The
last three days have seen temps in the high nineties, just about a week ago I
was looking for the warmest days to go hiking, now I’m hoping for
‘cooler’ days. Today is only supposed to
reach the high sixties, so probably the only day this week with ‘hiking’ as an
option. I’ve decided to go back to
Carver Cemetery, and see if I can hike down river crossing Big Creek then
easterly through 'pieces' of Gene Rush and Buffalo National River.
 |
Blue Hole #5
|
My
planned route is a little vague: head from the cemetery over to Big Creek,
cross to the other side then look for trails or ‘firelanes’ or old roads that
head in a generally east direction, hopefully close to the Buffalo. I head east through a big field, then down
through some woods to a lower and smaller field. On the east side of this field is a high bank
above Big Creek, but I don’t see an easy way down. |
| hay field between Carver Cemetery and Big Creek |
 |
SR 123 bridge over the Buffalo
|
Besides
that, Big Creek has a lot more water flowing than I expected, from up here on
the high bank ten to fifteen feet above the creek, the water looks to be two or
three feet deep. I brought my
creek-waders with the hope of an easy crossing less than a foot deep. I continue downstream (north) toward the
Buffalo scanning the creek below for a crossing point that doesn’t involve swimming. |
long narrow field
|
No
such luck, since ‘my plan’ isn’t exactly ‘etched in stone’ I turn left (west)
above the Buffalo and head back to the smaller field at its north end, and soon
come to the SR 123 bridge over the river.
There’s a good path, or more accurately a ‘farmer’s lane’ going under
the bridge to the other side of SR 123.
From there it’s easy to get into another small field, this one is long
and narrow and I’ve been here before. |
Eddings Cave behind the fence
|
By
now, the plan is completely ‘out the window’, so I’m thinking maybe
today I’ll finally find the way beyond Blue Hole. I’ve tried and failed twice to hike past Blue
Hole here on the south side of the river (see: 205 Carver Boondoggle, and
206 Boondoggle II). That first time
I was here, back in early November I spooked a flock of turkey near this long
narrow field, no turkeys today I make good time through to the next bigger
field. |
John Eddings Cave
|
Making
a ‘bee line’ through the big field, I head straight to the ‘farmer’s lane’ used
for hay field access, this road heads back out to SR 123. But before reaching the highway I leave the
road and head south up a small (dry) drainage next to the highway. A little under 200 yards, I land on an faint
old road trace that starts heading uphill right away. I soon realize this road was a mistake, I
should have stayed in the clean easy drainage. |
creek flows out mouth of cave
|
There
isn’t anything wrong with this old road, other than it goes uphill and I’ll
just have to come back down at some point.
Under half a mile later, I’m back in the little dry drainage close to
the BNR boundary marked by a fence line running east/west. At the top of the drainage, is a good trail
which goes from the nearby house out onto the ridge running northeast. I don’t ‘use’ this trail, just cross it and
keep going west. |
John Eddings Cave
|
All
this area is familiar, part of my ‘Boondoggle II’ adventure, past the house,
next is the little dry pond with a folding metal chair on the earth dam. Beyond the pond is a trashy area, and about
200 feet further I land on a faint old road trace that heads downhill right
away (how did I miss it last trip?).
Following this old road down, my confidence soars, maybe I’ve finally
found the route I’ve been looking for.
 |
| looking through the bars |
 |
between cave and river
|
Soon
after finding this road I notice another old road running parallel down below
this one, then maybe 100 yards further I see an old road up on the other side
of this little tight drainage. Almost to
the bottom the road is washed out, so I cross the creek and make the short
climb up to that other road. Now on the
west side of the little creek and still headed north, it’s just over 100 yards
to John Eddings Cave.
 |
Blue Hole on the Buffalo River
|
John
Eddings Cave at 6400 feet deep (learn more from Ken Smith; Buffalo River
Handbook) is of course ‘off limits’ to exploration. With an eight foot high fence across the
entrance the cave is just as remembered, five years ago Kat and I checked it
out on a hot summer day while here swimming (see: 57 Blue Hole). After getting some pictures through the bars,
I make my way down the creek about 200 feet to Buffalo River.
 |
playing in Blue Hole
|
In
the mouth of the little creek I’m standing in sand, five years ago gravel
occupied this spot. Across the river on
the big Blue Hole gravel bar, are a couple kayakers getting ready to
launch. They look a little surprised to
see someone emerging from this little tight drainage between the 200
foot tall bluffs. I ask how far they
plan to go, they’re only ‘playing’ around here at Blue Hole, so I mention the ‘big
cave just up the creek a short way’.
 |
| on the volunteer trail |
Turning
left upriver, I follow the base of the bluff on a good volunteer trail. In some places it’s pretty tight between
bluff and river, but this is clean and easy hiking for about 500 feet to where
the trail heads down onto the flood plain at the river bend. The trail soon evaporates in lush green
bottomland along the river, after almost 500 more feet headed north I make my
way up the sandy bank and soon come to a big field.
 |
along the beautiful Buffalo
|
Following
the small creek on my left, I stay at the edge of the field headed
northwest. After almost 300 yards I
notice a road over on the south side of the creek, and cross over to the
road. The road soon turns north and crosses
the creek, which is now dry, and the road is now just a mowed path along the
edge of the field. Closing in on the
north end of the field with great views of the bluffs north and east, I turn
around heading back to the farmer’s lane. |
bluffs across big field
|
On
the ‘lane’ headed east for a while along another small field, then the road
curves to the south where a faint trail continues east. I assume this is the same trail I followed
along the bluff upstream from Blue Hole.
The road now steadily climbs for almost half a mile, with a little dry
creek down on my right, and the hillside to the left. At the National Park boundary is a cable gate, beyond
the gate the road continues south, now crossing private property 300 yards to
SR 123. |
farmer's lane
|
Turning
east I head down into a little drainage and immediately land on a faint old
road trace. There is all kinds of trash
including tires on and below the road, but it soon clears up as the road
continues downhill. This is the same
road I followed earlier to Eddings Cave, and soon enough as the road swings
around the bend I spot the other road across the creek. Down across the creek then up to the faint road,
and I’m back on familiar ground. |
| NPS cable gate |
 |
turn here onto faint and trashy old road
|
After
passing the little dry pond then the house just south of the park boundary, I
make it a point to stay in the little drainage and avoid the old road I came in
on. This works just fine, my only issue
is all the trash down near the creek once I got close to the highway. Overall though this was an easy and completely
enjoyable hike, especially satisfying is finally finding an easy way past Blue Hole
for that ‘future’ Middle Buffalo Trail, that I’m plotting out one piece at a
time. |
| on the berm of SR 123 @ NC 4500 |
 |
Carver Cemetery
|
Even
though today’s hike didn’t go as planned, it turned into a great hike on a
great day, my total milage was 5.1 with 714 feet of elevation gain, but none of
that was very steep. About two thirds of
the hike was on old roads, farmer’s lanes, open mowed fields and a little
quarter mile or less on volunteer trails.
The rest was easy bushwhacking in open woods and through dry drainages. |
The Buffalo River never gets old
|
Carver Eddings Loop: Statistics Chart 224 The parking across the road from Carver
Cemetery is easy to find, just 1200 feet or about 0.2 miles south of the SR 123
bridge over the Buffalo River is NC 4500, with sign ‘Gene Rush WMA’ head east
just 400 feet to Carver Cemetery and park on your right.
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