124 Hiner Hole Two

   Today’s plan is to drive down NC 2890 past Hiner Hole and check out the other holes farther up-river that we didn’t get to when we were here a couple weeks ago, namely Dry Ford Hole and Miss Hickman Spring Hole.  About a mile in on NC 2890 we notice the road seems worse than last trip here, really tore-up.  We soon find the culprit; the county road grader is working on the poor road making it even worse.

    We wait while he pushes some cedars up the bank on the right then he pulls off the road enough that we’re able to squeeze past.  Well, the old road down to Dry Ford Hole isn’t where the map shows, in fact we find no road at all, farther along are a couple old roads both with locked cable gates.  Oh well, with a name like ‘Dry Ford Hole’ we weren’t expecting much anyway.

    Down the road about another mile at a sharp right turn is an old road to the left going down to ‘Miss Hickman’s’ which has not one but two locked gates, hmm I guess not.  We turn around and head back to Hiner Hole, we know we can get in there (no gates blocking access).  Now I know there are a lot of reasons why the park service has ‘restricted’ access down many of these old roads, some are probably impassable.

good times at Hiner Hole

    But wouldn’t it be nice to open access to some of the more remote areas of the park, this could help ‘spread out the visitors’ in the park and alleviate some of the ‘overcrowding’ seen at all the ‘popular’ places.  Maybe it’s a bad idea though, people would be getting stuck or worse, and the ‘wear and tear’ could significantly degrade the resources.

    Another idea would be to provide a small ‘parking’ area at some gates where an old road leads to interesting sights such as old homesites, cemeteries and of course the river with some great swimming holes.  This could open up loads of short hiking opportunities, some even tying into the existing trail systems where an old road crosses the BRT or ORT.  There are literally hundreds of old roads all over Buffalo National River, it just seems a shame they aren’t utilized more for the great recreational opportunities they present.

riverbank ruts of the ORT

    We make it back to Hiner Hole with no problem driving the short but rough little access road to the bottom.  Setting up camp in the same spot as before we notice ‘evidence’ of other visitors, so we do a little camp clean-up before settling in for a relaxing day at the beach.  The beach and swimming hole are just as perfect today as they were fourteen days ago, the only difference today is the weather.

    Today is about fifteen degrees warmer with full sunshine making sitting on the beach a little less comfortable, but it’s not too bad we just spend more time in the water.  Today with the additional sunshine the water feels great, and back against the bluff I’m able to locate the source of the ‘gurgling’ water I heard two weeks ago.

    The river level appears to be about a foot lower today revealing a tiny cave about as big around as a basketball, at the waterline.  I don’t know how deep it is, I can’t see all the way to the back but suspect this was where the gurgling sounds were coming from.  Heading back to camp from the edge of the river I notice something else that’s changed, with all the sun today the sand is very hot on my bare feet.

overhanging Sycamore

    We relax some while drying then decide to go for a little hike on a trail we noticed driving in, this isn’t the ORT which follows the old road then fords the river below our camp at the ‘grassy’ exit shoal.  This trail heads north from the back of the ‘next parking area up’ and is easy to follow, or at least it is at first.

    Paralleling the river, the trail keeps pretty level crossing a little stream that’s dry today but after a good rain has a couple little ledge waterfalls west of the trail.   A little further are some ragged low bluffs west of the trail, after around 300 yards the woods open up a little and we head down into a little ravine.  Here with the additional sun the trail gets thick with undergrowth, so we decide to turn around, now I’m curious to know where this trail ends, I guess I can come back later in the fall to find out.

    Later back in the river I swim upstream past the downed tree then around the bend and across the 100 yards of shallows to the big boulder.  This huge rock is sitting in another smaller yet quite deep hole.  It’s a bit of a struggle to reach the bottom which I’ll say is about twelve feet deep.

    When Ken Smith documented the ‘holes’ of the Buffalo River he listed ‘Hiner Hole from river mile 49.3 to 49.5’, well since then the river has ‘filled in’ with gravel around river mile 49.4 making Hiner Hole now two separate holes, I’m going to call this smaller hole Upper Hiner Hole, since it's upstream of the other Hiner Hole, and there’s already four ‘Big Rock Holes’ on the list.

north shallow end of Hiner Hole

    This little ‘Upper Hiner’ is a great little swimming hole with loads of diving potential from the big rock with a flat top, that’s easy to climb up on from the ‘north’ side closest to shore.  It is a small hole, only around 200 feet long, or less.  There is no beach here however, just a short very steep climb up the low bluffs to the vista above and the big campsite in the clearing on top.

    So, I guess Upper Hiner Hole deserves a rating, popularity scores a solid 5 with once again no one here.  The drive in of course is the same as Hiner Hole, but with the steep climb up to the campsite I would suggest ‘swimming’ in from Hiner Hole like I did, so only a 2 for accessibility.  The swimming hole although small is still great, but no beach whatsoever, so again only a 2 for amenities.  The big rock ‘diving platform’ is a big plus, so a total score of 9+ for Upper Hiner Hole at river mile 49.3.

Upper Hiner Hole

    Back at camp, I contemplate a score for Hiner Hole today, nothing has changed really, the beach and the hole are the same.  Today’s weather is quite a bit hotter but at least I didn’t get stung by any pudding diving bees, so I think once again we’ll give Hiner Hole at river mile 49.5 a solid 13+.