Barbourville 32
miles Dr. Thomas Walker
State Park Somerset 35
miles Cumberland
Gap 65
miles National Historical
Park Middlesboro 60
miles The only city in
the US built inside a meteor crater Three
Forks of Beaver
Creek
..21
miles Dog
Slaughter
Trailhead
7.5 miles Pineville
47 miles Pine Mountain State
Park Lake
Cumberland
40 miles Lake Cumberland State
Park 80 miles Renfro Valley 48
miles Ky Music Hall of
Fame and Museum Lexington, KY 90
miles Knoxville, TN 80
miles Mammoth
Cave National
Park 132
miles World's Longest Cave
System Info /
Information from
Ky
State
Parks
Brochure.. Photos by Mike Cumberland
Falls State Resort Park Lisa
Davis,..Park
Superintendent near
Corbin,
Kentucky INTERESTING
FACTS
ABOUT
CUMBERLAND
FALLS
Located in the Daniel
Boone National Forest in Southeastern Kentucky, Cumberland
Falls State Park is on the Cumberland River, 18 miles
southwest of Corbin, with the waterfall bordering Whitley
and McCreary Counties. The outstanding natural feature is
Cumberland
Falls,
famous for its moonbow. The 125 foot wide waterfall has a 68
foot drop that showers onto the boulders that lie in the
rocky gorge below. The mist rising from the largest
waterfall in Kentucky, creates a unique natural phenomenon
that is not visible anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere
on a predictable schedule during a time period around the
Full Moon.
Cumberland
Falls
has an easily
accessible area where everything lines up at the correct
angle. The Falls are situated in such an odd way facing
north and flowing north, as to reflect the light of the Moon
to make a rainbow like arch, an optical phenomenon called a
"moonbow". The Moonbow can be seen here on clear, strongly
moonlit nights. It is sometimes called the "Niagara of the
South", "Little Niagara", and even Moonbow Falls . This
waterfall is one of a few locations in the world where you
can find a moonbow or as other's have called it, night
rainbow, a moon rainbow or lunar rainbow. The average yearly
park attendance is 750,000+ visitors. Location: Latitude
36 50 20N
About Cumberland Falls
Facts Height of falls at normal pool =
68 ft. Width of falls at normal pool =
125 ft. Height of the waterfalls at
flood stage = 45 ft. Width of the waterfalls at flood
stage = 300 ft. Elevation of the falls = 825 ft.
above sea level Elevation of the Lodge = 1,090
ft. above sea level The
Cumberland
River The
Cumberland
River is
created when three small
streams,
Poor Fork,
Clover Fork Creek and Martins Fork
flow
together
near
Harlan
in
Harlan
County,
Ky. along with other tributaries, nearly 120 miles upstream
from the Falls on the Cumberland Ridge region of the
Appalachian
Mountains.
From the headwaters, the river meanders its way through the
mountains of Kentucky.
From
the
falls, the
river hooks up with Laurel
River Lake
and Lake
Cumberland.
The south
fork of the river then winds it way
southward
into Tennessee.
From Wolf
Creek Dam at the Upper Lake Cumberland, the
river flows southward into
Tennessee
flowing
westward, then back up into Kentucky in the western region
creating Lake Barkley, part of the Land
Between the
Lakes and
then empties into the Ohio
River near
Smithland.
Minimum flow = 4 cubic ft. per
second Maximum flow = 59,600 cubic ft.
per second Average flow = 3,217 cubic ft.
per second Cumberland
River Length below
falls = 558 miles Cumberland
River Length = 677
miles Cumberland
River Watershed
covers 18,000 square miles Kentucky's
first
commercial oil well
was
drilled
on
the Cumberland River
in
1819 Cumberland
Information, History
and Facts from the
KY
State Park
Visitors
Guide All of the above Cumberland
Falls photos are 5 minute
exposures{used
for night moon light photo
comparison}
taken
at Lover's
Leap Overlook
near
the
Thomas
Coleman DuPont
Plaque
. .More
History about Cumberland
Falls... This interesting place is a
favorite
vacation destination for
many,
including
Thomas
Coleman DuPont
, a Kentucky
native and U.S. Senator from
Delaware. Unhappy
with plans
to build a hydroelectric
dam
at the site on the river
in Southeast Kentucky, in 1930 DuPont
purchased and donated 600 acres surrounding the Falls to
Kentucky, urging the
Commonwealth
to set aside the property as a state park. Despite DuPont's
passing later that year, additional land was bought, and in
1931 the state legislature designated the
scenic
property
as Kentucky's
third state
park . Since
1983, the Park has been a part of the State's
Nature Preserve
Program
. Click
Here to see Kentucky's First State Park Click on the Image
Above for a Map HOW TO GET TO
CUMBERLAND
FALLS
from Corbin,
Ky From I-75 exit 25 (Corbin) take
US-25W south to KY-90. Continue on KY-90 to the Park
Entrance. It's 15 miles from Interstate-75 exit
25. From Williamsburg,
KY If traveling north on I-75, take
exit 15 at Williamsburg and turn left and continue to the
park entrance. Be careful at the stop sign. The road
forks. It's a short hiking distance
from the parking lot to the viewing areas. Click
Here for a Cumberland Falls Park Area Map WATCH OUT FOR DEER
! ...........................................Cumberland
Falls Moonbow Fall
and
Winter is the best time to visually see colors in the moon
bow because of the cold air and clear atmosphere. Any time
around the Full Moon is a good time to see the moonbow,
weather permitting. Admission is free and the park is open
year round. The gates are always
open. The
Park Rangers are really good. and knowledgable. They know
when the moonbow is occurring and go out of their way to
accommodate visitors. Besides
moonbows,
rainbows
may be seen
almost any
sunny
day.
Full
Moon Dates While observing
the
moonbow
is the park's
best-known activity, there are plenty
of other
fun things to
do. and other activities
Did You
Know?... Kentucky
has the greatest number
of miles of running
water
in the contiguous United
States
A PRIDE
Enviromental Education Center
The Cumberland Falls
Beautification Day and river cleanup is scheduled for June 6
. 18 Minute
Exposure from the Bank of the Cumberland River At 1
AM...... Photo of the moonbow at Cumberland
Falls There is no moonbow in
Tennessee ^TOP^ Hidden Treasure in Kentucky. The Kentucky State
Park System is composed of 52 state parks plus an interstate
park shared with Virginia. The Department of Parks operates
17 resort parks with lodges -- more than any other state!
The Waterfall in
Ky Special thanks
to Dr. Truman Perry, Corbin,
Ky Dr. Paula Hollingsworth,
Lexington, Ky Dr. Robert Salley,
Lexington, Ky Without them, this site
and these moonbow pictures would not exist! And of course, my
Grandmother.
Cumberland Falls,
Kentucky at Night
- Information and pictures
Ancient
Appalachian Mountains River System
Local
History of Cumberland Falls
Climate at the Falls & KY_Temperate

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Longitude
84 20 43W
Cumberland
River
Length above falls = 119
miles
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Schedule

Rainbow
Arch