Cumberland Falls State Park & Big South Fork National Recreation Area – Day 1 – Oct 2024

Hey Guys!

If you keep up with my blog, you will know that we love doing a few weekend trips throughout the year especially during the fall and spring months!

After recently hearing about Cumberland Falls State Park and Big South Fork National Recreation Area, we decided to spend a weekend checking out these two areas.

I booked a cabin at the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.

We headed out after work on Fri, Oct. 26th.

The drive to the resort took us approximately 3 hours.

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park is located in Corbin, KY and is contained entirely within the Daniel Boone National Forest. The park encompasses 1,657 acres and is named for its major feature, 68-foot-tall Cumberland Falls.

Big South Fork is located in Oneida, TN and encompasses 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau. The area boasts miles of scenic gorges and sandstone bluffs and is rich with natural and historic features.

It is the fifth-largest national recreation area in the eastern U.S. It is a haven for whitewater paddlers, equestrian trail riders and mountain bikers. It is often referred to as a quiet alternative to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tip: Be aware that Big South Fork is located in both TN & KY and joins or contains portions of 6 different counties. The Eastern Central Time Zone runs through the middle of the park and most park offices and concessionaires operate on Eastern time. Click here for more information.

Click here to see a map of Cumberland Falls & here for a map of Big South Fork

We arrived at the lodge about 15 mins before their restaurant stopped serving dinner!

We were literally the only ones in the dining room….you know the employees wanted to strangle us! 😉

Tip: There are no other restaurants that are close to this lodge so be prepared

Thankfully, it was just a buffet so they didn’t have to prepare our food.

However, we are not fans of buffets but when you’re hungry, you will eat most anything!

Their menu was “fall” themed and consisted of sweet potatoes, ham, green been casserole, corn casserole, Mac & cheese, desserts and so much more!

We honestly were not expecting much but we ended up being pleasantly surprised …the food was actually very good!

After eating, we headed back upstairs and checked in at the front desk.

We then headed back outside and drove over to our cabin.

The cabin was pretty nice considering it was in a state park. I usually don’t expect much from state park properties but we thought it was really clean and cozy.

Our room had two beds, a table with two chairs, a small “kitchenette”, a TV, and a nice size bathroom.

Tip: I’m not sure what the rooms look like in the lodge but it will be closed next November for renovations.

Read reviews here

I had picked up this brochure at the front desk.

It was full of information like nearby hikes that you could do.

It also included a map of the park.

After getting settled into our room, we watched TV for a while before calling it a night!

The next morning, I was up bright and early and headed outside to have my coffee on the small deck of our cabin.

It was so peaceful and quiet!

I had literally thrown together an itinerary in like a couple of days!

Some people like to fly by the seat of their pants but I just can’t show up at a place and not know what there is to do! It costs too much money to just “wing it”!

A couple of shots of our cute little cabin.

After my husband had gotten his beauty sleep, we headed out for the day.

We only had to drive less than five minutes to reach our first stop of the day which would be the Cumberland Falls.

After getting parked, we walked over to get a view of the river.

The water was really low but the fall colors were popping!

We continued our walk towards the falls.

We met a sweet, older couple who offered to take our picture in front of the park sign.

This area offers a visitor’s center, a gift shop, a food truck and more!

The park offered different activities and programs that you could participate in for free.

Heading towards the falls

Our first view of the incredible Cumberland Falls!

The waterfall measures approximately 68 feet tall and 125 feet wide and has been dubbed, “the Niagara of the South.”

Cumberland Falls is the second largest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains, and the largest waterfall as measured by water volume in the Eastern United States, south of Niagara Falls.

Tip: Click here & here to read about movies that were filmed in KY…some of them at Cumberland Falls!

The fall colors against the clear blue skies were so beautiful!

Looking upstream from the falls

There is something else very special about this falls…it is one of only two places in the world where you can consistently see a moonbow, and the only one in the Western Hemisphere!

A moonbow is a rainbow produced by moonlight rather than direct sunlight. Other than the difference in the light source, its formation is the same as for a solar rainbow.

Click here to see a list of dates for 2025 to witness the moonbow

We continued our walk past the falls to another observation area.

This area gave you a bird’s eye view of the spectacular falls!

It was even more beautiful with the fall foliage!

There are a few trails that you can hike from this location.

We spotted this sign warning people of bears in the area.

We decided to check out the visitor’s center.

We walked around for a few minutes and checked out some of the displays that talked about the area and the ecosystem.

They offered brochures for some of the other state parks in Kentucky.

After leaving the visitor’s center, we headed to a nearby waterfall called Eagle Falls.

The hike to Eagle Falls is a 1.8 mile loop and is considered the #1 rated trail in Kentucky for its incredible views of both Cumberland Falls and its own 40 ft tall waterfall!

The trail starts out pretty flat.

You will be walking through the woods with lots of shade the entirety of the trail.

Shortly after starting the trail, you will start seeing views of the river on your right.

You could see people standing on the other side of the river at the observation area where we had been standing just a few minutes earlier.

We started gaining elevation and found ourselves above the Cumberland Falls.!

Much of the hike is spent right on the edge of the cliff but it wasn’t too scary!

We came up on lots of stairs….I’ve since read there are as many as 350 stairs on this hike!

The trail led us under a huge rock shelter!

This area gave us incredible views of the Cumberland Falls!!

Across the river you could see all of the other observation areas that we had missed!

The views from here were the best on the trail!

Continuing the trail

More stairs!

We had to take these metal stairs all the way to the bottom in order to continue the trail to Eagle Falls.

Once you reach the bottom, you may think you are at the end of the trail but you will need to find the marked red spots on the rocks to continue on to the falls.

You will be scrambling over huge rocks….this is not an easy trail!

Finally, after about 30 mins of hiking, we arrived to the falls!

I’ll have to say, I was a bit disappointed as the falls wasn’t much more than a trickle and the hike there was not easy!

The falls has a drop of 44 ft.

I’m sure it’s prettier when there’s been a lot of rain but this area as well as TN had a very dry summer!

You could walk to the river from this falls but be very careful if the water levels are up!

Tip: Watch your step as there are few venomous snakes in this area!

After taking a few pictures, we headed back the way we had come.

All of those stairs were brutal!

Views along the way back to the car.

I highly recommend this hike as the views are just incredible!

On the way back, we spotted a spur trail that led to the Gorge Overlook so we decided to climb even more stairs to go check it out!

It turned out to be a bad decision as the views were completely obscured by the trees!

However, I have since read that this trail leads to a “secret ghost town” that is hidden in the forest nearby. The remnants of the wild west theme park, Six Gun City, are in various states of disrepair as it was abandoned in the late 1990’s after operating for 20 years.

After getting back to our car, we headed to our next stop of the day.

Tip: 15 mins from this waterfall is the spectacular Dog Slaughter Falls.…we decided. not to hike it due to lack of rain in the area.

We pulled over to take pictures of the historic Cumberland Falls Bridge.

The bridge was supposed to have been built in the 30’s but a dispute on who would pay for it, delayed the construction until the 50’s.

It was finally completed in 1954 for a cost of $550,000.00.

After taking pictures of the bridge, we continued our drive.

The leaves were full of color!

I began to wonder why we even bothered going to Vermont when we could have saved a lot of money coming here instead! 😉

About 30 mins after leaving the Cumberland Bridge, we arrived to our next stop, the Natural Arch Scenic Area.

Tip: There is a small Day Use Fee of $5 required to hike the trails here, which gets stuffed into a small envelope and deposited into a kiosk near the parking lot.

The main attraction here is a spectacular sandstone arch that spans nearly 100 feet!

The hike to the arch is approximately 1 mile on a loop trail.

The hike starts out on a paved path.

The trail passes two scenic overlooks along the way.

From one of the overlooks, you had views of the sandstone arch.

The trail continued down these stairs and led us to a dirt path.

The trail was so beautiful with all the fall colors!

We came up on a sign that listed another arch on this trail that I was unaware of called Chimney Arch. There was also another trail that you could take called Buffalo Canyon Trail.

After 15 mins of hiking, we arrived to the Natural Arch!

Natural Arch is one of Kentuckys’ largest natural landmarks. Spanning 100 feet across and rising nearly 50 feet above the forest floor!

This arch is impressive no matter which direction it’s viewed from!

It was so cool!

I managed to find a few articles referencing the arch as being sacred to the Cherokee who once lived here. Archeological studies conducted here have also found artifacts from prehistoric peoples dating back thousands of years.

Kentucky is considered to have the most natural arches in the country east of the Mississippi River.

We spotted this smaller arch sitting above the Natural arch.

We walked under the arch to the other side and noticed they had put up a wooden fence…not sure what it was there for but I had read where some had said it was where artifacts had been found.

These sandstone arches form through a process of erosion and weathering over many years.

We spotted all kinds of cool rock formations near the arch!

After taking way too many pictures, we headed back to our car.

I couldn’t get over how beautiful the leaves were!

After getting back to the parking lot, we walked over to another observation area opposite the arch trail.

This observation area gave you views of the Natural Arch.

After leaving here, we headed to our next stop.

It had started raining and the fog was settling in making for some eerie pictures…it was almost Halloween and everywhere we went we were the only ones around…made me think that Michael Myers would jump out of the woods at any minute! 😉

On the way to our next stop, we passed a sign for the Barthell Coal Mining Camp.

Barthell is a former coal town. It was established in 1902 and was the first of 18 mining camps to be built by the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company. It now serves as an open-air history museum, which is open from April through Thanksgiving.

About 30 mins after leaving the Natural Arch, we arrived to our next stop called, Devil’s Jump Overlook.

After getting parked, we walked along the paved path to the overlook.

The trail to the overlook is approximately 0.2 miles from the parking lot.

The trail ends at a wooden deck that offers incredible views of a bend in the Cumberland River!

Read here on how this overlook got its name

It was so foggy we could hardly see the views of the river below!

We waited around a few minutes to see if the fog would lift and thankfully, it lifted just enough to get some awesome pictures!

The fog really added to the scenery!

Tip: Also located here is the Blue Heron Loop and the Blue Heron Overlook

The views here are incredible and I highly recommend it!

Unfortunately, we missed the nearby Blue Heron Overlook!

After leaving here, we headed to our next stop.

We spotted the park’s sign so had to stop for a picture!

We then continued our drive.

A few minutes later, we arrived to another overlook called, East Rim Overlook.

This overlook was similar to Devil’s Jump…it too was a very short hike and was accessed along a paved path.

The trail also ended at a wooden deck.

The East Rim Overlook is located in Tennessee and is one of two overlooks where you can stand on the edge of the Big South Fork gorge and look down hundreds feet to the river below.

The views here were beautiful as well but I thought the views at Devil’s Jump were prettier.

As we were about to leave, we spotted a camera in one of the trees! We thought that was a bit strange!

Heading back to our car

After returning to our car, we headed to our next stop.

A few minutes later, we came up on several vehicles that were stopped in the middle of the road.

It didn’t take us long to figure out why….there was a bear on the side of the road!

Our location showed that we were in Oneida, TN which is in East Tennessee and home to part of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area which is home to an estimated 40–50 black bears.

We could only photograph it from a distance as the other vehicles wouldn’t move and by the time they did, the bear had ran into the woods.

Continuing our drive

We were now in Jamestown, TN.

Tip: When in this area don’t miss the historic town of Rugby – it’s 25 mins from Jamestown

We spotted the Alvin C York gristmill in the nearby town of Pall Mall so we pulled over to check it out.

Alvin C. York was an American soldier who was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, gathering 35 machine guns, killing at least 25 enemy soldiers and capturing 132 prisoners.

York was born here in the small community of Pall Mall, TN and lived with his mother, dad and 10 siblings.

Tip: Mark Twain’s parents lived in Pall Mall. He was conceived here but born in Missouri

The red mill was constructed in 1880. The water-powered gristmill was used for grinding corn to make cornmeal and served the region for several generations.

Sgt. York purchased the gristmill in the early 1940s and operated it until the early 1950s.

Tip: The gristmill is open for self-guided tours between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm daily.

We walked inside the grist mill to check it out.

The inside was set up like a museum and was full of old equipment.

There were several informational plaques describing the history and the equipment.

We walked up to the 2nd floor and checked it out.

There was even more equipment upstairs.

After checking out the mill, we continued our drive.

Tip: Also located near the mill is the home of Alvin C York, a visitor center, and the York Bible School. Just outside the park, you will find the Wolf River Methodist Church where he experienced his religious conversion and the Wolf River Cemetery which includes the burial site of Sgt. York and his wife,

Five minutes later, we arrived to our next stop, the Forbus General Store.

I had found out about this place during my research and had wanted to eat here if it worked out and thankfully, it did!

The general store was built by W. M. Johnson in 1892, and was operated by Johnson until his death in 1941. At one time, the store included a gas-powered gristmill, a blacksmith shop, and several granaries, but only the store stands today.