Saturday morning I’m headed back down to the Wayton area south of
Parthenon along the Little Buffalo River.
The first time I visited this area, a little over two months ago, I was in the
next hollow to the north (see: 158 Dog Branch Bluffs) also on a Saturday.
On that occasion I was surprised that others were out enjoying the beautiful bluffs in an area that I
thought was relatively unknown, we’ll see if I encounter anyone
today.
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majestic views
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Pulling in at the ‘trailhead’ off
Dog Branch Road there isn’t anywhere to park without blocking the road (more of
an ATV trail) so I drive on, hoping to find at least a wide spot where I can
get off the road. This ATV trail, (FR 92162C) is narrow of course but easy going and no downed
trees. I park at a wide spot in front of
a mud hole and small dirt berm. I’m sure
I could drive right through this minor obstacle but hey, I’m here to hike not
drive. |
wide spot on ATV trail
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Walking south on the road is all
downhill but nothing steep, just a pleasant stroll in the woods. After about 0.3 miles is a rock wall
perpendicular to the road heading down the hill to the east. Continuing downhill the road makes a big
sweeping S-curve where I cross paths with six deer. Afterwards going east and almost level I soon arrive at the end of
the road with a nice parking area and a little pond just above roads end.
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perpendicular rock wall
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I head south
toward the bluffline on a very faint trail which fades away quite frequently, it’s
just over 200 feet down to the top of the bluffs. I explore
along the bluff top high above Haunt Hollow, east for maybe 100 yards looking
for an easy break down to the base. Finding nothing I go back to where it’s a
short steep climb (but not easy) to the base of the bluffline, right next to
small Heart Rock Grotto.
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Heart Rock Grotto
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Following the bluffline sort of southwest right away I’m under a huge
stone overhang high above the smooth tall bluff. The two reoccurring themes of the day will prove to be impressive overhangs and nice
grottos. Just to the south out away from
the bluffline is a giant angled boulder with a small grotto under the east end,
then a small grotto in the bluffline.
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low bluffs to start
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The character of this
bluffline hike above Haunt Hollow is much different than my hike last week, (see: 165 Battle Creek Bluffs) where the
going was rugged with lots of sharp rock rubble almost everywhere along with
some annoying greenbrier and blackberry.
Here the forest floor beneath the bluff is much cleaner, a lot less rock
rubble and no briars, the worst
obstacles seem to be thick low-hanging branches that slap my face and scratch
my arms more times than I care to admit.
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huge stone overhang
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Soon a little grotto with an overhang above, and two big boulders out in
front of the bluff. Then another hundred
yards is a grotto with tons of big fallen rock on the floor, and just beyond a long
clean low-ceilinged shelter. 100 yards
further a nice big grotto with a square stone fireplace built in the middle and
a beech growing against the bluff wall that has seen the knife on many an occasion.
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rock litter
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Another
grotto comes along soon, this one with some stonework stacked up, once creating
a small enclosure in the back. Now
turning to the north, I approach a passage between the bluffline and a large
boulder that has only slid a short distance away, maybe twenty feet. Then a long shallow grotto with a little
stone bridge or tunnel at its east end.
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slant boulder with grotto at left
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As I continue
north up a little side drainage I come to a fork, to the right is an easy bail-out exit uphill to the east, and to the
left slightly downhill a small grotto and then some remnants of a rock wall
along what might have been a road once, this route soon re-joins the upper
‘right’ fork where I veer to the west and down to the little creek.
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grotto under overhang
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Crossing the
creek, I turn back to the southwest into a nice size shelter, then it’s about
200 yards to a nice fifteen foot tall wet weather waterfall, about eight feet
wide this fall slides off a slick slimy rock slope with lots of green
moss. I’ll call it Slick Rock Falls, and
I’ll bet it will look great with a little more water. Slick Rock is in a corner up against a very
tall bluff that heads south.
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tons of big fallen rock grotto
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I follow
against the side of this tall smooth bluffline south, down a steep hill with a
little ledge at the bottom that must be climbed down to continue. Now going west, I pass well below a big grotto
above me with a couple rock overhangs.
The next 200 yards is at the base of some very tall, beautiful bluffs
with more overhangs, but I see no evidence of rock climbers and wonder why.
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| rock climbers overhang? |
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more grottos
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Soon is a low
rocky shelter then up in a corner a tall narrow cave entrance, I climb up to
check it out and find a window in the back that could be climbed
through to the patio outside, but a dead-end. Back down at the bluffline and continuing
west along more tall, impressive bluffs it's over 200 yards to the next shelter.
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| window rock |
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Fireplace Grotto
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This one a
long shelter with a small square shaped shelter about midway recessed
in the back. Then not far a low and long
grotto, maybe only four feet high inside but probably close to a hundred feet
long. In 100 yards a corner in the bluffline where I turn more to the north
at a big boulder out 40 feet off the point.
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| long low grotto |
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Slick Rock Falls
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Just around
the corner and high above at the top of the very tall bluff is another
impressive rock overhang that I pass underneath. From this point it’s uphill a little where I
notice off to my right looks to be a ‘doable’ bluffline break. I keep going
though, toward the next two grotto/shelters that are plainly visible up ahead,
the second being humongous.
Back on the
ledge I backtrack around to the bluffline break and make a steep exit, but
nothing too steep I make it out easily.
Up on the top is a real nice vista all along the overhang that I passed
beneath about half an hour ago. From
here are some great views out to the horizon and down near the confluence of
Long Branch and East Fork Little Buffalo far below.
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| another long low grotto |
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beneath vista overhang
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From here I
sort of follow the top of the bluffline east, then uphill to the ATV
trail. Then it’s about half a mile
back to my parking spot, uphill all the way but nothing steep it doesn’t take
long. Along the way I take in the solitude, although a Saturday I haven't seen anyone all day. |
gapping chasm past grotto at right
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I had a great time today hiking in the Ozark National Forest along some beautiful bluffs, first above Haunt Hollow then Long Branch and finally East Fork of
the Little Buffalo River. The route I took was 4.4 miles and included 645 feet of
elevation gain.
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| East Fork Little Buffalo down below |
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more distant vistas
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Haunt Hollow Bluffs: Statistics Chart 166 The drive here was pretty
enjoyable too; from Jasper I went west on Highway 74 about a third of a mile
then south on Highway 374 to Parthenon about 6 miles. Stay on Hwy. 374 five more miles to Wayton, at
the Wayton Cemetery turn west on NC 8551 and in 0.5 miles is FR 92162C to the
south, you can find a place to park here or as I did find a spot along the ATV
trail, if you’re feeling adventurous, have high ground clearance and don’t mind
some scratches this narrow forest
service road can (sometimes) be driven all the way to the bottom near the
little pond.
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base map before fair use alterations is property of USGS--licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License
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