129 Robertson Hole

    Later this week the weather is supposed to finally cool down, but today’s forecast is for highs in the mid-nineties, so we better go swimming, it just may be our last chance until next year.  We drive south to St. Joe and turn off Highway 65 at the brown sign for Baker Ford and Woolum, the plan is to try a different swimming hole near Baker Ford.

    There are actually three holes in close proximity to Baker Ford: Baker Ford Hole, Blue Hole (#8), and Greenhaw Hole.  At least ‘on the map’ these all look as though they should be pretty easy to get to, but ‘you never know until you go’ as they say.  We park down at the canoe launch area and explore the bank looking for a route upriver, it appears there may have been an old road heading upstream once.

at Baker Ford

    This isn’t an option though, thanks to a slough that looks more like a little stagnant swamp with a very small ‘entrance’ from the river.  All along the riverbank and around this slough it's overgrown with extremely thick ‘jungle’.  I walk back downstream and wade out into the river just far enough to look upstream to where the gravel bar at Baker Ford Hole is shown on maps, but all I see is a very thin low rocky bank with thick undergrowth behind.

    I give up on swimming at either Baker Ford or Blue Hole #8 which is another 500 feet upstream beyond Baker Ford Hole.  This only leaves Greenhaw Hole, we get back in the truck and drive up to the small camping area near the vault toilet.

    At the east end of the campground is a cable gate which today is open thanks to hay harvesting going on out in the two large fields.  We stay on the faint roadway through the first field then down and across a small drainage and back up into the second big hay field where the faint path completely disappears.

shady spot near the river

    On through the open field with big round bales of hay everywhere we park about two thirds of the way across the field at the south edge.  From here Greenhaw Hole on the river is only about 100 feet south, but the scene looks very similar to that back at Baker Ford with tall grass and thick undergrowth between us and the river.

    I walk up and down the edge of the field parallel to the river but fail to locate any ‘opening’ through which we might reach the Buffalo.  Oh well at least we tried, on to the ‘backup plan’.  Arnold Hole where we went swimming almost a month ago, is our backup plan, see: (126 The Real Deal...).  Back up Baker Ford Road to Fantail Road where we turn right then a half mile later, right again on Gladiator Road.

    Another half mile brings us to a gate, which today is closed.  I won’t open a closed gate, especially one like this with ‘private property’ signs on it, that would just be asking for trouble, instead we turn around and head out to backup number two, Woolum and Robertson Hole at river mile 79.

in Robertson Hole

    We weave our way back to the west eventually to Woolum Road, we turn left (south) and in around 1.4 miles pass the old Pine Bluff Church.  Another approximately 1.4 miles is Jamison Creek where Woolum Road is closed.  As near as I can find out, Woolum Road has been closed now for almost a year, because of continual erosion along the Highbanks.  This area has always been a ‘problem’ for Woolum Road with the river slowly eating away the bank between river and road.

    We’ll just have to wait and see if this road ever gets repaired, I think the road is a lost cause and should be abandoned, let nature take its course.  Turning right at the ‘Road Closed’ barricade we head up Jamison Creek on Oakland Road, which crosses the creek four or five times.  Then after a sharp curve to the left into Bull Hollow just briefly, before climbing up onto a ridge, and finally reaching North Woolum Road after a total of four miles.  Left on North Woolum, and we’re almost there.

downriver view of Robertson Hole

    At Woolum we turn left into the huge field with Woolum Campground along the south side of the road.  Near the end of the campground at the last outhouse we turn right down the ‘ramp’ onto the gravel bar of Robertson Hole and park in the same little shady spot we first discovered two years ago, see: (66 Boat Hole and Robertson Hole).  This is still a great spot, but the gravel bar here is nothing like I remember it.

    The gravel bar at Robertson Hole is like a ‘chaparral’ of tangled shrubs and brush along with lots of small sycamore whose roots cling in the gravel to prevent being washed away.  This is not the wide open, barren gravel bar typically seen on the Buffalo River.  All that being said, this is a great spot, once again we just drop the tailgate and setup camp near the water and in the shade.

lounging in the shallows

    After all the driving today, it’s nice to finally be ‘in camp’ on a swimming hole, we head straight in the water.  The entrance into the water isn’t like it was two years ago either, back then this was a muddy entrance into the river, well not today.  Just small gravel, from our beach chairs all the way down and into the river, no mud whatsoever.

    I’m amazed at how much can change in just a couple years, but Robertson Hole itself doesn’t seem to have changed any.  This is still a big deep hole, and long, from the exit shoal about 100 yards downstream Robertson Hole gradually curves westward at the end of the bluff and slowly gets shallower until it ends, around 2000 feet long and 50-70 feet wide.

    Here about 30 feet out in front of the bluff I repeatedly try to reach the bottom, but I can’t do it, and I’m wearing my swim-fins.  I’m going to estimate Robertson Hole is at least 15 feet deep, who knows this may be the deepest hole we’ve been to yet.  The slope from shore into deep water is a little steep too, thirty feet out I can barely touch bottom.

the shady day-camp

    Back in camp we ‘kickback’ for a while before going for a walk around the gravel bar.  We pretty much stay on the paths made by motorists that meander around to numerous dead-ends.  There is a small boat launch area, but most of this gravel bar is either tall grass or dense brush, we don’t get far and soon return to camp.

    In our beach chairs we admire the bluff across the river, according to maps it’s Robertson Hill, no mention of the ‘bluff’ which is probably just under 100 feet high with the top half hidden in trees.  I swim back out for a closer look, it’s a very smooth bluff that extends straight down into the water.

    At the upstream end a small creek enters through a deep gully, where I’m able to climb out of the water.  This dry creek bed looks pretty clear of undergrowth and possibly could be a route up to the top but I only go far enough to have a look then return to the river.  I swim back across to the beach, as I’m coming out of the river, an Arkansas Game and Fish officer walks into our ‘camp’.

a visit from the AGFC

    This young AGFC officer is making his rounds and stops for a short visit, after some ‘small talk’ I ask about river access down many of these old roads, using Gladiator Road as an example.  I explain the whole scenario: a few weeks ago we drove through the open gate and on down to Arnold Hole, but today the gate is closed.  Isn’t that road a public access to the river?

    He thinks so, since the road is on most maps then it ‘probably is a public thoroughfare’.  I give him the details on the location of this ‘gate’ he heads out to go check it out after saying that a lot of property owners put up gates because they are sick and tired of people throwing trash out as they drive by.  I surely understand this as I’m picking up people’s trash along the road at the front of my property all the time, some people are real pigs.

    Since we arrived here late after all the driving around this morning, time catches up to us and we pack up to go.  You would think being right at the Woolum Campground there’d be folks all over the place.  But our AGFC visitor was the only person we saw all afternoon, so a score of 4 for popularity, and maybe that’s being a little stingy.  Amenities here are pretty awesome, a great swimming hole with deep clean water, shade is pretty sparse though other than this little spot in the small sycamore ‘grove’.

a portion of Robertson Hole upriver

    The beach is mostly small gravel, the one sandy area we found is in the direct sun right where we parked, the chaparral is nice giving beachgoers some privacy.  All that considered a generous 4 for amenities.  Due to the closure of Woolum Road, accessibility isn’t what it used to be, don’t get me wrong we had a great time driving the back roads particularly Oakland Road, but it sure did take some time.  None of the roads travelled today are all that bad, they’re not that good either, so let’s say a 3 for accessibility.  A total for Robertson Hole: 11, and a good time on possibly the last ‘swim day’ of the season.