Waterfalls and Wildflowers? Cedar Run and White Oak Canyon

A friend was in town from Oregon last weekend and had a free day, so we took her out Shenandoah National Park and hiked the Cedar Run, Hawskbill, White Oak Canyon loop. It is a nice ten-mile loop that shows off some of the best of the park: big waterfalls, the highest peak in the park, and it has enough climbing to be a good workout. I feel like we've been to White Oak Canyon countless times, but looking back through the blog and my photos, I hadn't been since 2011 and Michael hadn't been since 2009. It was nice to see all of the waterfalls again.

The weather was perfect: sunny and in the high 40s. For much of the climb up Cedar Run, we were protected from the wind, so it felt pretty warm. It had rained earlier in the week, which meant the waterfalls were running well. We ate lunch just before we got to Skyline Drive. That was our first taste of the wind. We all got cold pretty quickly. The walk up to the top of Hawksbill warmed us back up, but it was pretty windy and cold up there. We took a few pictures and headed back down the mountain. We crossed back over Skyline Drive and picked up the fire road that connects to the White Oak Canyon Trail. We had a nice walk down past all of the big waterfalls. Since it was too cold to swim, it wasn't terribly crowded.

 The waterfall at the first crossing of Cedar Run. It was a little bright to try to shoot smooth waterfalls, but this one didn't turn out too badly.

 The pool below the waterslide on Cedar Run. The water was so clear on Saturday that you could see the bottom of the pool

 Old Rag from the top of Hawksbill. It was a little hazy.

 Our party on the summit of Hawksbill.

 A small cascade on White Oak Creek

 One of the larger falls on White Oak Creek.

 Lower White Oak Falls

Anemone americana (Round-Lobed Hepatica) blooming. On February 11th. In the mountains. This is easily a month, possibly more like six or seven weeks, early. This is the clearest indication that we haven't actually had winter this year. According to Capital Weather Gang, in the DC area, we had a 19 day stretch in January where the temperature didn't drop below freezing. I'm sure it was colder in the mountains, but it has clearly still been unusually warm.

A Rare Mid-Week Hike: Cedar Run and White Oak Canyon

I had a rare day off during the week today and, since the weather was supposed to be nice, decided get outside.  Normally, Cedar Run and White Oak Canyon are mobbed on the weekends, so I thought it would be nice to visit them on a weekday for some solitude.  This was my first hike in a long time by myself.  I used to do some hiking alone, but I haven't in years, thanks to a very reliable hiking partner in SSW Spouse.  Although I only hiked eight miles, it was the longest trail I have ever hiked alone.

I realized on the drive to the trailhead that I would not have to be burdened by carrying the good camera.  It was sitting safely beside the computer at home.  After a few minutes of frustration, I decided it would be a good opportunity to test the long-ignored camera on my phone.  I wasn't driving back to get the camera anyway, so I might as well see what the phone can do.

When I arrived at the trailhead, there was only one other car in the parking lot, which is a rare, rare sight at White Oak Canyon.  I headed up the trail, crossed the bridge over Cedar Run and took a left on the Cedar Run Trail.  The wildflowers are out in full force in the valley.  Trillium grandiflora (Giant Trillium), Cardamine concatenata (Cut-Leaf Toothwort), and Claytonia virginica (Spring Beauty), among others, lined the trail on both sides.  I found I could take pictures of larger flowers with some success as long as I zoomed in enough to fill most of the frame.  With smaller flowers, there was no way to convince the camera to focus on what I wanted (the flowers), rather than what it wanted (the dead leaves behind the flowers). 

I've never seen Cedar Run (or White Oak or any of the other small streams) as full as it was today.  I actually had to take my boots off for the first crossing, which I've never had to do before.  Above the crossing, there were sections of the trail where water poured down the trail for some distance before finally diverting off to join the creek.  I can't imagine what the streams must have looked like last Sunday, after Saturday's record rainfall. There was flood damage everywhere, from piled up leaves and debris, to badly damaged sections of trail.

Shortly before reaching Skyline Drive, I started running into people. To my surprise, the Hawksbill parking lot was full.  I paused on a rock there to eat lunch and to consider whether or not to hike up to the top of Hawksbill.  It was windy and cold where I ate, and I wasn't really interested in interacting with people, so I chose to go down.  I ran into groups of people every few minutes on the fire road between the Cedar Run trail and the White Oak Canyon Trail.  Once on the White Oak Trail, there were lots of people.  It wasn't as crowded as a weekend, but it certainly wasn't solitude.  I finally realized that most schools systems are on spring break this week.

Like Cedar Run, White Oak Creek was running high and fast and the waterfalls were going gangbusters.  It was a good hike, but I was glad to be done.  My expectations for lack of people set me up to be a bit disappointed, although the wildflowers more than made up for it.  I'm also not used to hiking by myself.  If I did it more, I would probably enjoy it more, but I like hiking with at least one other person.  It isn't a safety issue for me, it is more that I like to share the experience with someone.

Unfortunately, my phone's camera was not as impressive as the flowers.  It randomly chose different resolutions at which to shoot the pictures.  It also corrupted about half of the files (this is a documented issue with my phone, sadly), so I only have a few to include here (and they are all different sizes):

Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's Breeches) on Cedar Run.

Trillium grandiflora (Giant Trillium) on Cedar Run.

 A bleached snail shell near the fire road.

 White Oak Creek.

Silene caroliniana (Wild Pink) on the White Oak Canyon Trail.

Looking east down White Oak Canyon.

(Almost) Winter Waterfalls: White Oak Canyon

Sunday, we hiked 10 miles. We started at the White Oak parking lot on the east boundary of Shenandoah, hiked up Cedar Run, crossed Skyline Drive and climbed Hawksbill, the highest point in Shenandoah National Park. After taking pictures at the overlook on Hawksbill, we returned to Skyline Drive via the Appalachian Trail. Then we hiked down the Skyland-Big Meadows Horse Trail to the White Oak Trail and finally back to the car.

All in all, it took us seven hours to hike 10 miles. It was not because the terrain was difficult or because the trail was too steep. It is nearly 3000 feet from the parking lot to Hawksbill, but we were moving pretty fast...when we were actually walking: We spent the better part of two hours taking pictures of waterfalls. All of the creeks in the area are running high because of the recent rain, so all of the waterfalls were going gangbusters. Cedar Run and White Oak Creek have so many pretty waterfalls, one loses count.

The hike up Cedar Run is tough. The trail climbs relentlessly for nearly three miles from the parking lot to Skyline Drive. There are two crossings of Cedar Run, neither of which turned out to be a problem, even through the water level was high.

We had lunch at the Lower Hawksbill parking before heading up the short, steep trail to the summit. It was chilly in the shade, but quite nice out in the sun on the summit. The Shenandoah Valley to the west was fogged in, but it was clear to the east towards Old Rag.

From Hawksbill, we returned to Skyline Drive and made our way to White Oak Canyon, where the big waterfalls are. We were not disappointed. The major falls on White Oak Creek were full of water. Every seep and tiny side stream was spilling over the trail. Below the middle fall, we were hiking along the cliff edge and noticed the opposite side of the canyon was one, large sheet of falling water. This was not White Oak Creek, but a number of normally small side streams that feed White Oak Creek. We have been to White Oak Canyon several times and have never seen anything like it.

Pictures above: Small waterfall on Cedar Run (top center); waterslide on Cedar Run (above right).

Pictures from the top: Middle White Oak Falls;Old Rag from Hawksbill; a small waterfall where normally there is just a seep; and small waterfall at Middle White Oak Falls