64 Mitch Hill Spring

    Today we’re going back to Mt. Hersey Hole, but this time we will come in from the north.  Turning south off Highway 65 west of Pindall it’s a little over 5 miles down to Mt. Hersey at river mile 70.  This dirt road is not very good, but I’ve seen a lot worse, as with a lot of these river access roads, this one gets worse the closer we get to the Buffalo.

    Mt. Hersey boat landing is wedged between Davis Creek and Mill Branch on the Buffalo River and has limited parking for 8-10 cars, a vault toilet and a couple good sized (unofficial) campsites.  When unoccupied these campsites are used for additional parking, this is where we park.

Mill Branch

    We head upriver crossing Davis Creek, which is mostly dried up, here the mouth of Davis Creek is pretty wide open and covered with gravel.  This spot could be used for a day-camp, but we continue upstream around some deadwood on the bank to a tiny sandy spot wedged between the river and a steep bank.   Although small, only about 5 feet from our chairs to the water this is a nice spot with lots of sand and plenty of shade.

    There isn’t much of a ‘hole’ here, you could say this upstream end of Mt. Hersey Hole, is the shallow end of the pool.  The river does gradually get deeper, and we find a little hole just over our heads around a big boulder submerged in the middle of the river.  So even though there isn’t much of a hole we are still able to swim here upstream of Davis Creek.  Actually, there are quite a few big boulders scattered upriver here, one with its top out of the water has 3 or 4 turtles napping on it.

old mill dam

   Since Davis Creek is dry, we head over to Mill Branch, our map shows Mitch Hill Spring just a short walk up the creek.  On the drive in we noticed that Mill Branch had gone from completely dry to a flowing 10-12 foot wide stream quite suddenly.  We enter the creek from a steep little path leading down from the campsite we are parked at.

    The water is ice cold, confirming it must be spring fed, we slowly adjust to the water temperature as we walk right up the creek.  This is a very nice refreshing little hike, best to be done in the heat of summer.  Mill Branch is crystal clear, shallow and pretty wide.  The banks are pretty overgrown, so we stay in the creek and soon come to a low stone dam across the creek.  This dam now showing some water damage was once the site of the mill for which the creek is named.

    Going around the mill site we re-enter the water and continue upstream, below the dam we had good footing mostly on gravel but now above the dam the creek is mostly bedrock, and the footing gets slippery.  We slow down and carefully finish the short distance to Mitch Hill Spring boiling up from the west bank into a lovely pool surrounded by moss, ferns and wildflowers.  Upstream above Mitch Hill Spring the creek goes completely dry.

    It is only about ten feet from the creek bank at Mitch Hill Spring to the road, so after taking some pictures we decide to make our way back on the road.  This short Mitch Hill Spring hike is only 1.4 miles, this is one of the few places in the Ozarks that I would say is best to hike in the summer.  Mitch Hill Spring and Mill Branch definitely qualifies Mt. Hersey as a unique and interesting place among swimming holes.

Mitch Hill Spring

   Back at our 'camp' on the upstream end of Mt. Hersey Hole, I contemplate a rating for today, the drive down while not too good wasn’t all that bad, and the walk over here from the parking area not far although we had to weave around a large dead tree up against the riverbank, so a 3 for accessibility.  Amenities is where the difficulty lies, since the hole here is quite shallow and there really isn't an actual beach area, I’m giving only 2 although we still had a great time swimming and relaxing at our tiny little day-camp.

    Popularity, well we weren’t alone, for sure there were people around all day.  A family with four young boys set up camp at the mouth of Davis Creek not long after we arrived, and others were in and out all day.  Today was ‘busy’ here but not ‘crowded’ so we’ll give a 2 for popularity.  The score for Mt. Hersey: 7+ that is pretty good considering the lack of a good swimming hole.  Although across the river is a huge gravel-bar and 150 yards away, at the downstream end of Mt. Hersey Hole is a better choice, although a little tough to get to. (see: 59 Mt. Hersey Hole).