57 Blue Hole

    There are quite a few places called ‘Blue Holes’.  This is Blue Hole #5 on the Buffalo River upstream from the Carver Campground, and downstream of river mile 62.  When driving south on SR123, before reaching the river there is a small sign at a dirt road which says, ‘Blue Hole’, it’s easy to miss.  The road heads west for half a mile then turns south and starts downhill for another three quarters of a mile to Blue Hole Campground.  There are five designated campsites, a vault toilet and a small parking area.

easy to miss sign

    The beach area on a gravel bar wrapping around the inside bend in the river is about a quarter mile long and made up mostly of small river rock.  No shade on this south facing point, a family down the beach a hundred feet has a portable shade room set up on the cobblestone.  We set our beach chairs fifteen feet from the water and walk in.  It gets deep pretty quick, around 8-10 feet out past the middle.  Across the hole at the center of the point is a rope swing, tied in a tree on the south bank.  Next to that is a little steep creek, and behind it all is a well hidden tall bluff.

Blue Hole #5 (9-29-22)

    I decide to explore this little creek, I plan to try and go exploring at every swimming hole we visit.  Wading out of the Buffalo into this little stream is a shock to the senses, compared to the warm water of the river this stream is cold, cold.  The creek has cut a deep ravine here at its mouth and deposited lots of gravel, but soon the ravine diminishes, and the banks of the creek become less steep.

    The creek turns to the west then splits into two small streams, one south and the one with more water flow, continues west.  I 'go with the flow' west and in about 50 feet come to the mouth of Eddings Cave.  The park service has erected a steel barricade in the entrance to the cave to keep people out.  Gazing through the fence into the black abyss I can see this is a fairly large cave, well actually I can’t see very far at all, but the amount of cold air coming from its depths tells me it must be a pretty big cave.

    The cold water of the creek I’m standing in along with the cold air rushing from the mouth of Eddings Cave, has given me quite a chill.  I retrace the 100 yards back to what now feels like ‘bath water’ in the Buffalo River.  Kat asks, “Where have you been?” so I take her up the creek to see Eddings Cave for herself.

    We stay at the Blue Hole almost five hours, with most of that time actually in the water since there isn’t any shade.  We had a great time today and vow to go swimming at least once a week for the rest of the summer.  For an explanation of the ratings criteria used below read: Summer Swimming Adventures in the Nuts & Bolts section. 

    Blue Hole gets a 3 for accessibility, the road is dirt but it’s in fairly good shape all the way down, and the walk from the parking spot wasn’t very far, only about 100 feet.  As for amenities I’m only giving this a 2 mainly because of the lack of shade and the rocky beach doesn’t help either.  Blue Hole is a pretty big place and can swallow up a lot of people without getting ‘overly’ crowded.

    Today is Friday and we have probably seen 50 people here today, luckily not all at once.  But there’s no doubt this is a popular swimming hole, so I’ll only give a 2 for popularity.  Eddings Cave and the little creek leading to it, for sure make the Blue Hole a ‘special place’.  A total score today at Blue Hole: 7+