CUMBERLAND FALLS

We just returned from a few days in the Cumberland Falls area of south-central Kentucky (south of Lexington and about a 2 1/2 hour drive from home). It was rainy and damp and misty but it was still a wonderful get-away for a while. We stayed at the Resort and saw the falls from both sides (one hike easy and paved, the other not).

When you park and begin your walk towards the falls, the water is so calm it's like a mirror. Beautiful reflections and no stirring of the water at all. Then you walk on and the water has more movement and you see the cuts in the rocks that are visible because the water is low. You can hear the roaring and you know what's coming.

You follow the crowd (a lot more people than I thought there would be and hard to find a parking spot but it was the last weekend of the "summer" before kids had to be back in school).

The sound becomes even louder.

And there it is: Cumberland Falls, called the Niagara of the South, only smaller in scope than Niagara Falls and the only falls that has a moonbow. On full moon nights when the skies are clear, you can see the moonbow shining like a white radiating arc in the mist. Sometimes it is pale white, sometimes it has the colors of a traditional rainbow in it.

We didn't see the moonbow (cloudy, rainy, and too tired from a 2 hour hike that afternoon) but did see the sun peek through just long enough to show us a rainbow - always a good sign.

If you're adventurous and want to get really wet, you can take a pink raft down from the "beach" area to the base of the falls and get splashed. We saw a few hardy souls doing this with lots of screaming and laughing involved.

The resort/hotel and the view outside our 2nd floor window...trees, trees and more trees and foggy misty mornings.