Cumberland Falls’ renowned moonbow draws visitors from across the country to Kentucky

CORBIN, Ky. (WTVF) — Road trippers are pouring in from across the country to Cumberland Falls near Corbin, Kentucky, for one of the rarest sights in nature.

“I would have never thought in Kentucky there was a waterfall like this,” Josh Sharp, a tourist from Ohio, said. “How often do you see nature like this?”

Alan Jett, a tourist from Pennsylvania, said his wife spotted the destination while looking at a map. “It’s gorgeous, it really is,” Jett said.

But it is not just the 70 foot waterfall drawing the crowds. It is the moonbow, that appears alongside it during the light of a full moon, that has every cabin booked and the phone at the park ringing nonstop.

“People are here for the moonbow,” Maggy Kriebel, park manager at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, said. “Cumberland Falls is the only place in the Western Hemisphere that you can see a regularly occurring moonbow.”

A moonbow is similar to a daytime rainbow, but instead of sunlight, the colors come from moonlight. “The moon lines up just right with this mist off this waterfall,” professional photographer Max Caswell said.

Caswell enjoys capturing moonbows so much that he arrived hours early just to secure a spot along the river, checking conditions before the show began.

“I was actually looking to see how much mist was running down river,” Caswell said.

The wait, however, requires patience.”It’s going to be another hour and a half at least,” Caswell said. “The moon’s just now at the horizon.”

As darkness fell and the full moon rose above the trees, hundreds gathered to witness the spectacle. To the naked eye, the moonbow appears as a ghostly white arc, but cameras with long exposure settings reveal it bursting with color. “Boy that looks really good now. It’s brightening up a lot!” Caswell said.

By the end of the night, the display did not disappoint. “You can actually kind of see almost a double [moonbow] starting right there,” Caswell said, showing us one of his pictures.

According to the park, Cumberland Falls is the only place on this side of the world to catch almost monthly moonbows. The only other location where moonbows can be seen regularly is Victoria Falls in Africa.

Weather permitting, a moonbow is visible at Cumberland Falls every full moon — and that is what keeps photographers like Caswell coming back. “You never know what to expect. You don’t know if it’s going to be spot on. But that’s what keeps you going back out there and trying to chase that perfect shot,” Caswell said.

2026 Cumberland Falls moonbow dates

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park has released its 2026 moonbow viewing schedule. All times are approximate (in the Eastern Time Zone) and based on the evening of arrival.

July

• July 1: 12:30 am – 2:30 am
• July 27: 10:00 am – 12:00 am
• July 28: 10:30 pm – 12:30 am
• July 29: 11:00 pm – 1:00 am
• July 30: 11:30 pm – 1:30 am
• July 31: 12:00 am – 2:00 am

August

• Aug. 26: 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm
• Aug. 27: 10:00 pm – 12:00 am
• Aug. 28: 10:30 pm – 12:30 am
• Aug. 29: 11:00 pm – 1:00 am
• Aug. 30: 11:30 pm – 1:30 am

September

• Sept. 24: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
• Sept. 25: 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm
• Sept. 26: 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm
• Sept. 27: 10:00 pm – 12:00 am
• Sept. 28: 10:30 pm – 12:30 am

October

• Oct. 24: 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Oct. 25: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
• Oct. 26: 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm
• Oct. 27: 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm
• Oct. 28: 10:30 pm – 12:30 am

November

• Nov. 22: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Nov. 23: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
• Nov. 24: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Nov. 25: 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Nov. 26: 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm

December

• Dec. 21: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
• Dec. 22: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Dec. 23: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Dec. 24: 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Dec. 25: 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm

Do you have any great shots from recent Moonbows at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky? Share them with me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.