Buffalo River Hemmed In Hollow Falls
This past weekend I had the opportunity to go on a backpacking trip in the Buffalo River National Park with three friends and my teenage son. It had to be one of the most grueling overnight trips I have taken to date but also the most rewarding. With over 2000 feet of climbing, my legs, knees and feet struggled with this hike and used pain to try to convince me to just go home. The splendor and history on this trip though made every second of the agony worth it.
I had three goals for this trip: Hike out on Big Bluff, checkout Granny Henderson’s old cabin, and see Hemmed-In Hollow Falls. We started from the Centerpoint Trailhead on Highway 43 just north of Ponca. This trail started its history as a road. Since it is an old road the trail is nice and wide but at times very steep as it makes it decent down to the Buffalo River. Along the road there is evidence of a few old homesteads. There are some old foundations of cabins, some old wire fencing in places and if you are observant, in a couple of places you can see an old stone fence. The first cabin remains you come to has a very obvious old pasture next to it. There are only a few small oak and cedar trees and tall grass in the old pasture while the rest of the woods is thick with large trees.
At about 2.5 miles from the trailhead the Big Bluff trail intersects with the main trail on the right side. The Trail down to the Big Bluff is a pretty easy and short out and back trip. The river makes a horseshoe bend at the base of the bluff and the views are incredible and in my opinion some of the best views in all of Arkansas. Just be careful on the bluff, at times the trial is only a few feet wide it is safe to say that this is not a place you want to slip.
With my first goal being completed we headed back to the main trail. We started down the trail towards the Buffalo River. It is almost another mile before we make it to Granny Henderson’s old cabin. This is really special site. The site is mostly as Granny left it with the only real change is a new metal roof and new posts on the front porch that has been replaced. The cabin itself is pretty large for a pioneer’s cabin. It consisted of two rooms down stairs and two rooms upstairs. There is old wood burning stove in the center of the downstairs. The stove has mostly rusted away. There were several rusted pieces of metal in the corner of one of the rooms. It appeared to be parts of the stove and old buckets. On the porch there was a make shift memorial to Granny Henderson that consisted of old article and picture of her laminated on a piece of wood and a laminated newspaper article of her with her picture. I noticed three old outbuildings from the house. There was what appeared to be a spring house right next to the cabin a pig pen and chicken coup behind the cabin and a building that has now collapsed out in the pasture in front of the cabin.
Through the pasture there is a trail that is not on the map. I imagine this is the trail that I have read about that Granny took down to the river ever day to get water for her cows and pigs. We took the trail and it goes down to the river and a couple of campsites. We ended up camping off this trail in a cedar grove. This trail also connects to the trail going to Hemmed-In Hollow Falls. If you are going to camp between the river and the cabin I would recommend stashing your packs somewhere because the hike to the falls is pretty hilly and it is a little more than a three mile round trip to the falls and back. Of course we did not do this.
About halfway, I had to stop and change socks and my feet were not so doing well at this point. I pressed on and finally limped to the falls. What a sight it was. It was flowing nicely and the wind swirling through the box canyon would make the stream of falling water dance. One minute the water would fall and hit one spot and the next it would fall on a different spot. The falls is so high that the water separates into drops as if it is raining hard in that one spot. There is not a tremendous amount of water that flows over the falls and in the heat of summer the falls will dry up so make sure you come when there is plenty of water.
If I limped to the falls then I was nearly crawling away from it. My feet hurt, I was tired and all I wanted was to get the pack off my back and sit down. By the time we made it back to the camp site we had hiked about 7.5 miles and I had consumed about 90 ounces of water. I was ready for food and sleep.
The next morning we hiked straight back to the trailhead with no detours or side trips. We were all pretty exhausted. I took about 2 hours to hike the grueling 3.5 miles with 1260 feet of climbing. I was so happy to make it to the trailhead but even then being drained and sore I knew that this trip was special and that I would be back.
I had three goals for this trip: Hike out on Big Bluff, checkout Granny Henderson’s old cabin, and see Hemmed-In Hollow Falls. We started from the Centerpoint Trailhead on Highway 43 just north of Ponca. This trail started its history as a road. Since it is an old road the trail is nice and wide but at times very steep as it makes it decent down to the Buffalo River. Along the road there is evidence of a few old homesteads. There are some old foundations of cabins, some old wire fencing in places and if you are observant, in a couple of places you can see an old stone fence. The first cabin remains you come to has a very obvious old pasture next to it. There are only a few small oak and cedar trees and tall grass in the old pasture while the rest of the woods is thick with large trees.
At about 2.5 miles from the trailhead the Big Bluff trail intersects with the main trail on the right side. The Trail down to the Big Bluff is a pretty easy and short out and back trip. The river makes a horseshoe bend at the base of the bluff and the views are incredible and in my opinion some of the best views in all of Arkansas. Just be careful on the bluff, at times the trial is only a few feet wide it is safe to say that this is not a place you want to slip.
With my first goal being completed we headed back to the main trail. We started down the trail towards the Buffalo River. It is almost another mile before we make it to Granny Henderson’s old cabin. This is really special site. The site is mostly as Granny left it with the only real change is a new metal roof and new posts on the front porch that has been replaced. The cabin itself is pretty large for a pioneer’s cabin. It consisted of two rooms down stairs and two rooms upstairs. There is old wood burning stove in the center of the downstairs. The stove has mostly rusted away. There were several rusted pieces of metal in the corner of one of the rooms. It appeared to be parts of the stove and old buckets. On the porch there was a make shift memorial to Granny Henderson that consisted of old article and picture of her laminated on a piece of wood and a laminated newspaper article of her with her picture. I noticed three old outbuildings from the house. There was what appeared to be a spring house right next to the cabin a pig pen and chicken coup behind the cabin and a building that has now collapsed out in the pasture in front of the cabin.
Through the pasture there is a trail that is not on the map. I imagine this is the trail that I have read about that Granny took down to the river ever day to get water for her cows and pigs. We took the trail and it goes down to the river and a couple of campsites. We ended up camping off this trail in a cedar grove. This trail also connects to the trail going to Hemmed-In Hollow Falls. If you are going to camp between the river and the cabin I would recommend stashing your packs somewhere because the hike to the falls is pretty hilly and it is a little more than a three mile round trip to the falls and back. Of course we did not do this.
About halfway, I had to stop and change socks and my feet were not so doing well at this point. I pressed on and finally limped to the falls. What a sight it was. It was flowing nicely and the wind swirling through the box canyon would make the stream of falling water dance. One minute the water would fall and hit one spot and the next it would fall on a different spot. The falls is so high that the water separates into drops as if it is raining hard in that one spot. There is not a tremendous amount of water that flows over the falls and in the heat of summer the falls will dry up so make sure you come when there is plenty of water.
If I limped to the falls then I was nearly crawling away from it. My feet hurt, I was tired and all I wanted was to get the pack off my back and sit down. By the time we made it back to the camp site we had hiked about 7.5 miles and I had consumed about 90 ounces of water. I was ready for food and sleep.
The next morning we hiked straight back to the trailhead with no detours or side trips. We were all pretty exhausted. I took about 2 hours to hike the grueling 3.5 miles with 1260 feet of climbing. I was so happy to make it to the trailhead but even then being drained and sore I knew that this trip was special and that I would be back.
Labels: backpacking, big bluff, buffalo river, centerpoint, hemmed in hollow falls, henderson's cabin
posted by Chris at 1:29 PM
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