white oak canyon trail

After hiking Old Rag a lot quicker than we expected, my friend and I had the brilliant idea (sarcasm) to hike White Oak to see some waterfalls. The hike trails are clearly marked and mostly clear of leaves (though not as clear as Old Rag since the traffic level isn't as high). However, the drive from Old Rag to this parking lot meant that fatigue and muscle soreness had started to set in as we reached the Upper Falls. Nevertheless, the hike features some challenging switchbacks and really amazing waterfalls.

The hike we did from the lower end of the trail up to the falls. This made for a nice downhill cruise on the way back. The trail is well marked with the exception of the T-intersection about 20 minutes in. (Go left to get to the water!) Take Blue Ridge Pkwy to Old BRP through Crigersville then right (at General Store) onto Weakley Hollow over a small bridge to trailhead parking lot on left.

Tip: Park at Limberlost not White Oak Canyon Parking Lot from Skyline Drive. This puts you a lot closer to the falls, is less crowded, and there is also a loop trail for those who are wheelchair bound (No wheelchair access to the falls, just the loop trail). The hike maintains a pretty steady gradient the whole time but should but no challenge for someone in moderate shape. Could be an issue with younger children. I believe its 1.8 miles from the parking lot to the waterfall but it is absolutely worth it. Go in the spring when there is more water and the falls are "fuller". Fall in Shenandoah National Park is spectacular.

Great hike but coming back (uphill) was definitely challenging for our youngest, age 7. She made it though. We had a nice picnic at the waterfall and saw a bear on the trail at one point. One family said they saw a rattlesnake - luckily, we didn't see any snakes, though, and I was on the lookout.

Well worth the walk. it is so pretty out their . The Nature scenery is just awesome and the trail can be steep at times so be prepared.

We did the 8 mile loop from White Oak Canyon Trail, across the fire road, and back on the Cedar Run trail. The falls were BEAUTIFUL! I wish I had worn my bathing suit so I could go down the natural water slides. Looked like a lot of fun. The uphill was arduous, a good cardio workout. Coming back on Cedar Run was even harder for me. Very rocky and steep downhill. I really had to concentrate on where I was putting my feet. The trail was shady almost the entire way, so the 80+ temp was not as bad as it could have been. There were people hiking, but it wasn't too crowded. I was happy to finish with a great sense of accomplishment. I wouldn't recommend the entire loop to someone not used to hiking.

GPS coordinates Latitude: 38°35'10.01"N Altitude: 78°22'58.56"W.The parking lot is in Milepost: 42.6. This trail consist of 3 parts. The first one is 2.3 (each direction, total of 4.6) mile and described as “easy to moderate”.The other two parts are difficult. This review deals with the first one i.e from the starting point down to the first waterfall. After about 15 minutes the trail become parallel to the river, in some places you can reach the river (not many). Most of the trail is really easy until the point called “View”. At this point There is a view of the upper part of the waterfall. You can continue hiking about 0.6 mile down to the river where you can watch the fall from bottom up. This part to me wasdifficult. It tooks us 30-40 minutes it's a slope trail. On our way back we found dead snake near the trail….

We decided to take another journey to Shenandoah National Park. While there we wanted to hike to a waterfall. We decided to hit the trail near Skyland and hike to White Oak Canyon. The first part of the hike wasn't too bad, but as you get closer to the falls the steeper and rockier the trail becomes.(keep this in mind for the hike back out!) It didn't help either that just before our trekk there was a heavy downpour causing the trail to be extremely muddy and have huge puddles(lakes) that you needed to navigate around. There are several places to stop and splash around in the creek...definitely a cold mountain stream. Even on a hot 4th of July the water was extremely cold. The waterfalls were nice but not quite as I had expected. We did not get to see much wildlife either. We only got to see 1 deer which was when we were almost to the car. It was neat though because another family with 2 younger daughters were hiking in and the doe allowed the girls to get within about 2 or 3 feet of her. If you want to spend the day just taking in nature i do recommend this trail. Many opportunities for great pics along the way.

With wet year this year stream was running along and water falls were better than before, but walk will take you an hour or more to get to larger falls. Just take it easy and enjoy the walk and the views

Beautiful hike along great trout stream into Shenandoah Park. In the summer, the forest is covered with ferns.

A beautiful hike, not difficult, leading to beautiful falls and pools. Very appropriate for young hikers. This is a very popular hike for area locals. Have done it many many times in the past 25 years.