What lies beneath the water of Dale Hollow Lake? When the water drops after Labor Day, the secrets and treasures of the lake are uncovered. Come Fall, the humidity is tolerable and the temperatures slip into the perfect range for hiking and exploring the area.
Within a mile of the Lake House, there are four spots on and around the water that you won’t want to miss. The cool thing about them? Each spot is completely unique. It seems almost impossible that so many different and rare rocks and landscapes could exist so close together.
1. Crack open some Geodes in the Dry Creek Bed
2. Walk on an Island Graveyard
3. Wander through A Bed of Cheerios
4. A Geological Mystery awaits one Cove Away
Crack open some Geodes in the Dry Creek Bed
With the water low, it’s easy to follow the dry creek bed up the shore and into the woods right from the Lake House. In Spring, or after heavy rains you’ll be rewarded with a waterfall at the end, but in Fall you can easily hunt for geodes and even come across the occasional arrowhead. The Spring and Summer runoff ensures that each year is completely different, so there is never a shortage of interesting finds.
You don’t have to hike too far back, or look too far to uncover one of the many geodes washed down into the dry creek. These rock balls range from marble to bowling ball size. When you break them open, you never know what’s inside: some wet mud and grey rock, white sparkling crystal-like minerals, or a different multi-colored surprise. It’s hard to imagine breaking open a geode reveals water and minerals that could be millions of years old. In fact, water tested in some geodes formed from precambrian rock dated back 1.5 billion years! Regardless of how old geode water is, it’s highly mineralized and is not drinkable.
Location: From The Lake House, take the road around to the boat ramp. Walk past the boat ramp launch area as far as you can go. The path has eroded slightly, so there is an area to climb up and around the eroded path. Continue on until the end of the path and turn slightly right toward the end of the cove. There is no path here, but you’ll spot the dry creek bed shortly past the end of the cove. The creek bed continues back about 1/2 mile until you’re at the base of the bluff. In wet seasons you’ll find a waterfall here.
NOTE: Trees fall over the creek, so there is often a bit of climbing or circumnavigating needed to follow all the twists and turns of the creek. If hiking during the wet season, muck boots are recommended.
Walk on An Island Graveyard
One thing you’ll only experience in the offseason, is the island that suddenly appears in front of the Lake House. Before the lake was damed, this was the site of a small church and graveyard. When the water recedes, you can still see evidence of old wooden posts that fenced in the graveyard, and concrete where the church once stood.
It’s not uncommon to look out from the Lake House deck and see a boat pulled up to check out the island. It’s a fun walk around so see what lies under the lake during summer. People often search for arrowheads here as well.
This island is also popular with Eagles and Egrets in the Spring and Fall, who use it as a resting place for fishing. Entire families of Eagles have been spotted on sunny days walking around the island.
Every year, like clockwork, the Sandhill Cranes overnight there on their migration south. If you’re lucky enough to hit the date right, you’ll hear a chorus of hundreds of birds singing their long, hollow rattling song as they swoop around in the sky before descending onto the island for a night of rest.
Location: From The Lake House take a kayak or a canoe out. Don’t forget your muck boots, it gets a little muddy.
Wander through a Bed of Cheerios
Well, that’s what it looks like anyway. Across the lake is a special spot that contains hundreds of thousands of little crinoid fossils, each one millions of years old. These little disk-shaped fossils often have a circle, oval, or even a hollow star center, and are made from the stem of ancient sea lilies. Although you can discover them in plenty of areas around the lake, this spot is truly unique due to the abundance of them. It seems they all washed up on this one peninsula, and the ground is covered.
During Fall guests often stack rocks, or make cairns, on this unusual point. Explore the area for your favorite crinoid, or take the little hiking path up from the water for bit of a further walk.
Location: From The Lake House take a kayak or your boat across the lake (and slightly to the right) into Jolly Creek. Once you enter the mouth of the creek, it’s the first point on your left.
A Geological Mystery Awaits One Cove Away
Some of the coolest rocks on Dale Hollow Lake are nestled back in the cove located one over past the boat ramp, and just a short kayak ride from the Lake House. What makes this beach so unique, is the contrast of giant boulders slowly emerging from the lake in Fall with the crunchy, crumbly flat shale surrounding them in perfect, beautiful designs. Nestled between these two contrasting rocks are flat straight rocks that look like they all fit together, and broke off perfectly in their own individual shape.
The massive boulders offer a geological puzzle: where did they come from? Why are they perfectly lined up only in this one unique spot? One boulder is even perfectly broken in half, so you can glimpse all the way through it. The smaller rocks are a literal puzzle, as each unique piece looks like it’s the key to giant Dale Hollow jigsaw puzzle. The fun of these rocks is what they look like. You might find a rock shaped like Tennessee, Florida, Nevada, California, or any state in between.
Location: From the Lake House, take a kayak or canoe past the boat ramp. Continue across the cove and into the next cove over. The giant boulders can’t be missed on your left side about 1/2 way into the cove.
Whether you’re here for a long weekend, or spending an extended period of time on Dale Hollow Lake, these spots can all be explored in a day, but we recommend giving each location its own slot of time. It seems as if the longer you stay, the more you’ll discover.