I was on the road by 5 and heading southwest towards the Shenandoahs. By 6:00 I was just east of them outside of Sperryville. In the dim light of dawn I could make out The Shenandoah Mountains and my objective for the day. The view was beautiful even in the early morning light. I felt like I was about to wake up a sleeping giant. I reached my destination at 6:30. The parking lots were empty except for one lone car that looked like it had likely been parked overnight. The Ranger station was still closed. The air was cool in the upper 40's to low 50's, I guess. The air smelled wonderful and I could easily hear water flowing in a stream nearby. I filled out my entrance pass, and actually got an annual pass since I knew I would be back again a couple of times. Single passes are now $10 and the annual is $30. I do not intend on missing Fall colors here again this year.
I headed out on trail at 6:50. I decided, with clear skies showing and a good weather forcast, that I would leave my pack cover and rain jacket behind. I immediately crossed a bridge with a lovely stream and was welcomed , by sign, to the Shenandoah National Park. The trail was well worn and blue blazes started right away. The trail turned west paralleling the stream up the White Oak Canyon Trail. I was delighted at the stream which was at a perfect level and cascading over various rocks and forming little pools. I was in for a lot more! As I walked along I caught a glimpse of something.I still can't make sense of it. 
Now, even if someone took the time to balance that rock, it is still pretty amazing that it remained standing. I'm pretty sure the rock was different than the base. If it was left there by some other way, I can't figure it out. I did not want to touch it out of fear of knocking it over. 
The trail gradually became more steep, but not bad. Not more than a half hour into the hike, I heard the increasing roar of water ahead. I knew I was in for something good, but I was delighted by what I saw. White Oak canyon's Lower falls came into view through he trees. I remember saying "No waaaay". Sure enough, I came upon the falls.
A small sign indicating the lower falls seemed to be trying to reinforce what I was seeing. The water was a perfect level for flow over the rocks. The pools were not too high to discourage walking out into the middle for a nice head on view. I am not a powerful writer, so I certainly can not do the site justice. A picture can not ad the feeling of the air, the sound of water crashing on the rocks, or the smell of wet and the spring time woods. It is times like these that I am so profoundly happy to be able to experience. I can only hope that my attempts at sharing them gets people to go out and see what may be out there for them.I got a few pics here and continued on. The stream was forever forming one waterfall after
another. To try and capture everything was impossible. The trail was lined with wild flowers, such as the pink and whiteTrillium (?) pictured here.
Truly, it became frustrating at wanting to photograph everything I was experiencing, and realizing I was going to start losing hiking time if I kept up that line of thought. I became more focused and got to the task of making my ascent up White Oak canyon. I was on the shady side of the canyon heading up which made for cooler temps. I started hoping for some sun to hit the trail. The other side of the trail was nice and sunny and looked very inviting.
I pressed on and was working up quite a sweat, but started to make good time. I stopped to look back a few times and some pleasant views were the reward. It was always easy to tell I was gaining height at a pretty good clip. I was glad I was not heading down again. I stopped at one point as I had worn out the batteries in the camera. I was at an edge of a rock on the trail overlooking yet another waterfall.
I took that opportunity to snack on some Gorp and Beef Jerky. The gorp had banana chips, dried pineapple, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, toasted sunflower seeds, peanuts, and cheerios in it. Yummm. I continued up 
the canyon only to find one new interesting site after another. I had been hitting it for a good hour and a half or so when I came across a little wake up call. The sign, I believe, is posted for those intrepid adventurers coming down from the heights above. None the less, it served to help me focus on the day ahead, and what was still to come. I was pretty stoked about the day and pushed on. I didn't focus on the fact that I still had about 8 or 9 miles to go. Shortly I came to the next major falls, and one of the highest in the park. Gorgeous view from a cliff and outcropping looking down onto the falls. 
I could have sat there all day to take it in. How wonderful that someone put that there for me to see!! Seriously, it is a wonderful site to be able to see. As I climbed, the foliage was less dense, and Spring seemed to lose some of it's grasp. I was in the sun, but I could see gray clouds up towards the summit. I began to worry about my decision to leave my rain gear behind. I reached the intersection with the Limberlost trail and ran into the first hiker I had seen all morning. Within minutes i saw more hikers and a group of horseback riders. It seemed awkward at first, but I knew I was in tourist territory. Before I knew it I arrived at the top and crossed Skyline Drive at Skyland. I had thought I would not be at that point until around noon. It was also another half mile to the main visitor area. The weather was now windy and raw. I was cold from a sweaty shirt and I had converted my hiking pants to shorts earlier, increasing my cold. I decided to just push on South down the AT. I thought I had not gone through that much water and decided to not replenish. Lesson learned. I ran out of water in my hydration bladder about 20 minutes later. I still had some ice in it and I had not touched my outboard bottles. I kept moving down the AT with some occasional rises and dips that kept me chugging. Water poured from numerous little crannies in the rocks and looked so inviting. I just took sips from the melting ice in the bladder, waiting for my lunch stop. At one point I thought I had missed the spur trail to Betty's Rock, but was just having wishful thinking about how far I had gone. The trail was kind of dark with the clouds, and yet I could see the sunny warm valley far below to the west. I was getting cold despite a good pace. I needed food to feel
better. A little sun would have helped too. After a mile or two, I made it to the spur trail up to Betty's Rock. The sun was coming out more often, but the wind had picked up. I was psyched to reach this, essentially, half way point in the hike and take a much needed rest and lunch. The sun faded again on top of Betty's Rock and the wind was whipping pretty hard. The panorama that was offered from the summit did not disappoint. From ridge lines to the north in the park, sweeping west to the valley and up to New Market gap and Massanutten Mountains, to the south, where Hawksbill Mountain loomed about a mile away. 
Hawksbill is the highest point in the Shenandoah National Park. I took in all there was to see and headed back down the spur trail to Cresent Rock Overlook. A parking area for visitors to see the sites from. I took refuge along the parking area along a stone low wall. There I sat down and exploded my pack to make lunch take stock of my water supply, and rest. I had packets of gatorade which I added to one of the water bottles. I wanted some electrolytes. I added the other water bottle to the hydration bladder which still had about a 100cc's left in it. I put the pant legs back on my hiking pants as well. After about a half hour, I got back on the AT ans soon came to the parking area for Hawksbill Mountain trail. I briefly considered hiking to that summit as well, but there were hikers pouring up that trail, and I was starting to worry about water supply. I crossed Skyline Drive again and began the descent down Cedar Run Trail. Within minutes the eastern side of the mountain weather was evident again. It was quite warm, and the wind was almost gone. Back into shorts again!The descent was not too harsh. I seemed to cope with the slope better than in the past. A couple of loose rocks caused some alarm at times, but I did not embarrass myself. Just above Half Mile Cliff I stopped to rest on a flat rock by the stream. A 20 minute catnap was just what I needed. The cold stream water was calling me and I couldn't resist splashing my face in it a couple of times and wetting my bandanna to keep me cooled off. I also came by a portion of the stream known as "The Slide". The picture makes it's meaning obvious.
Half Mile Cliff was visible on the opposite side of the Cedar Run after this for a while. Incredible rock formations also came into view. A couple of the crossings over Cedar Run were a bit confusing, but probably more than they needed to be due to a bit of fatigue. I was also behind a couple that were hiking. We kept leap frogging each other on the path. I did not want to disturb their hike any more than I wanted mine disturbed. My pace got thrown off when I think about it now.Finally, as I drank the last of my water, I arrived at the ranger station and my car at 2:30. I had left here about 7 and a half hours and 11.1 miles earlier. I was so thrilled with my trek! What a great outing. I immediately started thinking of a return hike in the fall to take in the colors then. White Oak Canyon trail just to the lower falls or half way up, would be a most rewarding hike for anyone. I was tired riding home, but so full of a sense of accomplishment. Can't wait for the next hike!
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