Kentucky\u2019s tallest waterfall at 113 feet, with a trail that passes behind it under one of the largest rock shelters in the area.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Rain fed
What drives it
Yahoo Creek
Climatology
Data on this page
Yahoo Creek is ungauged
NPS Big South Fork
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Yahoo Falls, and when
A small creek in the Big South Fork country, so volume follows rain closely. The Park Service says plainly that water volume is significantly reduced during periods of dryer weather.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
Water volume is significantly reduced during periods of dryer weather.
Rain-fed falls carry the color of their watershed: Blackwater Falls runs amber with tannin from spruce and hemlock bogs upstream, and its volume tracks the last month of Appalachian weather. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
A one-mile loop with some very steep metal steps; the trail passes behind the falls beneath the rock shelter.
Pictured: Cumberland Falls, Kentucky, on the same river system. Yahoo Falls is a tall thin drop under a rock shelter. “Cumberland Falls rainbow” by James St. John, CC BY 2.0
Common questions
Yahoo Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is March through May. A small creek in the Big South Fork country, so volume follows rain closely. The Park Service says plainly that water volume is significantly reduced during periods of dryer weather.
Yahoo Creek has no USGS gauge near the falls, so the seasonal pattern above is the flow guide for Yahoo Falls, and Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (National Park Service) is the source for current conditions on the ground.
Yes, substantially. This is a small creek and the Park Service says so directly.
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (National Park Service). A one-mile loop with some very steep metal steps; the trail passes behind the falls beneath the rock shelter. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "The trail is easy with the exception of some very steep metal steps." That sentence is Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (National Park Service)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Places to stay