127 Rush and Ferry Boat Hole

    The weather's slowly been cooling down, but summer isn't through with us yet.  I have recently thought Rush Creek Hole maybe a good swimming option or is it just another overcrowded campground swimming hole?  If Rush doesn’t work out, I have other options, both of which we have been to before.  The paved road ends just as we enter Rush Historic District near the old houses at the side of the road.

    For more on the Rush Historic District see: (77 Rush Mountain and Clabber Creek).  We drive down to the last parking area at the downstream end of Rush Creek Hole and the confluence with Clabber Creek.  The road down through the historic district is in good shape until we pass the canoe launch area, then turns into a series of big mud holes.  We make it with no problem to the parking area on the right, about 100 feet before road’s end at a locked gate.

Rush Creek Hole near Clabber Creek

    This parking lot has room for 8-10 vehicles, in the southeast corner is a well-worn short steep trail down to the confluence of Clabber Creek with the Buffalo.  It’s a beautiful spot, next to gorgeous Clabber Creek with the premier rapids of the lower river ‘Clabber Creek Shoals’ noisily exiting to the southeast from the huge hole, named Rush Creek Hole, just downstream from river mile 129.  But no beach, not on this side of the river and the hole doesn't appear to be very deep.

    We decide to check out the upstream end of the hole from the campground.  After the sharp left turn onto the campground road, we cross Rush Creek on a concrete low-water bridge and park at the end of the road where the billboards are.  I walk back to the south to campsite #1, then down another steep well-worn trail to the river right at the confluence with Rush Creek.  It’s pretty much the same situation as down at Clabber, scenic but no beach and a huge shallow hole.

Rush Creek near Buffalo confluence

    Returning to the north I continue up to campsite #11 with another steep little trail down to the river, this one pretty overgrown, it’s more of the same, no beach and shallow water.  Rush Creek Hole is long, well over 3000 feet, and wide too maybe 100 feet across.  But it's shallow everywhere we've looked, it probably gets pretty deep once you get way out in the middle of the river but since there isn’t any place with a ‘beach area’ we decide to head over to the 'backup’ swim hole.

    If I had to rate Rush Creek Hole it would score zero for amenities with its muddy riverbank, no beach, precious little shade anywhere and an apparent shallow hole.  Access gets a little better, the roads getting to Rush are pretty good but the three short steep access trails could be worse, how about a 2 for accessibility.  Rush doesn't have many people around today, 5-6 vehicles at the trailhead for Rush Mountain Trail and nobody in the campground or over by Clabber Creek, let’s say 4 for popularity.  Today’s score for Rush Creek Hole: 6, even though we didn’t go swimming.

swimming in Ferry Boat Hole

    Back out to Highway 14, we turn north (right) and go just over one mile to MC 5032 with a sign for ‘Maumee North 7 miles’ and turn left.  This is a paved road for 3.5 miles to the bridge over Water Creek, MC 5032 isn’t too bad the rest of the way down to Maumee which is where we turn left onto Maumee North Road (SC86).  Maumee North Road isn’t too bad either for the last two miles down to the parking area and restroom where the road ends.

    But this is where we pick up a nail in a back tire, I get off on the side of the road as far as possible (the road isn’t very wide).  We get the flat changed with minimal stress thanks to a good Samaritan in a Jeep who stops to offer some assistance, which is much appreciated.  We're back on the road in no time and soon arrive at Maumee North parking area.

    Except we don’t park in the parking, we head down the steep ramp onto the expansive gravel bar.  Last time we were here, this ramp was in terrible condition, (see: 63 Ferry Boat Hole) today it's a ‘piece of cake’.  We head south (upriver) on the gravel bar which feels pretty soft, to the downstream end of ‘The Hole Above Maumee’ as it’s known, just below river mile: 110.

    This is another huge swimming hole but out here on the gravel bar there is no shade to be found, and more concerning (for me) is the soft footing beneath the truck.  Fearing the possibility of getting stuck we head back downstream onto more solid ground at Ferry Boat Hole.  And park at about the same spot we were at two years ago.

upstream end of Ferry Boat Hole

    This is a great spot with plenty of shade we drop the tailgate and set up camp right at the back of the truck.  After the tire changing ordeal, I’m feeling a bit hot and sweaty, so I head straight for the water.  Which feels great, just what I needed.  It’s a gentle slope into deeper water, about 30 feet from shore the depth is only about three feet.  In fact, it’s pretty hard finding anywhere with water over my head, so let’s say seven feet deep max.

    So not a very deep hole, Kat says that’s a good thing since she isn’t a real strong swimmer, she feels more relaxed where she can easily touch bottom.  Ferry Boat Hole at river mile: 111, is another big hole at over 2000 feet long and 70-80 feet wide.  The beach here is mostly gravel with a little sand at the top near the tree line, and the scenery isn’t exactly spectacular either.  There is a pretty tall bluff across the river, but is kept mostly hidden in all the trees, and speaking of trees... 

view downstream towards Maumee South

    While lounging in our day-camp we hear a loud ‘crack’ that I think is someone with a rifle downstream at Maumee South, Kat says it sounded more like a tree limb breaking loose.  Later while we’re back out in the water we hear it again, this time even louder.  From out in the river, we can watch as two limbs from a tall tree crash to the ground less than 100 yards north of our day-camp.

    After returning to camp, I decide to take a walk north on the gravel bar and check out the damage to that tree along the way.  There isn’t much left of the tree, just a tall trunk with a fork at the top where the limbs have split off.  I can’t tell what type of tree, nothing I recognize anyway.  I continue north for maybe 0.4 miles to where Green Haw Hollow enters the Buffalo creating a sort of ‘lagoon’ of still water, here the gravel bar ends.

what luck

    Across the river I spot a truck parked down on the gravel bar at Maumee South, this is where I turn around.  You could easily cross the river here in the shallows at the downstream end of Ferry Boat Hole and continue hiking up to Maumee South and beyond.  All the way back to our day-camp is a tall steep bank rising above the gravel bar with no exit up to Maumee North Road just a few feet in from the top.

    Back at camp we kick back, relax and take a few more dips in the river, spending all afternoon in blissful solitude.  We do hear a couple vehicles across the river up on top of the bluff heading to and from Maumee South, but we don’t see them hidden in the trees.  A very peaceful day, once we got here that is, it’s surely the best possible relief from the stress of having a flat tire.

    So, I think a well-deserved 5 for popularity, we had Ferry Boat Hole all to ourselves.  The drive in wasn’t bad either, except for the nail that found us, I guess a 2 therefore goes to accessibility.  The gravel bar beach is huge but very little sand, plenty of shade though, at least up under the tree line.  The hole itself is pretty ‘plain Jane’ and not very deep, but still nice, a 3 as well for amenities.  That adds up to a total for Ferry Boat Hole: 10.  Ferry Boat Hole while not ‘spectacular’ is still quite ‘adequate’.