Baxter's Hollow — Attraction in Town of Sumpter

Baxter Hollow’s quiet woods have much to offer those seeking a more natural approach to hiking. Trails are minimally maintained, and are not paved or graveled. In many places, the trail disappears into the summer overgrowth and a hiker can find themselves exploring to relocate the path.

There’s a single resting bench, room enough to seat two along the trail which I estimate is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from end to end. There are a few recently built wood bridges to aid in stream crossings, though some crossings are on wet and uneven rocks. Small yellow orange and red trail signs are nailed to trees to indicate the correct route.

The southern entrance is extremely narrow for vehicular traffic and requires passing cars to drive through shrubbery and tree branches to get by. Parking at the south trail entrance is MINIMAL, easy to get blocked in and very difficult to turn...

If you are looking for a secluded hiking area with dense trees, this trail is for you. It is maintained well enough to make it from end to end but be prepared to walk through some overgrowth and over a couple downed trees. The surrounding area was lovely with constant forest. The river that runs through was a bit disappointing in late July - you could only hear the water - it was not high enough to get above the boulders. Insects were present so if you dislike bugs, be sure to bring the bug spray. You have two key options for parking when you visit here - the entrance via Stones Pocket Rd or the north lot via Forest Rd. The Stones Pocket Rd one was fine but could be a challenging parking scenario if there is any crowd. Overall, the trail is less traveled to so if you are looking for a unique spot, definetly consider...

6/9/13 as a teen ager,I had many hours in baxter hollow. that was in 1944. this hollow was famous as the rattle snake hunting grounds of old Ed Kittle. He had special cases for carrying the snakes he caught. He owned the land abutting the hollow. We would drive the team up the hollow to drive fence posts and Ed would take a twenty-two along. if he just wanted the skins he would have me drive the posts into the ground and he would wait for the snakes to come out and shoot them. If he wanted them alive, he would use his two stick device to trap them and put them into his special cages and we would load them on the wagon and listen to them make noise all the way back...