White Oak Canyon/Cedar Run/at Hike

OVERVIEW

It’s been too hot to put up the double-digit mile hikes, but I’m hoping this Saturday will work out just fine…

The hike will start at the bottom of the White Oak Canyon Trail. As we go up to Skyline Drive and the Appalachian Trail, we’ll run into several waterfalls. Once we hit the top of the Ridge, we’ll hike south on the AT and have some wide views of the valley to the west (Shenandoah valley?). We’ll head back to the cars via the Cedar Run Trail which will descend steeply along a run with more cascades.

The total damage is around 12 miles with at 1500-2000 feet of elevation gain. You can read about the White Oak Canyon and the Cedar Run Trails at these links.

http://www.hikingupward.com/SNP/WhiteOak/
http://www.hikingupward.com/SNP/CedarRun/

Since it could be somewhat hot, we might stop at some of the swimming holes on the White Oak Canyon trail. Between the heat, the elevation gain, a few swimming stops, and my new camera, I’m thinking that we’ll probably take a nice long time to do the loop.

Also, Saturday is a football game day, so we’ll consider different meet up options. We might not be able to park at Echols.

Lastly, technically, there is a fee to go to Shenandoah National Park. If the pay station is manned, we’ll have to pay to enter. (Even if no one is present, there is a self-service pay station.) Individual week passes are $8. Yearly passes are $30 and allow you to bring along 3 additional people. We can likely work out something better than $8 per person, but that’s the worst case scenario.

You provide:
-Money for getting in the park and maybe for food on the return home
-Bug repellent and sunscreen (I might have some extra)
-Lunch and water (1-2 liters at least), and snacks
-good hiking shoes
-Swimsuit and towel if you want to swim

The club provides
-A seat in a car and gas money for the driver. Drivers get some preference as usual.