Yahoo Falls Trail

Yahoo Falls Trail visits the tallest waterfall in Kentucky, a 113-foot cascade that plunges over a sandstone overhang into a deeply recessed plunge pool on the Kentucky side of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. The falls are particularly impressive because the overhanging rock above the falls creates a cave-like alcove that hikers can walk behind the cascade, experiencing the waterfall from within rather than just viewing it from outside. The overhang sheltered Native Americans for thousands of years, and the site shows evidence of prehistoric occupation spanning multiple cultural periods. The trail descends from a plateau parking area through a typical Cumberland Plateau forest before reaching the falls in a narrow creek gorge. Yahoo Creek's clear water flows over exposed sandstone and through dense rhododendron thickets that create a tunnel of greenery in summer. The loop trail visits several additional smaller cascades and geological features before returning to the trailhead. The surrounding forest in the Kentucky portion of the Big South Fork park is particularly rich in mixed mesophytic species, with a high diversity of tree species in the protected cove areas. No entrance fee is charged. This trail is accessible from the Yahoo Arch Recreation Area on KY-700.