Blue Hole (Mill Creek, TN)

This evening, Miranda and I went to Blue Hole on Mill Creek in Shady Valley, TN. This is actually one of the oldest swimming holes in my repertoire. I first discovered it by accident in fall of 2004 when Brian and I were driving back down from the Holston Mountain Trail and saw a pull-off on the side of the road. We stopped to investigate out of curiosity and found a trail into a small gorge that had four waterfalls about 10-15 feet in rapid succession, with the third waterfall having a clear blue pool at the bottom. We didn’t get in the water that time since the weather was cold, but Blue Hole subsequently became a go-to when I was living in Abingdon because it was the closest legit swimming hole to where I lived. It was never really a secret, but they eventually put up signs for it circa 2008, which increased visitation. The pool has a cliff over it that some people jump from, but the area that you can land safely is so small that it makes for a pretty sketchy jump, in my opinion. The water is only 8-10 feet deep at the deepest point (based on my last snorkeling of the pool over a decade ago), and it gets shallower as you move toward the river-left side of the pool. Getting back to Blue Hole has never been high on my to-do list since moving to Raleigh, because it is a smaller swimming hole and a longer drive.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, it was nice to stop by Blue Hole again. It has probably been about a decade since I have been there, and I had forgotten what a nice place it actually is, despite being sort of low-hanging fruit due to its proximity to the road. Like I said, I probably wouldn’t make a special trip for it now that I live four hours away, but it makes for a nice stop when I’m in town and need a quick easy swimming hole with a decent payoff.