The Big South Fork is located in north central Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky in some of the most rugged terrain of the Cumberland Plateau. The park encompasses approximately 125,000 acres of both rugged forested gorge and adjacent forested plateau. Together with the state and federal lands which share the north and western boundaries the area offers a wide variety of habitats in which plants and animals may abound.

Within the Big South Fork numerous pristine streams flow into the free-flowing Big South Fork of the Cumberland River.   Over the eons, this ceaseless moving water has carved the sandstones of the plateau into the impressive cliffs, arches and chimneys found throughout the park.