HOGSCALD HOLLOW — Any sage of the hills will tell you that if an Ozark hollow is narrow enough to yell across, it’s called a holler.
Too wide and it’s a valley.
There was not one hollering hillbilly and nary a squealing pig in Hogscald Hollow, a mystical, magical place of rock and water at Beaver Lake.
This cleft in the landscape is a bona fide holler. A clear, flowing stream has done its artwork over millennia to carve the limestone bedrock into a masterpiece of bowls, holes and pocket-sized caves.
Water does a bit more chisel work after every rain. Here in Hogscald Hollow, water pours over bluff and boulder in a show of waterfalls that are unique to Beaver Lake.
Cascades of laughing water and the sparkling stream of this southwest Carroll County hollow can be seen by car, foot or shallow-draft paddlecraft.
Sleek touring kayaks were the preferred boats for our flotilla of seven paddlers who hit the water after days of rain to seek out the wonders of Hogscald and those of a neighboring hollow - er, holler - called Penitentiary Hollow.
Historic Cascades
Legend has it that Hogscald Hollow is so named because water in the bedrock bowls was heated with hot rocks to scald hogs during butchering so the hair could be scraped from the hide.
So was there a prison in Penitentiary Hollow?
Could have been, said Mike Richards, chief ranger at Beaver Lake with the Army Corps of Engineers.
“Rumor has it that some soldiers were held there during the Civil War.
There was also a one-room school.” Richards said.
Beauty, not history, is what most visitors seek, Richards said. “It’s one of my favorite places on the whole lake.”
It was easy to see why.
We kayakers locked eyes on to a two sparkling waterfalls in Penitentiary Hollow. It’s a cove that Beaver Lake boaters usually ignore on the way to the more well-known Hogscald Hollow.
Our sleek sea kayaks sliced through a light chop until we reached a horseshoe-shaped bluff at the back of Penitentiary Hollow.
The highlight was a wall of water that spilled some 20 feet from the lip of the bluff into Beaver Lake. Northwest Arkansas kayakers Angie Linlow, Doug Powell, Patsy Costner, Jack Holland, David Dempsey, Warren Cunningham and I marveled at the glistening cascade.
Paddling back into the inky shadows of the bluff shelter was refreshingly cool on the warm morning and let us explore and linger behind the sheet of falling water.
Pulling away was sweet sorrow, but there is another cascade to explore in Penitentiary Hollow. This one is a twin waterfall that spills 30 feet over a bluff shaped like a crescent moon.
A real estate sign, metal staircase and a house compromise the view, but the twin falls are gorgeous nonetheless.
Hogscald Wild
The lake turned north and marked our entrance into Hogscald Hollow. Rocks that are the jumping-off spots for swimmers during summer stood to our left as if sentries guarding the first big waterfall in Hogscald, easily a 60-footer.
The narrow pour-offstarts as a sheet of water, then separates into individual droplets during the free fall.
Power boaters and Jet Ski pilots enjoy this waterfall whenever it is running. But the best was yet to come, far up Hogscald Hollow where few boats other than kayaks are able to go.
We took a route through flooded timber created by the high level of Beaver Lake. Clear water is the norm at Beaver, but far back in this enchanted forest the water became clear as the purest spring water. Leaves on the surface seemed to float on air, this water was so, so clear.
Our shadows were sharp on the lake bottom when we kayakers made our way to the area where the stream joins the lake. We beached our boats on the gravel and hiked 100 yards up the creek to a place the kayakers have dubbed “Sliding Falls.”
The creek was flowing loud, proud and clear over a natural water slide of limestone bedrock. It poured into a swimming hole so clear we could see every detail of each pebble on the bottom of the 10-foot-deep pool.
A dip would have been inviting if it was summer and not the waning daysof October. But visit the Sliding Falls in summer and they are a mere drip.
Most Ozark waterfalls flow only after ample rain.
Such a wondrous place called for a toast from our water jugs and a picnic feast. Aromatic breads, spreads, vegetables, lunch meat and drinks appeared from bags toted to this paradise to be shared and enjoyed by all.
Lunch with a view? A seat on warm bedrock far up Hogscald Hollow was the elegant dining indeed.
Outdoor, Pages 10 on 11/05/2009