The White Rocks lookout hike is our favorite circuit in the
Great North Mountain area, that offers streams, different fauna,
and
a wonderful
view from White Rocks
eastward. On a clear day you can see all the way to the Shenandoah
National Park.
White Rocks is also accessible from the Little
Sluice Hike.
Start (from the lower parking area) by hiking uphill on the forestry service
road (FS) for 0.3 miles where you will reach a closed gate and
additional parking for five vehicles. Pass the closed gate and continue on the orange blazed FS road for 0.25 miles to the intersection of the pink blazed Old Mail Path
on the right.
In 0.2 miles cross Cove Run and continue following the
pink blazed
Old Mail Path as it turns uphill for another 0.9 miles arriving at a wildlife clearing, and the intersection of
the orange blazed Racer Camp Hollow Trail/FS road.
Turn right on the orange blazed Racer Camp Hollow Trail/FS road, passing two more wildlife clearings before the FS road ends, and the Racer Camp Hollow Trail continues into the forest. After entering the forest, the orange blazed trail will gradually descend for 0.4 miles to Racer Camp Hollow Run, and a large campsite.
From the campsite, the trail will head up the valley crossing the run several times before reaching another campsite in 1.6 miles.
From the campsite continue 200 yards to the intersection of the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail and purple blazed Little Sluice Mountain Trail. Turn left uphill on
the blue blazed trail (the immediate blazes you see are the
green deer study markings). After 1.4 miles
arrive at the white blazed White Rocks Lookout Trail that
enters on the right.
Take the white blazed trail for 0.2 miles
where you will pass a high mountain campsite on the right. 0.1 miles past the campsite the trail will climb a steep rock scree. At the top of the scree stay left and continue around the knob to the white rocks lookout. Note: The white blazes on the top of the scree are faded and hard to see. Return 0.3 miles to the blue blazed Tuscarora
Trail to continue the hike.
Turn right on the blue blazed trail for 0.5 miles
before arriving at the intersection of the
pink blazed
Old
Mail Path.
Turn left on the pink blazed trail for 1.3 miles
as it descends Little Sluice Mountain before arriving back at a clearing and
intersection
of the
orange
blazed Racer Camp Hollow Trail.
Continue downhill through
the clearing, that you ascended earlier, on the pink blazed trail re-crossing the run
and arriving
back at the yellow blazed forestry service road in another
1.0 miles.
Turn left on the FS road back to the parking area.
Interactive Hike Map BelowPrintable
Topo Hike Map (PDF) Hike route in Drag the map with your mouse using the icon Zoom with the controls on the left Click the icons in the map below for location shots
Calculate roughly how many calories you could burn on the White Rocks hike:
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Hiker
Reviews For The White Rocks Hike (5 Most Recent)
This is a great hike with something for everyone. A "3" rating for difficulty is very accurate. I (35) went with my dad (63) and my son (6), and we all found it relatively easy with gentle inclines and declines. (We hiked the first 1/4 of the trail, from entrance to the campsite at Racer Camp Hollow Run - about 2+ miles.)
As far as directions are concerned, be sure to read all of the previous reviewers' comments - and this is about 10/15-minutes past the Waites Run parking/trail entrance.
When you pick up the orange-blazed trail/FS road at the wildlife clearing, the map directions here mention two more wildlife clearings before you enter the forest. Note, there are THREE, so don't get confused.
The large campsite along Racer Camp Trail has a lot of amenities - plenty of space, huge fire-ring, adjacent to the creek, log benches, and a board nailed to a tree stump that makes for a great kitchen counter! However, be VERY careful when choosing where to set up your tent! We arrived during a downpour and there were RIVERS running through the site! There were definitely dryer spots, but the flat ground was cut in half by the rainwater rivers.
We were at the large campsite over the weekend and didin't see or hear another soul. FYI, ten minutes past the large campsite is another campsite, smaller, but very nice with a small fire ring, flat ground, and soft forest floor. Plus, about 10 minutes beyond THIS site, is yet another - slightly rougher - site. This info could prove invaluable, so if you are reviewing a trail, please let the rest of us know about any other campsites along the trail!
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, July 25, 2009
WOW!!...! What a hike!
My wife and I are not vastly experienced or in the best shape, we figured we could tackle a hike with a difficulty rating of 3, since we did a 4 two weeks ago. This hike was very challenging, to us, maybe it was the high 80's and humidity but we thought this hike was more difficult than the last. I'm not complaining we enjoyed pushing ourselves. The streams were not flowing and totally dry in some places, and it was very muddy in some spots as to be expected by past reviewers. We only saw 3 hikers, all near the lookout. The lookout was amazing!!! Well worth the effort. After the lookout a thunderstorm started to roll in and we had to high-tail-it back to the parking lot, thankfully it was mostly downhill and no lightning.
Make sure you review the other posts with the Google direction error.
By:
PatPending
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, July 25, 2009
My son and I did this hike in reverse to take advantage of the camping along the Racer Camp Hollow Trail. The Old Mail Path was not as diffcicult as I had expected in this direction which was nice. I believe we passed the last reviewer along the Tuscarora Trail. Which ever way you travel, the view from White Rocks is worth the trip. Very nice and we found some blueberries at the top (a nice bonus). We made camp along the Racer Camp Hollow Trail just as the rain started - lots of rain.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, July 18, 2009
The view from White Rocks is worth all the efforts to get there. If you run out of water by that time you can continue down Tuscarora Tr (blue) to a stream with good water. It will also add a pretty good workout.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, June 13, 2009
GOOGLE HAS LEFT TURN OFF WV-55 WITH INCORRECT NAME. It's Sanfield Rd 5/1 not Waites Run Road. It also has a brown City Park sign. You know you've missed it if you come to 55 & 259 as other hiker mentioned. I mentioned it to a local at the nearby gas/truvalue store and she said, "We don't yet have cell phone service don't much care about google."
Hike was the muddiest I've done yet. We finished in 3 hours & 45 minutes and then waited another 1/2 hour for one of our group who missed the turn back onto the pink Mail trail. There were supposed to be 8 of us, but 3 only made it to 55 from D.C. area before they evidently got lost. Hopefully they found an equally good hike. Our hike gave us a good workout, but not sure I'll drive the 2 hours again when I can find better ones closer.
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