Cumberland Falls, Kentucky at Night - Information and pictures

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About the Moonbow

Cumberland Falls, KY

Photographing the Moonbow

2009 & 2010 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

cumberland falls moonbow


Climate at the Falls & KY_Temperate

Click for Corbin, Kentucky Forecast

Weather at Cumberland Falls


 

   

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DuPont Lodge

7351 Highway 90

Corbin, KY 40701-8857

800-325-0063

Cumberland Falls@ky.gov


 

 




moon phase
 


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


  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 moonbow

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..

 

 Cumberland Falls Ky

 

 

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 Photos by

Mike

 

 Cumberland Falls, Kentucky

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park

Lisa Davis,..Park Superintendent

near Corbin, Kentucky

 Cumberland Falls from Lover's Leap 

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 Paul Carlisle's Earth Viewer Longitude 84 20 43W

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 above falls = 119 miles

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

Cumberland Falls, Ky

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

Driving Directions

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.

Commonwealth of Kentucky Map

Click Here for a Cumberland Falls Park Area Map

WATCH OUT FOR DEER !

 

 Click Here for a photo by My Life In Focus

...........................................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
Schedule

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 .

 

 

 Cumberland Falls in Ky

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. 

 

T

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.

 

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