Today I’m going back to the Buffalo River to do some exploring around
Pruitt, specifically downriver from the end of the Buffalo River Trail at
Pruitt picnic area. The BRT consists of
two separate trails, the ‘upstream’ section from South Boxley Trailhead to
Pruitt Day Use Area and the ‘mid river’ section from Richland Creek at the
confluence with the Buffalo down to Dillard’s Ferry (combo BRT/OHT).
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looking down off the top of Hurd/Desmond Bluff
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The upstream section ends before river mile 52 and the mid river section
doesn’t start until just short of mile 79, in between is 27 miles of river
without a trail. It would be great to
see the Buffalo River Trail connect these two separate trails someday, but in
the mean time I guess we’ll have to rely on old roads and bushwhacks to fill in
the space. An inconvenience sure, but it
does make for a more natural experience. |
Buffalo River below new parking lot
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Some ‘pieces’ of this BRT missing link are already in place but not well
publicized, I’ve found a couple short segments between Big Creek and Cave Creek
(see: 137...mouth of Cave Creek, and 138 Ed Clair Hollow) and surely there’s more.
Today heading downstream from Pruitt Trailhead hopefully I’ll ‘stumble’
onto something resembling a trail but I’m expecting a bushwhack all the way to
my intended turnaround point at Crow Hole Road.
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sand bar under the bridge
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After the new Highway 7 Buffalo River bridge was built a big gravel
parking lot was put in where the old steel girder bridge was removed, I park here as this is a good place to start east/downriver from. It’s a short walk
down the well-used path to the river,
then downstream under the bridge over tons of soft sand. I wonder if this is where all the sand
missing from Hiner Hole (see: 183 Hiner to Leypoldt) ended up.
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The Swimming Hole (12/22)
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Here on the east side of the bridge is The Swimming Hole aka Pruitt Hole
and the big sand dune at the west end makes a small beach area, in the shade of the bridge this will be very nice during the
heat of summer. But with the thick
jungle of cane, saplings, and briars growing right down to the
edge of the water, this is as far as I go along the river. I turn south up the muddy bank, in perpetual shade nothing much grows under the bridge it’s mud rocks
and just ugly.
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under the 'original' bridge with the new one in background (12/22)
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Between bridge and woods is a transition zone where all kinds of weeds
have moved in, I continue uphill searching for a way into the woods. Through the thick jungle I can see what’s
left of what I think is the original bridge, a long concrete single lane
leading toward the river then ending suddenly.
With no way in I end up at a small asphalt ‘driveway’ at the side of the
highway, this is where I decide to ‘go for it’ forcing my way through the
seemingly impenetrable barrier into the woods.
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at first vista on Hurd/Desmond Bluff
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Now this is more like what I expected: a bushwhack through the woods with dead
leaves everywhere some loose rock underfoot and occasional briers and of
course a steep hill that I need to get to the top of. But no signs of a trail, I do find an old
road trace right away but it doesn’t last long.
I slowly make my way uphill zig-zagging back and forth, passing some signs of civilization like rusty rolls of used fence, rock piles
with rusty roofing, and the hood of a car.
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| Sentinel Pedestals @ Vista Rock |
These woods are typical with nothing to write home about, but there
aren’t any obstacles that would prevent
the construction of a trail up this hill.
Near the top I turn east and sort of parallel to ‘Maintenance Yard Rd.’
NC 3200, but before reaching ‘Crow Hole Rd.’ I turn north to check out the
bluff under 300 yards away. It’s pretty
easy sailing to the bluff top, crossing an old road on the way.
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rocky ridge on bluff top
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Doing some research in the definitive ‘Buffalo River Handbook’ by
Kenneth Smith on this bluff, that I always assumed
was ‘Pruitt Bluff’ is actually named
‘Hurd/Desmond Bluff’ and is 250 feet high.
The first vantage point I arrive at is directly above Pruitt Landing, as
I continue around to the north each subsequent vista is better than the one
before. Vista Rock the second viewpoint
has sentinel pedestals on both sides.
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the Buffalo below
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Going north the perspective keeps changing, and I take lots of
pictures. Approaching the point of the
bluffs the rocky way ahead drops off steeply requiring some rock climbing, instead I
turn back to the south and gradually down into a little side drainage. I don’t go down much trying to maintain my elevation
as best I can, crossing the head of the drainage I angle east uphill on the
other side soon landing on Crow Hole Road.
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| sitting on the beach far below |
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Pruitt Landing from 250' up
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On the road less than a hundred yards, I leave when I see a
marker stating ‘no motorized travel’ at the same old road I crossed earlier
while heading to the bluffs. It sure is
easier hiking on this old road than bushwhacking through the woods but
unfortunately the road soon fizzles out
near a little pond. I continue gradually
downhill to the northwest, then more north and a little steeper descent to the
‘little asphalt driveway’ at the side of Hwy. 7 and cross the road here onto
the Pruitt day-use area access road.
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Crow Hole Road
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If a hiking club or any ‘trail organization’ or even the NPS ever
decides to build a trail linking the two separate sections of the BRT,
hopefully I’ll still be alive since I would love to get involved in trail
construction. Yes today’s hike was about
95% bushwhack, and I had a great
time exploring Pruitt especially the wonderful vistas from the top of Hurd/Desmond Bluff, total distance was 2.6 miles with 639 feet of elevation
gain.
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little pond on the way back
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Pruitt bushwhack
exploration: Statistics Chart 184 It’s real easy to get here, just south of
the curving Highway 7 bridge over the Buffalo River turn north into the Pruitt
Day-use Area, which has restrooms, picnic tables, river access for canoe
launching or swimming and Pruitt Trailhead for hikes on the Buffalo River Trail
upstream. |
| 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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