58 Crow Hole

    Another swimming hole in a bend on the river, Crow Hole is downstream of Pruitt Landing.  From Highway 7 turn east on the Buffalo Maintenance Road, then past the maintenance yard turn north on an unmarked road.  This road is in pretty bad shape, you probably don’t want to try this in your little ‘rat-wagon’ I’m driving a 4x4 truck and it’s slow going most of the way, which is about three quarters of a mile.

    The road ends in a big grassy camping area, which is ‘unofficial’ meaning there are no designated sites or facilities.  I found four fire-rings in the tall grass there may be more, the campsite at the upstream end would be my first choice.  From the grassy camping/parking area I see three paths leading to the river.  We go down the center trail which is the longest but also the easiest slope to the river’s edge.

upstream end of Crow Hole

    At river mile 53, Crow Hole is a small area, any more than about twelve people would be too many.  Lucky for us we have the whole place to ourselves, today is Monday though, I’m sure that has something to do with it.  The ‘beach’ area is really thin, you would have to call it a small beach.  At least there is no problem finding shade, it would be hard to find a sunny spot.

    At the point of the bend is a narrow strip of small gravel and we set-up here just ten feet from the water.  The hole itself is pretty small too, here at the point we are at the upstream end of Crow Hole.  The bottom is a mix of small gravel and huge slabs of bedrock, with a depth of just 6-8 feet.

    Around the point headed downstream things get shallow maybe 3 feet deep before getting deeper again 8-10 feet.  Crow Hole is actually two small, connected holes.  Here at the downstream end of Crow Hole the beach looks a little better with lots of sand mixed in with the small gravel, still not a big area.

lots of shade at Crow Hole

    Across the river at the downstream end of Crow Hole is Welch Bluff which is one of the better-known bluffs on the Buffalo.  Welch Bluff isn’t very tall but has what geologists call a ‘graben’.   Which is where there has been an ‘uplift’ in the earth's crust, here on the downstream side of a fault-line.  It isn’t all that uncommon, but here at Welch Bluff is a great place to easily see it.

    At the upstream end of Welch Bluff is a little creek called Lee Hollow, I climb up this steep and rocky little gully to see what I might find.  Steep and rocky for sure, but also very scenic I don’t get far though it’s just too slippery.  With more water I’ll bet there would be some nice cascades all the way down this lower part of Lee Hollow, today it’s a series of tiny waterfalls.

    I think the small size of Crow Hole is what makes this place nice.  We spend the day leisurely swimming the pools and relaxing on the beach, listening to the sounds of the Buffalo slowly flow by.  Crow Hole has a peaceful intimacy about it, where the visitor can feel ‘connected’ to their surroundings, very relaxing indeed.

Lee Hollow across Crow Hole

    We force ourselves back to reality around 3:00 and pack up to head home, back at the truck we see some folks have just arrived and are unloading the car, a little ‘rat-wagon’.  I guess any vehicle can get in here if you drive slow enough, so how does Crow Hole rate in the search for the perfect swimming hole?

    I’m only giving a 2 for accessibility, the walk from parking to water isn’t far but a bit overgrown we had to be careful to avoid the poison-ivy, and the road down wasn’t too good, being narrow with lots of ruts and a few mud-holes.  Amenities, I’ll give it 3, for the great ambiance this place has and its abundance of shade, that number would be higher if not for the lack of a nice beach and the deadwood piled at the upstream end of the hole.

    Popularity, I have to say 5, after all we didn’t see a soul until we were leaving.  And the icing on the cake, I think the entire Crow Hole is pretty unique and special with Welch Bluff and Lee Hollow being pretty interesting as well.  We had a really good time.  Today’s overall score for Crow Hole: 10+

Crow Hole update: September 7, 2020

    Today is Labor Day, this may be a bad idea but we’re going to Crow Hole.  Which is probably the closest swimming hole to our house.  As soon as we enter the little back road that goes down to Crow Hole, we notice the trees and vegetation along the road are covered in thick dust and as we go farther the road itself is pretty tore-up, it’s not a very good road to begin with and today is even worse.

    This is not a good sign, and sure enough we arrive at the camping/parking area to find 15-20 vehicles crammed in everywhere even a small school bus.  There are kids and dogs running around and we can hear people whopping it up in the distance.  This is insanity, we don’t even get out of the truck, Crow Hole’s score today, a big fat zero.  It was a long shot and now we know, stay away on weekends and holidays.