A Moonbow in the Mist
Cumberland Falls enchants visitors with twilight magic

“Paddle hard, paddle hard, dig, dig, dig!” Heads down, all eight paddlers heeded the words of our river guide and stroked the water hard and fast, time and again. All at once, the guide’s words were drowned out by torrents of water crashing down on our heads. As instructed, we kept paddling. For a few seconds, I couldn’t catch my breath. And then came air – blessed air.

“Ya-HOO!” we yelled in unison, paddles waving overhead as our rubber river raft emerged from behind a 125-foot-wide waterfall known as the “Niagara of the South.”

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, says Recreation Director Steve Gilbert, “is kind of magical with tons of nature and the power of the falls. It’s a peaceful place but can be exciting, too.”

Thanks to Sheltowee Trace Outfitters, I found out about the exciting part on a rapid whitewater ride on this Designated Kentucky Wild River several springs ago. One recent April morning, the park revealed her peaceful side as I hiked Moonbow Trail, which parallels the convoluted Cumberland (so named in 1720 by Dr. Thomas Walker, who said the waterway’s crooked nature reminded him of the Duke of Cumberland).

Under a warm sun, I ogled Eagle Falls plummeting 44 feet into the quiet river, watched tadpoles hatching in a rock pool and a graceful yellow swallowtail butterfly tapping breakfast from a lovely hot pink flower cluster, marveled at the melody of a wood thrush, and witnessed a near-circular rainbow in the mist below the falls.

But it’s the full moon that on a clear night turns on the park’s real magic: Cumberland Falls is the one of only two places in the world where a moonbow appears on a predictable schedule. (Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe is the other.)

According to Danny Brown, Cumberland’s park superintendent, the reason a moonbow appears here is that the Cumberland – like most of the state’s major rivers – oddly flows north. Factors that influence the lunar rainbow’s appearance include water and air clarity, wind velocity, amount of mist rising and of course, weather.

“A moonbow can vary from an arcing white stream of light to a color-filled rainbow,” says Brown. “It depends on how the moonlight hits the mist. It can appear above or below the falls, and can usually be seen two nights before and two nights after the full moon. The earlier the moon rises, the earlier the moonbow. It can appear as late as one or two a.m.”

During special photography weekends, shutterbugs can learn how to photograph nature in the park, in particular the rare moonbow, which requires a timed exposure.

Back in the 1920s and ’30s, Brown says, Niagara Falls had moonbows until some of its rock fell off. Not an unusual phenomenon, crumbling rock layers have caused Cumberland Falls to recede through the years from near the Somerset/Burnside area to its present location.

Exhibits in the park’s new Visitor’s Center explain the area’s geology, history and wildlife, and from here guides lead weekend tours.

Offering more detailed history, the Bob Blair Museum was named for a Corbin businessman and conservationist whose efforts helped save the park from strip miners, dam builders and tourist trap operators over the years. Blair also was a member of the Corbin Kiwanis Club team that trail-blazed an eastern approach to the falls in 1927. Previously, the 18 miles took 16 hours by wagon. Most tourists arrived on the Cincinnati Southern Railway 12 miles west, then spent four hours on a mule-drawn “jolt wagon.”

One of those was T. Coleman Dupont, whose heirs purchased the falls and 600 acres in 1931 to donate to the state of Kentucky. The park’s rustic 52-room hostelry, constructed with solid hemlock beams, knotty pine and huge stone fireplaces, is named Dupont Lodge in his honor.

These days, guests can choose from hiking 17 miles of trails with special bird and wildflower identification focus, rafting and canoeing, fishing (BYO tackle), horseback riding, a Junior Naturalist Program for ages seven through thirteen, swimming in a Olympic-sized pool, arts and crafts, family Olympics, Owl Prowl night hikes, and the most popular activity, folk/square dancing, complete with a caller and how-to’s.

Also in the running for most popular pastime would be the lodge restaurant’s legendary buffets, served every night and Sunday at noon from April through October, and for Easter, Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving.

Schedule a river rafting rush with Sheltowee Trace Outfitters (800) 541-7238, and find out about noshing with nature at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park (800) 325-0063 or www.state.ky.us/agencies/parks/ cumbfal2.htm.

Katherine Tandy Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
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