Springtime in Kentucky – Part 4: Yahoo Falls & Arch, Natural Arch, Cumberland Falls, and Pinnacle Knob Fire Tower

April 20, 2024

My final day in Kentucky! Since my flight home was not until 4:30pm, I woke before sunrise so I could cram in lots of exploring before driving several hours back to Lexington. Making the best of my last hours in Kentucky!

Daniel Boone National Forest was just a short drive south of my campground on Lake Cumberland. Established in 1937, this national forest spans 708,000 acres in eastern Kentucky, and boasts over 600 miles of trails. Unfortunately, I only had a few hours to explore so my trail mileage would just be a handful, and I would also be hiking in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (National Park Service unit #79 for me!) and Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.

I had not originally planned on visiting Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, which protects 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau and the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, but then I learned Kentucky’s tallest waterfall, Yahoo Falls, lied within its northern reaches on Yahoo Creek. I mean, I cannot complain about a bonus NPS unit for the trip (especially in a state I probably really won’t be traveling to again in the near future)… and a waterfall! Plans were easily changed (this is why I shortened my stay at Mammoth Cave by a night, opting to drive to Lake Cumberland to camp instead) and set for my last day.

At 113-feet tall, Yahoo Falls is an easy hike, just a bit over one mile round trip. I decided to also add on Yahoo Arch, a natural arch a bit further up the trail for some bonus miles. The trailhead has nice bathroom facilities and many picnic sites, with lots of parking (at least at 7:30am on a spring morning). A map of this section of the Big South Fork NRRA can be found here.

I made quick work of the wide path towards Yahoo Falls, and opted for a clockwise route, descending the steep metal staircase that would lead to the base of the falls, and the large sandstone rockshelter behind the falls. It’s not a secret that I am obsessed with waterfalls, and I have been fortunate enough to experience some amazing waterfalls in my travels. Though Yahoo Falls is not the biggest, tallest, most powerful one I’ve been to, its setting with a large rockshelter and dense forest made it magical!

After taking plenty of photos and enjoying having Yahoo Falls all to myself, I continued clockwise on the falls loop, ascending up to the trail junction. I headed towards Yahoo Arch, a mighty fine example of erosion of a sandstone rockshelter that led to formation of an arch.

I almost did not notice Yahoo Arch until I was practically in it – it came much quicker than anticipated! (Miles go faster when hiking at sea level, I swear!) I took to exploring and taking a gazillion photos, trying to figure out how to capture the size of the arch. I eventually settled for using myself for scale in some photos… just a tiny orange speck!

I took the trail back to the trailhead, stopping at the brink of Yahoo Falls for some photos before making quick work of the return trip. Overall, it was 3.07 miles with 518 feet of elevation gain, for a total time of 1 hour 14 minutes. I scared a NPS employee half to death returning to the empty parking lot – I was still the only one around!

Next up was a quick backtrack to the north, back into Daniel Boone National Forest and onto Natural Arch Scenic Area. Time for another hike, this time a 1.5 mile jaunt around Natural Arch, a 100-foot span sandstone arch.

Natural Arch Scenic Area is quite developed with picnic facilities, restrooms, and an amphitheater. I took the chance to refill my water bottle at the fountain (the water at Waitsboro Campground was rust colored, and tasted a bit off – hey, I’m still alive with no parasites I think!), thankful to rehydrate after what was already a busy morning.

Now it was time to begin heading east to the second waterfall of the day, as the proclaimed “Niagara of the South” was waiting for me! I enjoyed the twisted, hilly road (Kentucky does have some fun roads to drive, even if I was in a mere Camry!), and quickly arrived at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.

Here I found a visitor center, gift shops, and apparently all the tourists in Kentucky that weren’t at Mammoth Cave? The crowds were a bit much for this Wyoming girl that had the morning’s sights to herself, but I found parking, stashed expensive things out of sight in the car, and made my way to see what Cumberland Falls was all about.

Cumberland Falls immediately got a big thumbs up from me before I even saw the whole waterfall as a rainbow came into view! The 3,600 cubic feet of water that spills over the sandstone edge every second creates not only perfect rainbow views, but also is one of two places in the WORLD that forms a “moonbow” during a full moon.

I wandered down to other viewing platforms, finally seeing the full 125-foot span, 68-foot tall waterfall in its entirety. I was instantly remind of Goðafoss in northern Iceland, as I thought it kinda vaguely similar (but not really?).

On the way back to the car I explored the gift shop, loading up on postcards, and then readied myself for the final adventure before the couple-hour drive back to Lexington – the Pinnacle Knob Fire Tower! Out of 160 fire towers that were in Kentucky, less than a dozen remain, so well worth the trip!

At about 0.6 mile each way, this short hike on a wide trail would lead me to the fire tower which was completed in 1937 by the CCC (and decommissioned in 1976). Luckily it was restored in 2008 so budding fire tower lookout nerds like myself could visit!

Adventures wrapped up, I did my final packing at the Pinnacle Knob trailhead to ensure the rental car drop off was quick and smooth. I had a little over an hour drive ahead of me down I-75, so fairly boring and non-eventful aside from realizing there is a lack of gas stations immediately around the Lexington airport. I arrived a bit comically early for a flight out of the tiny Lexington airport, but better safe than sorry (thought I wish I popped into Tennessee while I was that far south at Yahoo Falls as Tennessee is one of the few states I have left to visit).

My short and sweet Kentucky adventure road trip was a success, totaling 465 miles! There’s nothing like getting to experience new places and scenes. I thought Kentucky was very beautiful, and can’t beat about six hours spent in the world’s longest cave system, a couple of waterfalls, natural arches, and a fire tower for good measure! Of course, I was also able to add five new National Park Service units to my checklist as well!

Sooo… the rest of the story has nothing to do with Kentucky, just an almost-plane crash that I have to preserve in all of internet eternity! I left a sunny and mild Kentucky to arrive to a socked-in Denver, with thick fog making a mess of everything. I had a three hour layover at DIA before my quick flight home to Cheyenne, so I found dinner and just hung around. After a slight delay, my flight boarded and I was all excited that soon enough I’d be in my own sweet bed…. runway lights appeared out of the fog of Cheyenne and I knew we’d be on the ground soon… then an odd sound I’ve heard in all those airline disaster documentaries I watch!! Since I was in the front row of seats, I was close to the cabin on this tiny little jet and I heard the warning sirens and “Pull up, pull up!” in a robotic voice. Uhhh?

Needless to say, I got a free trip back to Denver, a room at the Gaylord Resort (though I arrived at about midnight so I did not get to enjoy it one bit) and $30 in food courtesy of United airlines and their “technical issues” (as in technically the pilot tried to land us on the wrong runway in Cheyenne and had to last second abort the landing because we were going to crash… I was sitting next to a federal flight safety inspector of all people on my flight and he educated me on what happened…). I finally got home at 11:30am the next day… you know, 13.5 hours after I was suppose to be home. AND the jerks removed the “Icelandair Approved Cabin Luggage” tag from my carry on roller bag. Insult to injury….

Read more about my Kentucky adventures! Part 1 here (Camp Nelson National Monument), part 2 here (Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site and Mammoth Cave National Park and the Extended Historic Tour), and part 3 here (Mammoth Cave National Park Grand Avenue Tour).