63 Ferry Boat Hole

    Having made our way back from the Lower Buffalo Wilderness and Cedar Creek (see: 62 Cedar Creek Hole) to Highway14 we turn south on Caney Road.  This is paved for a while and follows on top of a broken ridge before heading downhill and across Water Creek.  Near this bridge the pavement ends but the road is still good until the left turn at Maumee, onto North Maumee Road.

    From here the road gets steadily worse as we head down into Maumee Hollow and eventually Maumee North canoe landing near river mile 111.  Don’t be confused by the name Maumee North, which is south of Maumee South across the river to the north.  The names are actually in reference to the direction from which you approach these two river access points.

    Maumee North consists of a big parking area and a vault toilet along with the canoe launch ramp.  There is no designated camping.  After some scouting of the ramp, which is very steep with some extremely deep ruts, Kat stays at the bottom to act as my ‘spotter’.  I put the truck in ‘4WD low’ for the first time, ever, and slowly crawl downward while Kat gives hand signals to keep me on top of the ruts.  One slip here and the truck will be stuck, high-centered.

Ferry Boat Hole

   Once on the gravel-bar we see another truck about 200 yards upriver and a jeep maybe half that far.  We turn downstream and park within 100 feet of the ramp, close to the north end of the gravel-bar.  We’re parked right at the tree line and set-up camp at the back of the truck.

    This is a nice beach consisting mostly of sand and small gravel, and Ferry Boat Hole, named for the ferry that once operated here has a nice soft bottom.  The hole is wide easily 100 feet across, the incline very gradual, I’m probably 50 to 60 feet from shore before the water is over my head, and at the deepest spot I can find, it's maybe 8 feet deep.  We’re just happy to finally be in the water.

    We don’t do much exploring since it was so late when we got here, this is a big area though.  At our day-camp we are about 200 yards from the north end of the gravel-bar and about the middle of Ferry Boat Hole.  Across the gravel-bar almost a quarter mile upstream where that other truck is parked is actually on the downstream end of another hole, simply known as ‘the Hole above Maumee’.  The jeep is parked about halfway between us and the truck, at the shoal dividing the two holes.

    We swim and relax at camp having a late lunch and after a couple hours, notice the truck creeps up the ramp and leaves.  Then not long after, the jeep also packs up and heads out, leaving us alone at the bottom of a steep, climb with deep ruts.  Oh well…they made it out just fine and so do we.  The swimming holes of Maumee North seem to be a great place to hang out for the day, I only wish we had arrived a little earlier so we could have enjoyed it longer.  We’ll have to come back someday.

    The low score for Ferry Boat has to be a 1 for accessibility, the launch ramp is in horrible condition, and the road down Maumee Hollow isn’t very good either.  If some improvements are made to the ramp this score will go way up especially considering we're able to park right on the beach.

    Amenities are quite nice, a great beach with sand and shade on a huge gravel-bar with two swimming holes.  This hole is a little shallow though, so I’m scoring it a very solid 4.  With only three vehicles on the huge gravel-bar and only 10 or 11 people total, and really spread out.  Everybody had plenty of privacy, another solid 4 for popularity.  A total score for Ferry Boat Hole: 9.  For an update see: (127 Rush & Ferry Boat Hole).