61 Sand Hole
Sand Hole is a bit off the beaten track, downstream of river mile 101, so let’s see if we can find it. At St. Joe we go east on Osbourne Road, which is paved for about 6 miles. Then at a fork, it’s a left on Tomahawk Slab Road, Osbourne continues south to Gilbert. On Tomahawk Slab just over half a mile to yet another fork, we take the right onto Mercy Lane, then less than half a mile, right again on Sand Hole Road. We would have never made it, if not for the guidance of Trails Illustrated Map/Buffalo River East.
Each road on this route is worse than the one before, without high-ground clearance and 4WD you might make it, but I wouldn’t suggest trying. As we creep down Mercy Lane and then Sand Hole Road, I notice we have a couple vehicles behind us, the first a new Jeep Rubicon 4DR, and behind them a 4x4 truck like ours. We slowly crawl our way to Sand Hole at the end of the road.
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The grandma tells us they come down just about every day and yesterday she noticed the ‘late summer slime’ is starting to show up. I must have that baffled look on my face, she goes on to explain that in late summer as the water warms up, bright green algae floats on the current into the slow-moving pools and if it gets thick enough can be a real nuisance. But this is all contingent on the weather, a good rainstorm will wash out the algae and replace it with muddy brown storm run-off.
Everybody gathers ‘stuff’ and heads down the short trail to the beach, which is nice and big, around the inside of the point. The big gravel-bar has sandy areas scattered in everywhere, Kat and I settle-in to a shady spot at the edge of the beach with lots of sand, the locals head farther downstream maybe 100 feet or more. From our day-camp it’s about 40 feet to the water, which is quite nice. Sand Hole stretches half a mile around the bend, the beach (gravel-bar) is even longer.
The water is just fine with a mixture of sand and small gravel on the bottom, and about 8-10 feet in the deepest areas. I notice some places in the hole that have filled up with gravel making Sand Hole shallow in many spots.…and I do see some green slime in the water but nothing to get annoyed with. Two kayakers float by, one of them texting on his phone.
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We keep going and realize how big this gravel-bar really is, it stretches a half mile or more all the way to the old concrete pillars in the river that were once a railroad trestle. From where we turn around to head back, we can clearly see the pillars that are now just a landmark from the long-gone railroad.
Going downstream we pass our day-camp and notice the local swimmers are gone, we cross the river at the downstream end of Sand Hole on a shoal. Now we’re on another gravel-bar at the next bend in the river with a tall south facing bluff. This is Red Bluff, which is almost famous, thanks to its overlook on the top that can be accessed down a short trail off Mercy Lane (see: 120 Red Bluff and Sand Hole). We head back to camp and more swimming.
Today at Sand Hole we really had a good time, the lowest score here would have to be 2 for accessibility, the road in was pretty long and confusing, it also got pretty rough toward the end, the short trail to the beach wasn’t bad at all. Amenities, I’ll give it a 4, for a very nice hole at a very nice beach. Had the depth been more consistent throughout I probably would have given it a 5.
Popularity also gets a 4, not counting floaters, we only have 7-8 people here all day and everyone was spread out and quiet. With the old trestle pillars not far and Red Bluff just downstream Sand Hole does have some unique and interesting finds. The overall score for Sand Hole: 10+.
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