When
I head out from the house this morning I have just a loose plan as to
where I’m going today. The ‘plan’ is to
hike some more of the bluffs above the Little Buffalo west of Wayton, but since
the condition of the forest roads is unknown I’ll leave the final destination
open until I get in the area. I have
been in this area of amazing bluffs which are popular with rock-climbers
before, see (158 Dog Branch Bluffs and 166 Bluffs of Haunt Hollow)
for those adventures.
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high above the Little Buffalo River
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Leaving
the pavement I head west on gravel NC 8583 this road is in great shape to
start, it gets a little narrow after about a mile. After curving to the north the road’s still
in good condition, I have no problem driving all the way to hill top Rich Cemetery,
where I park. There are a bunch of
forest roads all around the cemetery with lots of pull-outs (parking spots), so
take your pick, parking isn’t an issue. |
Rich Cemetery
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Rich
Cemetery isn’t very big, has about 20 gravesites mostly of the ‘Rich’ and
‘Taylor’ families. What makes Rich
Cemetery kind of unique is the split-rail fence along the front edge of the graveyard,
after my visit it’s back south to the junction of NC 8583 and FR92161J. From here I go west on the forest road
noticing more small pull-out parking spots, less than 200 yards I leave the
road and head down at the top of a dry drainage. |
National Forest boundary
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This
little creek is a feeder stream into Willis Branch, up here at the top it’s
quite steep with no trail I angle downhill through the clean woods as best I
can. After about 140 feet of descent I
notice a Forest Service boundary marker, about 200 feet further down a faint
old road crosses the dry creek. Then
It’s just over 100 yards more to the top of Harvey Falls, which is two falls of
about twenty feet each separated by maybe thirty feet of flat bedrock. |
| approaching Harvey Falls |
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looking down from top of Harvey Falls
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Harvey
Falls will be a thing of beauty after a good rain, and marks the top of the
bluffline which I follow to the west on a faint trail. In 100 yards I head over to the edge to check
out the view from the flat rock topped bluff then 100 yards more is the way
down. Not the best of bluffline breaks
it’s a bit of a climb, the remnants of a rope are tied around a pine on
top (I need to learn: always bring a rope when hiking along bluffs). |
bluffline break - about a 12' drop
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After
collapsing my aluminum hiking stick, I carefully slide down from the right side
to a thin crevice in the corner where I’m able to find footing and hand-holds
to safely reach flatter ground below. It is still steep down to the base of the
bluffs but only the top twelve feet could be called ‘rock climbing’. I head east through a debris field of big
sharp rocks all around, maybe hikers and definitely ‘climbers’ have obviously been
here. |
gorgeous bluffs and amazing overhangs
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I
occasionally spot bits and pieces of brown dust left on the grey rocks from travelers
before me and follow in their footsteps as much as possible. This is a rugged area, yet beautiful with a
couple enormous rock overhangs above shallow grottos, even a wet weather
waterfall that begins in a moss covered crevice before free-falling the last 10
feet at the bottom. I explore this
rugged rocky landscape up and down under the bluff, then head back west. |
scenic Ozarks beauty
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Past
the bluffline break where I climbed down is another huge rock overhang, this
one about 100 feet long. Up ahead
another 25-30 foot tall wet weather fall, then small ‘bent tree upper
shelter’. Around a corner I head uphill
north a short way to a dark crevice where the bluffline makes a sharp turn back
to the west, down below about 100 feet are some huge flat-top boulders. The next 100 yards is more of the same: big
sharp rocks scattered under the bluffs everywhere. |
| a crevice in the corner |
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huge overhang, note rubble underneath
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Continuing
west is another rock overhang with broken rock debris underneath, then an almost
clean area of smooth dark bluff that might be a future climbers route,
someone has written ‘Bad Boy 10’ in white chalk on the dark stone. Soon I come around the tight point and am now
headed north, next comes a small shelter under a rock overhang and 250 feet
further another rock overhang. |
lots of rock overhangs
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The
next third of a mile or more is still quite rugged, hard on the knees and feet,
with more overhangs and at least five small shallow shelters. One of these little cave-like shelters is
hidden behind a big jumble of large sharp rocks, I squeeze through on the south
side to get in then slide out through a hole on the north side to exit. Inside this small ‘Rock Jam Shelter’ is a
flat rock ledge in the back. |
awesome bluffline scenery
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Close
to the north end of this section is another climbing area with anchors and
chains up the bluff to the top. Then
just 150 feet farther as I begin around the north point is what appears to be a
steep bluffline break at the top of a steep hill. Although there is still almost half a mile of
bluffline to explore to the east on my ‘planned’ route for today, I decide to
‘bail-out’ here. I guess it’s because
I’m getting worn-out on all the sharp rugged rock. |
| small cave-like shelters |
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inside Rock Jam Shelter
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This
bluffline break is similar to the one I came down, after a steep hillside comes
the near vertical ascent where a rope hung from above would have been
nice. The climb out involves a twist
about half way up where my hydration-pack almost pushes me backwards but
I make it up all in one piece. Then
uphill through open woods 200 yards to FR 92161F which I follow northeast. |
more small 'caves'
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Now
on the road is easy hiking over three quarters of a mile back to Rich
Cemetery. Along the way there is an
uphill section while easy for hikers would definitely cause problems for anyone
trying to drive down this road. It
includes about 200 feet of deep ruts from a wash-out and then around a corner
some rock ledges in the road that would scrape the bottom of anything less than
‘high ground clearance’ vehicles. I
wouldn’t drive my little truck in here. |
bail-out back to the top
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So
that’s it, I’ll have to finish the north side along Panther Branch another
day, and then there’s another loop hike further south above the East Fork of
Little Buffalo River. Yeah I’ll be back
this is too beautiful of an area not to keep coming for more. Check out Danny Hale’s ‘TAKAHIK Bluffs of the
Arkansas Ozarks’ for lots of information on this area, I credit him for getting
me interested in these bluffs above the Little Buffalo, and now I’m hooked. |
on the road back to Rich Cemetery
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I
won’t lie: this is a rugged hike when you’re off the roads, and having a rope
is a good idea, maybe next time I’ll remember mine. I only hiked 2.8 miles today with 518 feet of
elevation gain, about a mile of that was easy on forest roads. The hike included, bluffs overhanging rocks
little shelters even waterfalls and a quaint cemetery, all making this a great Outdoor
Adventure in the Ozarks. |
climber's hardware just south of bail-out exit
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Willis Branch Loop: Statistics Chart 215 Getting here
was a lot easier than expected. From the
‘Deer turnoff’ where SR 16 leaves SR 7 head west, after about 1 mile on SR 16
turn north on Wayton Road (NC 8766 eventually becomes SR 374) go about 4 miles
to NC 8583. Turn left (west) on this
gravel/dirt road, stay on NC8583 all the way to Rich Cemetery about 2.5
miles. There are lots of parking places
along the road as you get close to Rich Cemetery, so you can pretty much park
wherever you like.
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