Research notes
Research notes: Yahoo Falls
Sources for Yahoo Falls in Big South Fork. Pin years are its public history (national forest 1937 to the Park Service in 1987), not geologic age.
Updated
The falls
- About 113 ft single plunge on Yahoo Creek; NPS calls it Kentucky’s highest waterfall. Sources: Nps16 Wiki
- A Red River Gorge falls is said to exceed it by a few inches. Sources: Wiki
- Falls in front of one of the park’s largest rock houses; walk behind; trickle in summer; 100-ft Yahoo Arch spur. Sources: KT
Public history
- Cumberland National Forest created 1937; renamed Daniel Boone National Forest 1968. Sources: Wiki Nps11
- 1960s Yahoo Falls Recreation Area by forest supervisor Robert Collins: road, picnic area, campsite, trails, steel stairs. Sources: Wiki Nps16
- Transferred to the NPS for Big South Fork in 1987; picnic shelter restored 2011; road paved 2016. Sources: Nps11 Nps16
Cut
- Local legends about the name and frontier events at the falls: not traced to contemporary records, so left out.
Timeline
People
- Robert Collins Forest supervisor, 1960s recreation area
Open questions
- The exact year the recreation area opened.
Sources
Primary sources
- “Rededication of Restored Yahoo Falls Picnic Shelter,” Big South Fork NRRA news release, August 18, 2011. (opens in a new tab)
- “Yahoo Falls Road Improvement Project to Start June 20,” Big South Fork NRRA news release, 2016. (opens in a new tab)