Kentucky's Best Waterfalls

Kentucky's waterfalls are concentrated in the Red River Gorge, the Cumberland Falls area, and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

Cumberland Falls (68 ft)
The "Niagara of the South" — Kentucky's most famous waterfall, 125 feet wide and 68 feet tall on the Cumberland River. The moonbow (a rainbow visible in the mist below the falls on full-moon nights) is unique in the Western Hemisphere. The falls are best viewed from the west bank; the trail (0.5 miles) from the state resort park lodge is easy.

Yahoo Falls (113 ft)
The highest waterfall in Kentucky — a ribbon of water dropping 113 feet from a sandstone overhang in the Big South Fork NRA near Whitley City. The trail (1.5 miles round trip) descends through mixed hardwood forest. The falls are in a recess cave behind the curtain of water — the walk-behind experience is dramatic.

Bad Branch Falls (60 ft)
In Bad Branch State Nature Preserve, Letcher County — a 60-foot cascade in an old-growth hemlock and rhododendron hollow. The trail (1.5 miles round trip) is through one of the finest remaining old-growth forests in eastern Kentucky. The falls are a significant wildflower location in spring.

Dog Slaughter Falls (20 ft)
In the Daniel Boone National Forest near Corbin — an unusual name for a lovely waterfall. The trail (2 miles round trip) passes through laurel-and-rhododendron forest to a wide, layered cascade. The area is less crowded than the more famous sites nearby.

Boven Falls and Vanhook Falls (Red River Gorge)
In the Clifty Wilderness of the Red River Gorge — seasonal waterfalls fed by seeps in the sandstone cliffs. The gorge's recess caves (hollows carved by water seeping through the sandstone overhang) create behind-the-falls experiences unique to the Cumberland Plateau geology.