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A mesmerizing watercolor captures a moonbow illuminating a misty landscape. The soft pastel arc glows over a serene river, ancient trees, and a tranquil forest, evoking beauty and mystery in the night.
Take one look at Cumberland Falls and you’ll understand why it’s often called the “Niagara of the South.” At 125 feet wide and seven stories tall, this is one spectacular cascade. Cumberland Falls is spectacular during the daytime but a few days each month, it literally lights up at night. The “moonbow,” also called a white rainbow or lunar rainbow, is formed just like a rainbow—light is refracted in tiny water droplets—and appears for the two or so days, as long as the sky is clear, on either end of the full moon.
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT
Cumberland Falls is one of the few places in the world that regularly produces a moonbow. In fact, it’s the only regular moonbow in the western hemisphere. So those 11 miles—all part of the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail, the backbone of the Daniel Boone National Forest trail system—are well worth the effort. The challenging trail begins at the Mouth of Laurel boat ramp, then meanders along the Cumberland River toward Cumberland Falls, which is the second-largest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.