Home
About
the Moonbow
Cumberland
Falls, KY
Photographing
the Moonbow
2012
& 2013 Cumberland Falls Moonbow Schedule
Kentucky
Moonbow
Waterfalls
in Kentucky
The
First Photo Attempt
Cumberland
Falls State Resort Park
DuPont
Lodge
Moonbow
and Lunar Rainbow
Links
Current
Moonbow Pictures
Cumberland Falls pictures by Mike

.....History....
about the Falls
CUMBERLAND
FALLS, originated
miles downstream near Burnside from its present location
flowing over resistant Pine
Creek and Rockcastle Conglomerate
Sandstones.
Every waterfall is destined to disappear.
Like
other waterfalls,
it is slowly but not visibly moving upstream due to
weathering
and
erosion.
The process is a gradual
one.
Ancient
Appalachian Mountains River System
Geologic
Map and Prehistoric History of Kentucky
Prehistoric
Trails in the Upper Cumberland River
Basin
Local
History of Cumberland Falls
The
Geology of Cumberland Falls, Ky
Climate at the Falls & KY_Temperate

Weather at Cumberland
Falls
Scroll/Click
DuPont
Lodge
7351 Highway
90
Corbin, KY
40701-8857
Phone: (606)
528-4121
Toll Free 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 KY water fall
Correct Me If I'm Wrong or If
There's More
Fishing
at
Cumberland Falls

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
Area Sights Around the
Falls
Corbin
17 miles
Birthplace
of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Whitley City 28
miles
Williamsburg 18
miles
Gateway
to the Cumberlands
Stearns 28
miles
London 25
miles
Levi
Jackson State Park
DuPont
Lodge 1/2
mile
Yahoo
Falls Trailhead
19
miles
Natural
Arch
Trailhead
15 miles
The
Grove
Marina 15
miles
Blue
Heron 35
miles
Barbourville 32
miles
Dr.
Thomas Walker State Park
Somerset 40
miles
Cumberland
Gap 64
miles
National
Historical Park
Middlesboro 60
miles
One
of a few cities in the US built inside a meteor
crater
Three
Forks of Beaver
Creek
..25
miles
Dog
Slaughter
Trailhead
7.5 miles
Pineville
50 miles
Pine
Mountain State Park
Lake
Cumberland
40 miles
Lake
Cumberland State
Park 82
miles
Renfro
Valley 48
miles
Ky
Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Lexington,
KY 104 miles
Knoxville, TN 80
miles
Louisville, KY 180
miles
Home of the
Kentucky
Derby
Mammoth
Cave National
Park 142
miles
World's Longest
Cave System
Great
Smoky Mountains National
Park 131
miles
The falls is located
midway between Lexington, KY and Knoxville, TN.
Info /
Information from
Ky
State
Parks
Brochure..
Click on the icon below for directions

Pictures by Mike
...

Pictures,Photos, Images and video
by Mike
|
Cumberland
Falls State Resort Park
Dave
Jordan,..Park
Manager
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
County
and
McCreary
County.
The outstanding natural feature of the park is
Cumberland
Falls,
world 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 . It was first
known as "the Great 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.
GPS Location:
N 36.83853
W
-84.33849
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 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.
The confluence
is located in Baxter. From the headwaters, the river
meanders its way through the mountains of Kentucky.
From
the
falls,
the river
converges with
Laurel
River and
Rockcastle
River,
which then flows into
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.
After flowing
through Nashville,
the river continues west through Tennessee , 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.
The Cumberland
River is the only river in Kentucky that flows south, then
changes course and flows north. The waterfall is considered
as on the traditonal western edge of the
Appalachia's.
Minimum
flow = 4 cubic ft. per second
Maximum
flow = 59,600 cubic ft. per second
Average
flow = 3,217 cubic ft. per second
Source
elevation = 1,155 ft
above sea level
Cumberland
River
Length above falls = 119
miles
Cumberland
River Length below
falls = 563 miles
Cumberland
River Length = 687
miles
Cumberland
River Watershed
covers 18,500 square miles
Kentucky's
first
commercial oil well
was
drilled
on
the Cumberland River
in
1819
A witnessed meteorite
fell near Cumberland
Falls in Whitley County, Kentucky in 1919
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, the DuPont
family donated 600 acres surrounding the Falls to
Kentucky,
urging the Commonwealth
to set aside the property as a state park. Despite DuPont's
passing, 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 on how to get to Cumberland Falls
Driving
Directions
HOW TO GET TO
CUMBERLAND
FALLS
from Corbin,
Ky
From Interstate-75 exit 25
(Corbin) take US-25W south to KY-90. Continue on KY-90 to
the Park Entrance. It's 15 miles from I-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
with lighted sidewalks from the parking lot to the viewing
areas.
Commonwealth
of Kentucky Map
Click
Here for a Cumberland Falls Park Area Map

WATCH OUT FOR DEER
!

...........................................Cumberland
Falls Moonbow
Fall
and
Winter is supposedly 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. This is a night waterfall in the
US.

Besides
moonbows,
rainbows
may be seen
almost any
sunny
day.

Full
Moon Dates
Schedule
While observing
the
moonbow
is the park's best
known activity, there
are plenty of other fun things to do.
There
are other trails to hike around the Falls
area.
Things
to bring to a Moonbow
and other activities. The
park is Handicap Accessible

Did You
Know?...
Kentucky
has the greatest number
of navigable miles
of running
water
in the United
States

A PRIDE
Enviromental Education Center
The Cumberland
Falls
Beautification
Day and river cleanup is scheduled for June 6 .

18 Minute
Exposure during the fall season photo from the Bank of the
Cumberland River At 1
AM......
Photo of the moonbow at Cumberland
Falls


Other
Adventurous Things to do in Kentucky

View
Larger Map
^TOP^
Cumberland Falls is the
waterfall in Kentucky in the United States that creates a
moonbow when the moon is full or nearly full and is
one of the few places on
the planet earth where you can see a moonbow.
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!

Hidden treasure in
KY....Special thanks
to
Dr. Truman Perry,
Corbin, Ky
Dr. Paula
Hollingsworth, Lexington, Ky
and Dr. Robert Salley,
Lexington, Ky
Without them, this
site and these moonbow pictures would not exist!
And of course, my
Grandmother.
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