Yahoo Falls

Kentucky’s highest waterfall, at 113 feet tall. Located in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

On New Years Eve, Michael and I were looking for a good hike to finish off our kayaking vacation. A buddy recommended Yahoo Falls. We had never heard of it, but it wasn’t very far off of our route back home, and I love exploring new places.

The trail also has a nice area that overlooks a large river below. Seeing both the falls and the arch on this out and back trail is only a 4.2 mile total hike from the parking lot - easily doable if you only have a few hours.

The waterfall itself supposedly varies greatly in flow depending on rainfall, from a small trickle to an impressive gush. So I’d recommend going after a period of rain for more of a wow factor. When we were there it had rained in the last couple days, but not so recently that the trails were muddy, and the falls were at a nice veil level. You can step off the trail and right up to the edge of the falls, if you dare, but the vertical drop is mind-boggling and enough to make even the bravest daredevils weak in the knees.

Fairly close to the top of the falls the trail splits, so you can turn down to do the loop around the falls or continue straight to check out the arch. We went to the arch first. It did not disappoint!

Very deep overhang along the hike at Yahoo Falls.

As a bonus, as we approached Yahoo Falls, I kept yelling “YAHOOOOOO!!!” at the top of my lungs, embarrassing the hell out of Michael even though no one else was around. I encourage you to do the same when you visit!

The Big South Fork National Recreation Area continues to impress every time I visit. This definitely won’t be my last post about all that this particular public gem has to offer! Keep an eye out on this blog in the future for reports on the Twin Arches hike and Big South Fork whitewater adventures.