Cumberland Falls State Park June 2019

This post is the first of a series of me trying to get caught up on trips that have happened in the last few years.

My mom and I started a tradition of doing an annual trip together back in 2014 when she was turning 60 and I was turning 30. Since then, we have been on many adventures together.

In 2019, we decided to check out one of our Kentucky State Parks, Cumberland Falls. It was a bit of a drive for us to get there, and the weather was rather ominous at times.

But we made it, and even managed to get a fire started for dinner, despite everything being so wet. We eat well on our trips, even when camping. For dinner, we had Mediterranean Chicken Pitas, with Cherry Cobbler for dessert.

Breakfast Burritos and Tea in the morning. The rain had stopped and it was looking like it would be a nice day!

We did a lot of hiking most of the days we were there. On the first full day, we found a way to hike from our campground to see Cumberland Falls. Did you know that Cumberland Falls measures 68 feet tall and 125 feet wide, giving it the nickname of “The Niagara Falls of the South”? During full moons, this waterfall is quite the popular attraction due to its rare moonbow. Apparently it is one of only two naturally occurring moonbows in the world! While we were not there during the right time to see a moonbow, we did get a glimpse of a rainbow!

Here are some pictures of our hikes:

Because it was rather hot outside, we made sure to spend some time relaxing at the campgrounds. Dan and Alex gave me a great camping hammock that we both tried out!

One evening, we did a guided sunset hike to the fire tower. It was fun to have a chance to hike at night, nice to have a ranger along with us for a different perspective, and the sunset was a great view as well. Also, you cannot go up in the fire tower without a guide, so this was a unique opportunity. There was a large family hiking with us and only a certain number could go up to the tower at once, so we were worried for a bit that we wouldn’t have time to make it up for the sunset. But we made it!

By Thursday, it was getting so hot we decided we needed to do something different. After reviewing our options, we decided that whitewater rafting sounded like a great way to beat the heat! The Sheltowee Trace Adventure Resort offers full day rafting trips that include a paddle up to the falls, then lunch on a riverboat as you float back to the pickup point. It was a lot of fun, the guide was amusing, and the lunch was good, too. We did not bring our cameras in order to avoid water damage, but our guide did manage to get a group photo under the falls (I blacked out the faces of the family we don’t know for privacy sake).

Here is more of the delicious food we made:

We also had fun times at our campsite in the evening, between playing games, doing crafts, or sharing stories.

All in all, it was a simple, fun, experience! We definitely recommend a visit to Cumberland Falls State Park!