Hike #5 - Hemmed-In Hollow

Today we pushed ourselves to the limit and almost bit off more than we could chew.  Hemmed-In Hollow is the tallest waterfall between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains.  There are two ways to get to the falls.  By boat (canoe) it is a 3/4 mile hike from the Buffalo River.  By car is a 2.5 mile hike with a 1,000 foot descent to the falls and 1,000 foot ascent back to the car.  As we are gluttons for punishment, and we had done the from the car hike once before, we decided to hike from the car to the falls, to the river, back to the falls, and then back to the car.  Let's just say we were all proud to make it back in one piece.

The hike is almost immediately steep.  There are several very steep parts and some downed trees to navigate around.  We had an extra advantage today in that it was raining too!  We were still in leaf-off stage, so we got some nice views of mountains, the Buffalo River, and its famous bluffs.  There are great rocks, trees, and moss all the way.  Between the trailhead and the falls there are three backpacking camp sites, which would make a really fun trip.  The last one is less than a mile from the falls.  Both times we have hiked this, the spots have been occupied.



The flow at the falls was pretty light, but it is still wonderful.  Even with no water, the rock formation that is the hollow is impressive.  From here we did the spur to the river which we had never done before.  The river was flowing well and we saw several canoes go by.  The kids decided to make a rock bridge from the shore out to a little island.  Of course their bridge was so rickety that anyone who stepped on it wound up in the water anyway, but they were not deterred.

Then came the 2.5 miles out and 1,000 feet up to get back to the car.  At about mile 6, everyone hit a wall, but we were sure we were close.  At mile 6.5, we assured the kids it was only another five minutes.  20 minutes later at mile 7, we assured them it was again only another five minutes.  At this point dad tried to run ahead, drop off some kids at the car, and come back to carry another kid, but dad quickly realized that we still weren't close enough to the car to do that.  When we finally reached the parking lot, our tracker said 7.71 miles.

This kid was champ of the day.  His five-year-old legs take two steps for every one of dad's steps under normal circumstances.  For the last mile he could barely lift his feet and probably took five steps to every one of dad's.  Even though he put in the equivalent of about 15 miles, he never complained and walked the entire way.  He earned his nap on the way home.

Travel time from home: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Today's miles: 7.71
Remaining miles: 76.93