For the past year the most challenging thing about Erbie has
been getting there. The low water bridge over the Buffalo River
has been closed for some time, the ‘low road’ NC 2890/NC 2900 off Hwy.7 has been
impassible where Cove Creek washed out the road, the ‘high road’ NC 2800 also off
Scenic 7 is always subject to water levels at the ford through Cove Creek, and
then there’s Compton Road NC 2700 which has been terrible for years.
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a home with indoor plumbing
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Today we want to check-out some of these routes to Erbie and do a little hiking while we’re at it, that is if we can get there. No problem today crossing
Cove Creek which is flowing well and maybe a foot deep, after crossing we turn
left at the Erbie Church and head down toward the Buffalo to check on the
progress of the new low water bridge over Cove Creek. Good news, the bridge is finished and open
for traffic, but the Buffalo River low water bridge is still blocked off with
an orange and white road barricade. |
Cove Spring
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As for a hike today, we have nowhere
in particular planned, we’ll just see where the day takes us. First, we cross the road south to the Old
Erbie Church, having been in the church before, we just look around from the
outside then cross the road and head east on another road,
one we have never been on. This road NC2905
is open to vehicles and in good shape, we walk uphill on an easy gentle slope
to the top where the road turns to the right, south and downhill. |
Cove Creek
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After the turn to the south, we notice an old homesite just
off the road, a stone foundation of the small house is about all that remains
and apparently this little house had indoor plumbing. Downhill the road levels out where it swings to the east, then ends at a big, nice campsite on the
bank of Cove Creek. On the east side of
the creek up 10-12 feet on the low rocky bluff is Cove Spring, the spring sounds
wonderful as it falls and tumbles off the broken rocks of the bluff into the
tranquil pool underneath. A beautiful
place and fine camping choice.
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Cove Creek at crossing
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We follow a faint trail heading north into the woods from the campsite,
going upstream along Cove Creek the trail soon fizzles out. Slowly we pick our way over rock and through
brush for about 100 yards, in a small ravine is what appears to be an old road
going back to the southwest, we continue north.
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a rough Cove Creek gravel bar
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Once
through the ravine we’re now squeezed between the low broken bluffline and Cove
Creek, up in the rocks on the low bluff we see a small cave. We inch out on a narrow ledge between bluff and creek
with loose rock underfoot, it just doesn’t feel wise to continue, we back down
off the ledge and find an easy place to cross Cove Creek. |
armadillo in the hayfield
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On
the east side it’s up a sandy cut-bank and into the thick undergrowth. We only submit to this torture for around 200
feet before crossing back to the west side of the creek into a big hay
field. Hiking along the edge of the
field is easy going for the next half mile, we stay within view of the creek
below us on the right.
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along edge of hayfield
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This field is
very popular with the local armadillos today, we spot four or five solitary
armored rodents rooting in the field for grubs or roots. They seem to ignore us as we walk by only
scurrying away if we get within 15-20 feet.
At the west end of the field, we go into the woods on a little access
road which ends at Erbie Road (NC 2800). |
concrete 'ruins'
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On the road walking southwest toward Erbie we now see Cecil Creek
through the woods on our right, soon we see ‘ruins’ on the left and leave the
road to see what’s here. We find two parallel
concrete and stone ‘structures’ about 12-15 feet long spaced about 6 feet apart,
it’s hard to say what this might have been.
I’m thinking maybe it was the grease-pit where the local mechanic once
did oil-changes and other work under his customers cars and trucks. |
old road crossing Cecil Creek
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Back on the road, we soon come to a road off to the
right with a cable gate. We head north
up the road 200 yards to Cecil Creek passing a rock wall along the
way. The crossing is washed-out, high water and lots of round slippery rocks we decide not to try crossing. Back out on NC 2800, we soon come to Caver’s Camp on the left, a small place with only two
designated campsites and a vault toilet.
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looking downstream on Cecil Creek
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Another quarter mile mostly uphill the road brings us back to Erbie
Trailhead, the end of the hike. Today was thoroughly enjoyable, not on any trails, the hike was
half road and half bushwhack for a total of 3.5 miles and 333 feet of
altitude gain. |
looking down into Batesville Sinkhole
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Our ‘goal’ for the day is not quite complete though, we drive west up
the Compton Road NC 2700, just past the entrance to the Erbie Horse Camp as we
start uphill the road is improved and resurfaced with gravel. Wow, I’m really impressed, this is nothing
like what I remember back in June 2019.
Near the top of the hill around an ‘S’ curve we park on the left in a
little pull-out and walk out into the open woods south to the Batesville
Sinkhole.
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Cecil Creek
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Not the biggest or deepest
sinkhole we’ve seen, Batesville is interesting none the less, and it’s ‘cool’
as we can easily climb down to the bottom from the east side. Down at the bottom we find what appears to be
a small tight ‘entrance’ into the abyss but without even a flashlight to peer
in, we can’t say for sure. Back to the
truck and the now great road to Compton, hopefully all these wonderful road
improvements will last a long, long
time.
Driving to Erbie: 1- NC 2700 (Compton Road) begin south on NC 2700 through Compton and past the cemetery on the right the road swings around to the east. Past Schermerhorn Trailhead (for Hideout Hollow) the road begins to descend the mountain, around a few hair-pin curves passing trail intersections along the way for the Bench Trail and Cecil Cove Loop Trail and eventually Erbie Trailhead where NC 2700, NC 2800 and NC 2500 all meet. The NC 2700 route is about 6.3 miles total from Highway 43.
2- Highway 7 across from Dogpatch is NC 2800 at the south side of the old stone laminated church, this route can be confusing thanks to the many turns and intersections, a navigation system may help to keep you on track, but more likely it will get you completely lost. From the turn-off west from Scenic 7 it is about 7.5 miles to the Erbie Trailhead, like I said this route can be quite confusing and even has a short section that is paved.
3- Farther south on Highway 7 just north of the Buffalo River bridge is NC 2890 heading west up the hill, this is 'the road less traveled' meaning narrow and in places quite rough with a few creek crossings along the way. After about 6.4 miles on NC 2890 turn left on NC 2900 for the last 4.2 miles to Erbie. From Highway 7 to Erbie trailhead is approximately 10.6 miles total. This lower route is the longest and for 4x4 fun the most enjoyable.
*UPDATE* as of 12/2023 the low water bridge on NC 2500 is open for traffic across the Buffalo River, for directions see: (51 BRT: Erbie Campground) and (54 Parker Hickman 8). And a 5th route I recently found and really like begins off Highway 206, for those directions see: (155 Erbie Horse Camp Loop) and (156 Reavis Cabin)
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