Whiteoak Canyon - Part 2

Turning west from the little stream crossing, shown in the last photo from yesterday's entry, the trail immediately begins to climb. Gently at first, but steadily. The stream has small cataracts here and there, and widens out into still pools for the most part.

Finally, you come to the first of the main falls, shown in the next photo. As I'd mentioned, even on a Friday during the school year, this trail has traffic. There were several people picnicing at the base of the falls, so I couldn't get closer for a better photo.




From the viewpoint near this fall, the trail became abruptly steeper, and turned away from the stream in a series of switchbacks. The path is well constructed and well maintained through this section, so while it's hard work, it is pretty steady going.

On the day of my hike, the temperature was in the high 90's, so I was watching my water consumption. I hadn't brought as much with me on this hike as I had on Ivy Creek the day before.

After a half mile of the switch backs, the trail leveled out and turned a corner. A very large bolder - the size of a small hill - blocks any view of the stream and the second set of falls.

To get to the next view, the path follows this staircase up a hundred feet or so. And I suppose somewhere up there, there comes a view of the falls, and the trail continues on up the ridge until it finally intersects Limberlost, and ultimately, Skyline Drive.

But I will have to save those experiences for another day. As I reached this point in the hike, I'd consumed half of my water. Rather than risk any difficulties in the heat, I turned back reluctantly - I'll have to have another go at this one later in the Fall.

On the way back to the trailhead, I stopped frequently to enjoy the stream and falls. As I wrote about a few weeks back, I nearly stepped on a water snake basking on a rock near the stream, luckily it wasn't a copperhead or moccasin, I would have been bit.