While looking at maps for new swimming holes to check out, I saw three holes relatively close
to Spring Creek Campground which is also a new place for us to
explore. My maps don’t show any roads to these three holes but we’re going to give it a shot, we also have some back up plans ‘just in
case’. We turn off Highway 14 onto west bound Spring Creek Road (SC99) about 4 miles south
of the Buffalo River bridge and less than half a mile north of Cozahome Road.
Spring Creek Road isn’t bad a typical dirt and gravel road, mostly
level for the first mile then down a moderately steep hill passing Spring Creek Trailhead for the
BRT on its way to the campground along the river at the bottom. ‘May Cemetery’ is about 100 yards
off Spring Creek Rd. close to where the road bottoms out, and this is where we
look for an old road heading back to the cemetery and hopefully either Slough
Hole or Spring Creek Hole both downstream of river mile 115 and near the cemetery.
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wide and shallow at Spring Creek Landing
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We find the old road, but it’s clearly marked ‘no motor vehicles’,
looking up this road I see a big, downed tree across the road making it
impassible anyway. That shoots
down two of the three Spring Creek area swimming holes, we drive through
the campground to the canoe launch area at the end of the road. Sitton Eddy our third possibility
is downstream slightly around the bend about a quarter mile from the launch
site, just below river mile 116.
Here at the landing the Buffalo is wide and shallow, I’m
tempted to just jump in the truck and drive across but decide to check it out
on foot first. From the canoe launch
where the road ends, I walk diagonally across the river, this isn’t the shortest
way across, but it is the shallowest.
At first the river current is strong and about a foot deep, any
stronger I’d probably get knocked over, but it soon gets shallower with
much less current, it’s a long way across over 100 feet to the
gravel bar on the other side. |
on the gravel bar above Sitton Eddy
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I walk around the bend and to the river’s
edge at Sitton Eddy which appears to have a solid rock bottom but doesn’t seem
to get very deep. Walking back, I don’t
see anything that would prevent driving over here from the launch area, but is it legal? There are no tracks coming back here so
what worries me is that I may be liable to a hefty fine for ‘driving off the
established roadway’. After some consideration we decide not to risk it (probably a wise choice) and head
back out. Driving back through the camping area we see Spring Creek Campground is
quite nice with good sized campsites but not very many, only maybe 10 sites total. Back up on Hwy. 14 we head north towards
Dillard’s Ferry and just before the bridge over the river, turn left (west) onto
an unmarked road which leads into the large parking lot at the canoe concessionaires
Dillard’s Ferry launch area.
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upstream view at Tie Chute Hole
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Before
the turn into the huge parking lot an old narrow ‘double track’ road continues
west then soon swings around to the south where a big buck scampers across the
road in front of us. The BRT joins this road for about 0.3 miles, then the road gets pretty rough for another 0.7 miles before ending in a very small
clearing where we’re able to turn around and park, personally I wouldn’t drive in here without some good ground clearance and 4-wheel drive. From this little clearing, we head west downhill on a good
trail, it’s all downhill but nothing steep.
With lots of poison ivy down this little ‘gully’ of a trail after maybe
500 feet we arrive on the long narrow gravel
bar along Tie Chute Hole between river miles
119 and 120. Tie Chute Hole is long too, about half
a mile. This is a good thing since the overhanging
shade trees are fairly close to the
water, we have lots of choices for a nice shady day camp close to the river.
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gravel bar looking north
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We setup in the shade of a leaning oak that
has been nearly uprooted
by spring
flood waters. A few days ago,
I finally bought a pair of swim-fins (flippers), slipping them on I make
a beeline
to the river. They aren’t easy to walk in but once in the water these things are great, now it’ll be
a lot easier to reach the bottom of the holes and swim against the
current. Another purchase made at the
same time was a portable sunshade
, sort of a small tent with one side open,
lightweight and easy to set up.
Not real
necessary yet but I know
we’ll be glad to have it later in the afternoon as the sun moves west. The direction of the river is something I always consider when scouting out swimming
holes. When setup on a beach it’s best
for scenic ambiance to be facing the water, therefor today as we’re facing the water to the west, we
know the abundance of shade we’re enjoying right now will slowly disappear as
the sun moves to the west. This makes
west facing beaches less than ideal, south facing is even worse with lots of
sun all day. North facing is definitely the
best, and east a close second, when facing east the shade ‘grows’ as the
afternoon goes on. All this
is assuming you don’t want a lot of sunshine, it’s just something else
to think about (or not) when packing for a day at the beach.
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Tie Slide Hole
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Back in the water at Tie Hole the drop off to a ‘swimmable’ depth is
very gradual, around twenty feet in, the water is barely above my knees but then
it starts to drop pretty quick. This is
typical for the entire half mile length of Tie Chute Hole: the river is about
sixty feet or more wide but the ‘hole’ itself is narrow about twenty feet wide
or less. It’s like a ‘channel’ going
down the river, and a very cool channel at that with lots of big round boulders
lying in the channel creating sort of a ‘slalom’ course for swimming through
and viewing the many fish darting in and out of the shadows. Not real deep though, the deepest area I
find is about 8 feet, but I don’t explore more than about 200 yards of the
hole.
All in all, an interesting swimming hole, quite different than most of the holes we have visited. Kickin’ back in our day camp I’m scanning the trees across the river for
any sign of 420 foot tall Tie Chute Buff but can’t see anything through the
wall of green leaves, this is evidence of a ‘stair step’ or terraced type bluff that is
typical of many bluffs along the lower Buffalo.
Upstream across the river maybe 50 feet is a little rocky ledge
(dry today) where a small creek tumbles off the bluff into the river. And just above our heads in the slanting oak
we’re sitting under are clumps of dead leaves, snagged by the branches of the
tree a few weeks ago when flood waters raced through here.
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Tie Chute Hole
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This is the routine for a
few hours: swim around exploring Tie Chute channel, or in Kat’s case floating
down river then walking back up in the shallows. Then relaxing in our beach chairs
on shore and watch the canoes float by.
There have only been two canoes pass by all day until around 2:30 right
after we see a bald eagle being chased upriver by an irate crow, then the
‘flood gates’ must have opened somewhere upriver as suddenly a continuous
procession of canoes and kayaks starts streaming by. By this time, we are truly glad to have the
sunshade, with the afternoon sun streaming straight into the west facing
‘shade tent’ all we have to do is turn the tent
to face north, regaining the comforting shade.
One last swim then it’s time to start packing for the hike out. Back up the ‘gully trail’ of course is all uphill but pretty easy,
we’re back at the truck driving out in no time on the rough road.
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check out my footwear
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Accessibility isn’t the best, a
mile down the narrow road with a couple rough stretches near the end, the walk down the trail isn’t
bad but there is quite a bit of poison ivy, so a 2 for
accessibility. Amenities aren't bad, a nice long clean gravel bar, lots of shade up and down the beach early, turning sunny later, and the unique swimming
hole is loads of fun, a rating of 4 since the hole isn’t very
deep. A solid 5 for
popularity, we had no one to share the beach with today, a lot of folks
float past, but boaters never count unless they stop for a swim, total score for Tie Chute Hole: 11.
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