Rollin' on the River with the Cumberland Star riverboat

Upper deck of the Cumberland Star riverboat at sunset.

It has been 6 years since the Cumberland Star riverboat was able to run its route from the Mouth of the Laurel up the river to just below Last Drop rapid.  It is easy for me to keep track, because my son Daniel was born at just about the same time that the Corp of Engineers unexpectedly announced that they were dropping Lake Cumberland to do repairs on Wolf Creek Dam.  Daniel's first hiking trip was as a newborn when my husband and I hiked upstream along the river to see what the river looked like without the lake covering it.

We scrambled that winter and most of the next season to find a way.  An easy way to bring whitewater rafters on the Cumberland Below the Falls rafting trip down the 5 miles of lake at the end of the Class III rapids.  It was a drought year.  The economy tanked.  We struggled.  The Cumberland Star moved lower down on the lake to be docked in deeper water.  We eventually worked something out.  It wasn't easy or perfect, but it worked. 

Now, 6 long years later, the Corps of Engineers announced in January that they would be bringing the lake back up.  Not all the way.  But enough.  It was unexpected; the Corp had been saying the lake would come up the summer of 2014.  And so now we scramble yet again.  But this time, we are scrambling to put in dock facilities.  To get the Cumberland Star ready for passengers again.  To get the word out that the riverboat is running again.  This is a *good* scramble.

So, starting in May, 2013, the Cumberland Star will once again be plying the headwaters of Lake Cumberland.  It will accept passengers for Lunch Cruises.  It will pick up tired, wet, but happy rafters at the end of the Cumberland Below the Falls run.  It will serve food on its canoe shaped buffet table.  Passengers will relax and enjoy the shoreline scenery while basking in the sun on the upper deck or relaxing in the shade on the lower deck.  Captain Rick will once again be in his element.  And my son Daniel will get to do his first-ever whitewater rafting trip with the lake up and the Cumberland Star running.

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Daniel on his first hike - a trip up the Cumberland River to see what the lower section looks like without the lake. Photo taken Feb, 2007

Doug and Daniel in front of Bark Camp rapids. Before the lake dropped, the last time someone could see this rapid, Harry Truman was president (1951). Photo taken Feb, 2007