Trek Report: White Oak Canyon Backpacking

3 days, 2 nights, 40 km (25mi)

We did this trip in the beginning of May in the White Oak Canyon area. It has been about a month since the trek, so I’m recounting this to the best of my memory. It was Sophia’s first backpacking trip and Frances’ second. They both survived, so this trek report has a happy ending. Nobody used the poop shovel.

Day 1

We started in SEVERE FOG at Little Stony Man and had a short 30 minute hike to the summit. We had perfect timing though, as the fog lifted when we reached the peak.

I didn’t have a specific destination in mind for our first campsite, but we were aiming for about a mile above the falls area of White Oak Canyon. Most of the ground near the trail was inclined and rocky; not suitable for a good night’s sleep. But we eventually found the only non-rocky area that satisfied trail regulations. We hung the bear bag, set up camp and had a nice dinner of Cup-o-Noodles and tuna. The perfect combo.

It was either silent on this side of the mountain or the distant rush of the falls drowned out the noises. The birds got strangely chatty around midnight, but nothing else (as far as we know) moved in the trees.

Day 2

It was quickly apparent we were on a very crooked campsite when we all woke up in a pile at the bottom of the tent. I must have inch-wormed my way up every 30 minutes. After working out the kinks in our necks, we collapsed the campsite and hit the trail. Of course, the perfect camping area appeared not even 15 minutes down the trail. Had we only trekked a little further, our spines would be saved.

The path snaked closer to the north side of the falls and we followed it about 5 miles down the mountain. It was an intense 1500 feet of elevation, but the rushing water cooled off the trail and provided pretty scenery.

The goal was to cross over at the base of the falls and hike up on the south side. Falls the whole loop, what could be bad about that? At the bottom, the realization that we were going back up 1500 feet set in. The downhill already wiped us out, so we took an hour-long break near the start of the ascent. We cooled off in the water, purified our bottles, and started the long hike up.

Watch the trek video for more day two details!

Day 3

We woke up early to hit the trail. The trek was only two nights, but we were already imagining the Wawa hoagies. It was about 4 miles to the cars and it took us a long two hours. We didn’t take the time to make coffee or breakfast, so we were ready to zoom off the mountain. Wawa was wonderful.