White Rocks National Recreation Area

Beautiful park and forest. Keywaydin Trail connecting to White Rocks Cliff Trail is a 3.8 ml return but don’t let it’s short distance fool you. Grade is moderate to heavy with some level sections. No scrambling, all up right, but you WILL sweat. Wear layers to peel back. Trail has lots of roots and rocks, some loose. Be mindful of your footing. Don’t let this deter you however, focused footing is always good hiking practice anyways. The distance, height and grade make this an excellent training hill. Choose your speed to accommodate your ability. Go slow on the way down, protect your knees and ankles, and treat the decent as your warm-down. The cliff trail can be sparse and hard to follow as you search for the “edge” but meanders through a beautiful mossy pine forest. As with all the hikes in these mountains, wear abundant tick repellent, be weary of rock faces with any moisture that make them quite slick, and if solo leave your phone number, route and departure time on your car. There’s a nice surprise at the top that I’m intentionally not sharing photos of. Have fun! Breathe deep!

Grab sticks before hiking to make some steep steps easier. The “vista” is worth the climb.

Plan aheadif youre visiting in the evening. The trail goes dark quickly as the majority of the trail passes behind a mountain and it gets easy to get lost.

The total hike was just over 4 miles. It is a somewhat steep hike but very doable. The outlook at the top is totally worth the hike. There is a very pretty waterfall not to far from the parking area that is a nice bonus.

Amazing views! I could see Rutland VT and well beyond! People who admire untouched nature or geology- This is your candy store!
View the wondrous beauty of the Mountain from lookout point.

From my photos posted, you can see I obviously took a much different route than what's posted. I free solo climb. I do not advise any inexperienced people [disclaimer!] to climb the white rocks themselves. Both the bottom and top half of the mountain present their own unique set of potential hazards. Pit falls on the bottom-half due to the gaps between the larger boulders, and very small rocks on the top-half that want to slide in the direction of gravity. Lastly, this would be the last place you'd want to accidentally lose grip, slip, and fall to hit your head. Without prior experience climbing up these kinds of terrains, or the ability to quickly adapt to it, it poses hazard and danger. If that doesn't seem to stop you, I hope you like spiders, lots of them. Or being sized up by low flying hawks.

It was a fun ascent, it felt like I was skip-hopping on an ocean jeddi that went up into the sky.

Also in photos-
Some cool metalic ore covered quartzite, potential plant fossil in limestone shard? and even found an arrow head? I'm not 110% sure, but they were neat to find along my climb up!!
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IMPPRTANT NOTE: Please do not take anything neat you find home, or deface rocks. Since it's a national park, it is illegal to do either one of the two. There is no need to deface rocks for any reason, the mountain is already broken apart!! Just keep a sharp eye open and you'll find cool rocks. And taking home artifacts is bad ju-ju, don't anger Native American spirits, I wouldn't! Take only photos, and leave only footprints! So other people can discover and enjoy when they come to visit here!

We hiked the Keewaydin trail to Overlook Spur via the long trail in the White Rocks area. The trail was challenging and a moderate climb but the views were amazing at the overlook. If we had more time, would have loved to check out the other hiking trails in this area!

Great hiking spot! Lots of woods, marked trails, and a wooded picnic area.

Quite the boulder fields. Here for geocaching and enjoyed the scramble up the slope. Key: stay off the smaller rocks towards the sides, near the trees.

Short but steady incline to get to great views in a 2.5 hour hike

Wonderful trails, gorgeous views, fun for the whole family! Cant wait to go again!

Amazing, serene, quiet, peaceful does not begin to explain how great this place is. We cant wait to come back!!

Nice area. Great hike to the ice beds. A little hilly, but worth the trip!

Great hike. Waterfalls, summit, awesome views. Also boulder climbing

Beautiful hike spots and for the real adventurers there a hidden waterfall

Short steep hike to the top with an amazing view.

Awesome hiking trail to breathtaking views.

I hiked the cliffs trail but can't speak for the ice beds trail. The cliffs trail starts out steep but levels off quite a bit after the first mile. The views can't be beat and the waterfalls along the way are a really nice added bonus. Parking was definitely not a problem either. The large lot combined with trails that were quite well maintained made for a very enjoyable hike.

Short walk for great views & beautiful flowing stream.

Moderate hiking with some elevation gain.

This is a very nicely maintained recreation area with easy trails that quickly get you up to an elevation giving you a beautiful vista of the Green mountains, the White Rock cliffs, and the otter Creek River valley below. It is very close and accessible to route 7 from Wallingford. The trails are well marked And it only takes 5 minutes to get up to the Vista at an average pace. If you can climb two flights of stairs, you can make this climb. There's a nicely paved parking area with room for over 20 cars, picnic benches, nice outhouse, and a large field down at the base for games and family get togethers.