Explore the Basin
Discover 18,000 square miles of rugged wilderness, beautiful streams and charming towns in the Cumberland River Basin of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Watersheds of the Basin
Lake Cumberland
Endangered gray bats spend nights foraging for insects over streams and the placid waters of the reservoir. Spectaclecase mussels avoid strong currents beneath the bluffs
Lower Cumberland
That said, it doesn’t lack for superlatives. It is home to more surface water and more wetlands than any other watershed in the Cumberland River
Collins River
Savage Gulf is a majestic canyon in the region, where the waters of the Collins River, Big Creek, and Savage Creek dance between narrow canyon
Obey River
As the Obey flows west, beyond the Cumberland Plateau, it reaches Dale Hollow Lake, a reservoir created to control flooding and provide hydropower by the
Caney Fork River
The Caney Fork watershed is drained by the Cumberland’s longest tributary, the Caney Fork River. This 143-mile river was named for the cane breaks Europeans
Upper Cumberland
Rainbow darter and hogsuckers swim amongst the fast creek riffles, and fourtoed salamanders burrow within the mosses of boggy wetlands. Hemlock and magnolia trees can
Rockcastle
Sections of the Rockcastle are protected under the state of Kentucky’s Wild Rivers Program and the river has been recognized with an Outstanding National Resource
Big South Fork
In the drainage, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area attracts over 600,000 people and contributes over $10 million to local economies annually.
