122 Arnold Hole

    Today is forecast to feature ‘blistering heat’ and the rest of the week is going to be even hotter.  So where do you draw the line, when is it too hot to even go swimming?  Kat is of the opinion that it’s going to be too hot today to even be outside and it’s a bad idea that we will regret.  Well, we’re going anyway, and with the temperature already 90° at 9:00 as we’re pulling out of the driveway, it appears the weather forecasters got it right for today.

    We head south on Highway 65 as the temp soars towards an eventual high today of 102°.  Before crossing the Buffalo River, some maps show an old road going down off the highway to Lower McMahan Hole under the highway bridge at river mile 95.  Although I slow down, we don’t see anything resembling a road just high grass and brush, we strike McMahan Hole off the list and continue across the bridge and into Grinders Ferry.

    ‘The Swimming Hole’ also known as ‘Grinders Hole’ was the first hole we ever swam on the Buffalo many years ago but haven’t been here swimming in a very long time.  We pull down along the river on the cobbled road heading east passing a couple designated campsites to the lengthy gravel bar at the hole halfway between river mile 95 and 96.  There’s only one other vehicle back here but it’s early and I know how crowded this place can get.

    We decide to continue on for more remote locales, which may be the wrong choice.  Just up the hill a little further south we pull into Tyler Bend and wind our way up the hill then down the other side all the way to the gravel access road back to the canoe concessionaire area along the river.  Upstream a little way from the launch area is Mill Hole about halfway between river mile 93 and 94, from the canoe launch it’s almost a quarter mile upstream to anywhere with some shade.

on the beach at Arnold Hole

    I walk along the access road looking for a trail through the woods down to Mill Hole, back all the way west to where the road turns, I see what may have been an old road once, but now is so grown over it’s completely impassible.  Again, we keep going, in hindsight I see that I tend to ‘sell short’ all the options until I’ve run out of choices.

    But I’m real curious about Arnold Hole and that’s where we’re heading next.  Back up the road we stop first at the Visitor Center for a quick visit with a couple young NPS rangers before heading over to Peter Cave Rd.  Tyler Bend has a real nice Visitors Center, if you haven’t seen it, I suggest you check it out, I found the display about river flooding very interesting.

    I ask first about ‘caves’ and learn the Buffalo National River has almost 1000 known caves, shelters, grottoes and old abandoned mines most of which are closed to entry, either blocked by physical barricades or signage prohibiting entry.  I’m told that if a cave has no barricade or sign forbidding entry then it can be explored (at your own risk), but these are ‘few and far between’ and mostly of the shelter variety.

    On a related note, white-nosed syndrome which has decimated the bat populations in recent years, is diminishing and NPS biologists are re-evaluating park policies concerning cave closures.  Another topic of discussion, I bring up driving on the many ‘old roads’ and learn it’s pretty much the same as with caves: if a road is blocked by a gate (usually a cable gate) or a sign stating ‘closed to motorized (or mechanized) vehicles’ then keep out.

    Otherwise, anything goes, but again travel at your own risk, park rangers can and will fine motorists who get stuck and ‘damage the resource’.  I mention the Spring Creek landing where I considered crossing the river last week, I’m informed fines can be quite severe if you get stuck crossing the river (fords), the NPS is very proud of the clean clear waters of the Buffalo River (one of the cleanest rivers in the nation) and a vehicle stuck quickly leads to a miniature ‘ecological disaster’.

    So, think twice before driving across, I always scout on foot before crossing the river even if we just came this way a week ago, as river levels change constantly.  At this point the conversation gets a little ‘sidetracked’: park fatalities are way up this year with 14 as of July 4^th.

    Most of these as you may suspect were the result of falls with Indian Creek, Hawksbill Crag and Hemmed-In-Hollow having the highest incidence of accidents.  But a few of these deaths have been ‘unrelated to outdoor activities’ such as traffic accidents, one suicide and a heart attack.  Our young ranger, wise beyond his years points out that ‘National Parks are public lands, everyone has the right to die here’.

    Eventually we head down Peter Cave Road crossing almost dry Calf Creek, then past Luther Arnold’s old place on the left and Old Arnold Cemetery a couple hundred yards further on the right, and finally turning right onto New Arnold Cemetery Road.  This road doesn’t see much use and isn’t even close to the good condition of Peter Cave Road, but it’s not too bad just a little narrow and rough as it makes its way down a dry creek.

    We keep right at the cemetery entrance where the road gets even rougher as we continue two hundred yards further, to the end of the road.  We park the truck pointed up the hill, here we’re right above the river and have a couple of choices.  Just past the edge of the road is a very steep path west down the high bank to the river’s edge 25-30 feet below.

    I carefully scramble down to the river, which is pretty shallow right here, and well below Arnold Hole, I decide it would be too much hassle carrying our stuff down the steep bank with the hole so far away upstream, the second choice wins by default.  Choice #2 is an overgrown trail heading down gradually southwest to Arnold Hole (at river mile 91), we grab our things and head out on the trail but don’t get far.

    Just 30 feet down the trail we come to a fork to the left which looks like it goes over to some huge rocks at the start of a bluffline.  Setting our stuff down we take a little side trip to check it out, about 40-50 feet further is a small shelter in the bluff with a campsite and a bit farther another smaller shelter.  From here the bluffline continues to the south but the trail disappears in a mass of tangled underbrush, we turn around and head back for our stuff.

beautiful Arnold Hole

    Down the extremely overgrown trail we soon come to the river and some big boulders.  We are right at the bottom of Arnold Hole just above the head of ‘Arnold Island’ which isn’t an island today with all of the Buffalo’s flow heading around the east side of the island leaving the west channel high and dry.  Looking south across Arnold Hole is gorgeous, off to the left is the bluffline with a rounded top which curves south then west.

    Across the hole west is an expansive gravel bar with lots of shade up near its top.  Here on the east side we have no beach whatsoever, just large boulders with small patches of sand and grass in between.  We setup camp between some rocks right at the edge of the river, five feet down the steep sandy bank into the water.  This may be the worst day camp we have ever had, without good trees for shade we rely on our recently purchased sunshade, oh it does provide protection from direct sun but sitting under this tent with no air circulation is like sitting in an oven.

Arnold Hole just above shoal

    The sound of rushing water through the shoal separating Arnold Hole from the east channel is sweet music.  It’s just too hot though to hang out on shore, we head straight for the water down the sandy bank where the water immediately drops to about knee deep then gradually becomes a little deeper before the fast current coming off the shoal catches and sends us for a short quick ride into deeper and slower water.

    Technically we're not even in Arnold Hole we’re just below the hole in the east channel but the water's about 6 or 7 feet deep making it just fine for swimming.  Kat hangs out here with the fish, which seem to congregate here below the shoal.

    I float downstream a short distance to where the river gets shallow pretty quick, and across this shallow area about 60 feet to shore I spot the area at the bottom of the steep little trail that we climbed down earlier.  Looking at it from here in the river this would have made a great spot for a day camp with loads of shade everywhere, oh-well you live, and you learn.

crossing the shoal

    Back upstream I make my way up and over the shoal into Arnold Hole proper which gets deep pretty fast.  Arnold Hole is big, it feels like a little lake not a swimming hole, and it’s beautiful.  Arnold Bluff wrapping around the east side of the river with its ‘rounded’ top isn't your typical ledge.  This weathered round bluff would be extremely dangerous for anyone walking along its crest yet very scenic from down here in the water.

    Arnold Hole’s bottom is a mixed bag of terrains always changing as I move upstream, gravel or cobblestone to sand or solid bedrock.  Also resting in the river are a couple huge boulders and many smaller ones submerged around the hole.  I notice a big turtle keeping an eye on me, every time I look it vanishes below the surface soon to reappear.  The turtle and I take turns diving for the bottom which I’d estimate to be 10-12 feet at its deepest, the depth varies considerably due to the many boulders.

view from under the tent

    Walking up the bank on the huge gravel bar inside of the bend opposite Arnold Bluff, the north end near the dry west channel over to Arnold Island consists mostly of sand and would make a great spot for a day-camp.  I walk along the top of the ‘beach’ near the tree line looking for a trail heading out to the old road I’ve seen on some maps.  I don’t find a trail out, just a nice campsite with some extensive stonework of ‘borders’ around tent sites and along walkways, this seems too elaborate for an overnight stay while floating the river, there must be a way in from an old road somewhere.

    I only walk a little further upstream on the gravel bar before getting overheated and head back into the river for relief.  Heading back downstream to our little ‘blistering’ hot day-camp, for a while I keep close to the base of the bluff which now is in full afternoon sun.  The water here is noticeably warmer than it is just 20 or 30 feet further out in the channel, I move back out into ‘cooler’ water.

    Back at camp we don’t last long, it’s just too hot on dry land we’re back in the water in short order, later I notice my fingertips are wrinkled like ‘prunes’.  On a normal trip to any swimming hole, we split our time about 50/50 between swimming and relaxing at camp, today though it’s more like 80/20.  Ok so maybe it is too hot... if and when we come back to Arnold Hole someday, we’ll try out the day-camp site down the steep short trail near the parking spot.

below the shoal in east channel hole

    But for today our rating is influenced by the ‘heat’ as much as anything, accessibility rates only 2.  The 2 miles down Peter Cave Road is in great shape other than the Calf Creek crossing and then the half mile down New Arnold Cemetery Road is a little rough and narrow but still not bad.  The 200-yard hike down through the thick undergrowth of the access trail with loads of poison ivy everywhere is no fun though and is responsible for the low rating.

    Amenities too only score a 2, Arnold Hole itself is great, and on its own would easily rate a 5, but our day-camp with no beach is pathetic thus the low rating again.  No surprise with today’s heat and the remoteness of Arnold Hole we had the whole place to ourselves, only one couple in kayaks passed by on the river all day, so 5 for popularity.

    The unique round top Arnold Bluff along with the huge boulders in the large ‘lake like’ hole and the sweet sounds of the exit shoal combine to make Arnold Hole a special place.  So, todays score for Arnold Hole: 9+, if we find a way in from the other side of the river and the temperatures get back down into the low nineties that score will no doubt go way up.