Navigating slippery slope leads to rock at the top
It takes some sure footing and steady balance on a hike to Balanced Rock, a boulder weighing several tons that’s perched precariously on top of a narrow crevice deep in the forest.
It’s a short trek to Balanced Rock, about a mile out and a mile back in the Buffalo River country near Ponca. The walk may seem longer because there’s no hurrying during a sometimes slippery hike up stunning Leatherwood Creek, which joins the Buffalo near the Ponca low-water bridge and canoeing access.
There are only faint traces of trail. It takes a fair amount of bushwhacking, and then a short lung-buster climb to this fascinating, room-sized rock balanced over a crevice. It rests so close to the lip of a cliff that it almost seems a hiker could push it over the edge. But the rock is steady in place as it has been for who knows how many years or centuries.
The lack of trail is a sign that Balanced Rock isn’t on every hiker’s radar screen. When a gaggle of nine hikers set out for Balanced Rock on Dec. 1, only two in the group of well-traveled wanderers knew the way. It could be that hikers might find it on their own, but it’s best to go with a knowledgeable leader such as Peggy Bulla of the War Eagle area, who guided the group to Balanced Rock.
There are two options for a Balanced Rock hike. Both start by parking at the Ponca low-water bridge and walking to the other side. The first option is to cross a second slab of concrete that is the bridge over Leatherwood Creek. Here, hikers will see two metal posts that once held some sort of information panel about the Ponca area. Follow the trail to the right, through a thicket, then into open woods and hike upstream along Leatherwood Creek. This is the route Bulla chose.
The second option is to walk like you’re going to follow the Buffalo River Trail from the Ponca bridge to Boxley. At the start, hikers will see a lesser trail to the left of the Buffalo River Trail. This lesser path, what there is of it, also goes along Leatherwood Creek.
On either route, pick and choose your way upstream, on trail traces and bushwhack, for less than a mile to a rocky drainage on the left. This leads to Balanced Rock. From here, the steep 75-yard climb to Balanced Rock rates a solid 8 on the wheezer scale.
Waterproof footwear is recommended for creek crossings, or one can deploy the old trash bag trick as one hiker did. Stash two trash bags in your pack. When it’s time to cross, resurrect the bags and pull one up over each leg, then cross. The bags are sort of like poor man’s hip waders. Climb out of the bags on the stream’s opposite side and stash them back in the pack. The thicker the bags, the better. Flimsy bags may be good for only one stream crossing.
On the hike up Leatherwood Creek, some trail traces are narrow and 10 feet above the rocky stream. Any missed step could mean a tumble. Adults may want to scout this hike first before taking youngsters.
A proper dose of caution results in a wonderful, beautiful hike. Some of the forest is more open, like savanna, with trees spaced well apart. Tall beech trees, oaks and hickories escort hikers through the forest. Leatherwood Creek’s flow is like stream laughter as it pours quickly over rocks and little waterfalls.
“Even if you never make it to Balanced Rock, this hike up the creek is worth the trip,” hiker Gene Williams said.
Once the goal is reached, there are picturesque views from below the rock, beside it and from above.
“You wonder where this boulder rolled down from and when it happened,” Bulla mused.
A couple of the group mentioned the hike back to the creek would be a cakewalk. Wrong. The steep hillside was wet from recent rain and covered with slippery leaves. One step at a time, the nine hikers made the descent.
For the return to the Ponca bridge, the group crossed the creek and hiked downstream along the trail on the opposite side.
This path, too, is touch and go, but easy does it and a hike to Balanced Rock will be a pleasant memory.