Whiteoak Canyon Falls Reviews

I hiked up Cedar Run and then down Whiteoak Canyon Falls. The falls are spectacular, and there are many places to stop on overlook the canyon. Really gorgeous scenery, and the Whiteoak side is not too difficult to hike. If you are in the area, this is not something to miss!

This hike was hard than it should have been due to the location that we started at. Most of the reviews said to start the hike from the bottom which is on the east side of the Shenandoah National Park and not off Skyline drive. We were staying at Skyland Inn which is walking distance to the Whiteoak trail. There are several small falls on this trail but we did not make it down to the bottom since we knew we would have to make it back up a very steep climb. It was 4.6 miles to the upper falls (round trip) 3.5 hour, with 1040 elevation gain which was pretty easy. We went 6.25 miles round trip down hill at the beginning and up hill on the way back. We were told it is much easier coming from the other direction by other hikers. We did not go that way because it was over an hour car ride to go around the mountain to get to that beginning trailhead. All in all it was a good hike with many little falls. Everything we read talked about swimming holes but there were really no places to swim and I was really wanting to do that.

This review is from the Lower Parking Lot, going UP the Whiteoak Canyon Trail/Lower Falls. (From Syria, VA, follow Weakley Hollow Road to Chad Berry Lane, park in lot. Porta-johns available. Pay is on-your-honor.) Start the trail indicated until it splits...left to Cedar Run Trail/Falls, which I understand is a much longer trail, or right to stay on Whiteoak Canyon Trail/Falls, a shorter yet extremely pleasant hike. The trail follows the river the entire time, and there are 3 gorgeous waterfalls as well as many smaller rushes of water. The trail is a gradual elevation, with just a couple of places to climb under/over fallen trees, but overall very nice. There are many places along the way to stop and take pictures or eat lunch. After the 3rd significant waterfall, the trail ended and there was just some broken chicken wire which apparently at one time had been intended to block hikers from going further? We decided to see what was beyond that. With no trail it required a lot of rock (boulder) scrambling and leaping. This part would not have been for the faint of heart. However, we were SO glad we continued, because within a half mile we were rewarded with the largest waterfall yet, with a gorgeous pool of water at the bottom. (Being that it was only 50 degrees outside, we obviously didn't go swimming!). I don't know if this would have been the bottom-most of the "Upper Whiteoak Canyon Falls." Maybe somebody knows? Anyway, it was so much fun and my dtr hung our hammock/chair out over a tree and swung over the pool. It was lovely. Eventually we scrambled our way back to the trail. In the end, even with all the stops for pictures and extras, the whole thing took 3.75 hours. It was beautiful, strenuous enough to feel like we hiked without being exhausted, and just overall enjoyable. We look forward to going back when there are leaves on the trees and it's warm enough to take a dip in the pools.

Shenandoah National Park is en general a wonderful place you have to visit! In the park there is a 2 hours hike called Whiteoak Canyon Trail which lead you to a beautiful waterfall, which is worth the walk!! I'm not a hiker but this was a great experience!!

This is one of the cherished waterfalls you can find alone Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. They casscade down from the mountain tops.

All falls are better after a new rain and on this hike we timed it perfect. The day was warm, the trail was not so crowded, the breeze just right.

This hike is about 4.5 miles and take right about 4 hours. It is an easy decline through dense woods. The forest is jammed packed with flowers, birds, and trees moving all around you. The trail it's self runs parrell to a several nice little creeks making the entire walk a great joy.

The falls at the end are the place to take your lunch, put your feet in and enjoy.

Well worth it.

We took the hike to the lower falls. There is an admission fee of $15 per person and if you have to park in overflow it costs $10. The hike isn't too difficult, but there are tons of large rocks...hiking boots are highly recommended. There are only porta potties at the trail entrance.

Do not try to see and Hike everything in one day. My fellow wanted to do that and end up over heated himself. We couldn't make it to the end, however, we enjoyed the hike. It worth couple hours hiking around and watching bird (if early morning). Lookouts are absolutely gorgeous, but inside the park there are many things to enjoy too. For those who are going to visit first time, do walk around, hike on the whiteoak, you won't regret. Have fun and enjoy Shenandoah.

Whiteoak Canyon was a fairly simple hike featuring about four waterfalls. In the course of the hike, you follow the same stream and incline and decline quite a bit. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Shenandoah.

We went to Whiteoak canyon in search of the two large hidden falls and swimming holes that were not on the main trail and to hike the Whiteoak - Cedar Run loop from the lower parking lot. It was an amazing place. The hike itself was not overly difficult. The whiteoak canyon trail is well trodden and maintained. Hiking up from the lower parking lot was straight forward and luckily we did not encounter too many people on trail. The Cedar Run trail was a different matter. We hiked down Cedar Run to complete the loop and it was much less traveled and areas of the trail were not very well maintained. There were areas of steep loose soil where if it was raining hard, would be quite treacherous.

As for the swimming holes, the first one we came to was the main one that is right on the trail. There were several groups of people there swimming. We went off trail there and climbed up along the side of the first fall and followed a climbers trail along the creek bank to the first hidden falls and swimming holes. This one was a 20 foot fall with a large swimming hole that was about 4-5 feet deep. After skinny dipping there for a while, we hiked up further along the creek to the top of that waterfall to find the next waterfall and swimming hole. This fall was much larger, maybe 20-30 ft tall with a broad curtain. There is a large and deep swimming hole at the base of the falls and rocks to jump from. We luckily had the place to ourselves. After that swimming hole, we retraced our steps and continued up the whiteoak trail. And as we hiked past where the two hidden waterfalls were next to the trail, since the trail ascends up to the lip of the ravine where the falls are, you can hear them but cant see them at all. The rest of the falls are visible from the trail. There were also several really cool falls near the bottom of Cedar Run but we didnt stop at them because most of them required going down from the main trail down some steep terrain to the creek and swimming holes. Overall, it was a fun day of hiking and skinny dipping.

This was our third and favorite hike in Shenandoah NP. The other two hikes were in and out hikes, with a steep climb in one direction. We liked this much better because it was a in a loop with amazing scenery the entire time.
We arrived on a Saturday morning at 8:30 and parked in the lot off of Route 600 in the section of the parking lot closest to the trail. You need your NP pass (they check it as you enter the trail) and there are port a potties in the parking lot. We did the Whiteoak Canyon Trail to Whiteoak Fire Road to Cedar Run Trail loop. The map says it is an 8.2 mile circuit and we finished the hike in just over 5 hours (with stops). The first part of our hike was uphill past the beautiful waterfalls on the Whiteoak Canyon Trail (blue blazes) - it was really hard but doable. There were a couple of swimming holes along the way, and our kids did go swimming in one and had a blast. This part of our hike was almost exclusively uphill and mostly very steep. We crossed the river and traveled on the Fire Road (yellow blazes/horse trail). It was a more moderate incline but still headed uphill almost the entire way. We were very happy when the trail started heading downward, almost at the Hawksbill parking lot. The descent on Cedar Run Trail (blue blazes) was really, really steep! We loved the scenery and the trail ran along small waterfalls and a stream, which was really nice. About half way down the mountain, we saw 2 bigger waterfalls where people were swimming. At the first one, there was a natural slide that people were using - they were really flying down the slide and into the water. It looked fun, but they were a little out of control. This part of the hike was gorgeous, with huge rock outcroppings, colorful mosses and interesting vegetation. We are so happy that we did this hike, but it was a tough one. Bring lots of water!

There are two falls, lower canyon and upper canyon falls. we parked at lower parking lot. it took us about 5-6 hours to finish it. uphill is very steep so be prepared. Hike is kind of to&fro, you go up the hill and then return back. It has a loop, but it involves another trail and it becomes very lengthy.

Down cedar, up White oak. Gorgeous, unrelenting gorgeous. Even the connector trail on the forest floor was bright, yellow beauty. We saw a bear there. We are relatively fit folks in our 30s, and the hike took us 5.5 hrs. It had just rained a lot, so the falls were even more impressive, but so was the difficulty of the stream crossings. Only a combination of balance, and a willingness to take off our shoes and jump across submerged rock paths, got us through the multiple crossings. Just take your time and be flexible!

My wife, 12 year old daughter, and myself did this hike this weekend, and it was great. There are several places to jump in the water and swim, and the falls at the top are gorgeous. Be sure to take water shoes...and it's not an easy hike! But well worth it...

The falls themselves weren't the most spectacular I've seen, but I enjoyed this trail. I took a longer loop on Cedar Run Trail & Whiteoak Canyon Trails - if you want a fairly strenuous 8 mile hike I recommend that (do Cedar Run portion first). Whiteoak Canyon Trail is fairly easy at the top half - if you come from Skyline down to the top fall. The lower portion of the trail down to the lowest fall is steeper. Cedar Run had a longer steep stretch with a lot of rocks and stream crossings that might be tricky if the water is high.

It's a tough Trail we took it going down and came back up Cedar Run. It was an all-day hike; very strenuous. We are very fit people and although our kids are young in 4th and 5th grade, they are quite athletic. And it was challenging for us. The waterfalls are beautiful. Lots of people at each waterfall. Coming back up Cedar Run there are two waterfalls and not nearly as many people. Cedar Run Trail is a much rougher terrain than White Oak Canyon Trail. I would do this hike again though.

We parked at the lower lot off route 600 in Syria. We were staying on this side of the park so this made for a shorter drive, and I like hiking the uphill first anyway!

We started early - about 8:45am on a Wednesday and we were the only car in the lot.
The first falls are about 1 mile up, but not too bad a hike. The falls seemed smaller probably due to it being late summer and dry. But I can imagine the falls really get going after a good rain or in the spring. But, we could walk around and explore the rocks where the water probably flows when the falls are bigger, so that was a plus. Anywhere wet on the rocks was as slick as ice due to a thin coating of moss so watch for that.

The 2nd falls were my favorite, and they are about another .5 mile up and it gets a bit steeper here. There are some shallow pools to cool off on a hot day. Also, great boulders to climb and explore the area. We also spotted a snake - I'll post the picture. My GPS said it was only another .3 of a mile to the 3rd falls. But, this is a steep climb. The falls here are only a view from a cliff. No way to get down to the base, unless you hiked in along the river.

We turned around and hiked the approx 2 miles back to the parking lot - and boy is it easier going down! In summary, a fun a beautiful hike.

Don't start at Skyline Drive. Start in Syria VA. (Route 231 south, right in Etlan onto Rte643 Etlan Rd, After 4 miles turn right onto Rte 600 Weakly Hollow Rd, after 4 miles parking lot is on left). Head for Whiteoak trail and in about 2 miles you will get to the first waterfall with minimal elevation change. See photo. If you want to go another mile on a moderately strenuous trail you will see 2 more waterfalls. To keep it easy, head back after the first waterfall. When you are almost at the parking lot, if you have the time, go right onto the Cedar Run Link Trail and in about a mile you will hit their first waterfall with minimal elevation change. Port-o-johns and emergency phone in parking lot.

This hiking is a great to do. It is easy and fun. Make sure you wear swimming clothes since at the end you can just go in the water if it is a hot day. Wear hiking or tennis shoes. Beautiful hiking and awesome places for pictures. We brought our lunch with us and at the end of the hiking by the falls we had a great lunch with great view. We started the hike from the lower part of the falls.

We love hiking White Oak Canyon. Our family goes all the time. It's beautiful and my teenagers like going and hiking to the upper falls as much as they can.

This was our first time here and it was recommended by a family friend.

This is a great trail for every one in the family. I do not feel it is too strenuous, and even if it was for those who may be challenged with it there are areas you can just hang out by the river with your family and still enjoy the nature.

There is a "parking fee" paid on the honor system. I recommend this place and will continue to come and bring friends and family when they visit.