The Experience
You will love: A seldom sauntered trail with dense forest canopy, easy terrain and topography leading to a series of falls with a treasured secret.
You need to know: Fee required to access the park.
Your adventure begins at the Meadow Spring parking lot. At the far corner of the lot , find the trailhead for the Hazel Mountain trail and turn right to join the trail. The trail begins as a yellow blazed fire road with terrain featuring a slight declining slope, small stones and a wide girth for ample foot traffic. At the 0.4 mile mark come to a junction with Buck Ridge Trail, however remain on Hazel Mountain trail by veering right. Continue for 1.1 miles until your turn onto the White Rocks trail (left). The trail remains yellow blazed and relatively easy to navigate beautifully accompanied by a dense forest canopy, touches of mountain laurel and pine groves. You will continue on the White Rocks for 1.0 mile until a trail post, turn right to head to the falls. The falls trail ramps up the intensity as its a steady decline with rocks, boulders, loose dirt to manage. This area requires care and caution and maybe a new knee. After 0.2 miles come to the bottom of the gorge and turn right to experience the Hazel Falls area. This area has multiple access points to the river, with several falls and rock formations to engage. The trail ends at the Hazel Falls, a 30 foot cascading falls mixed within large boulder crops. To the right of the falls find a small cave pass through for a fun scamper and along the gorge wall look for smaller caves to look in and experience.
Ready to head back? retrace your steps to your car, remainder that the exit out of the gorge is a tough ascent but short and doable! Follow the White Rocks to Hazel Mountain trails we talked about earlier to return to your car. The trail itself is lightly used and perfect for a day hike, if you are looking to combo it with other hikes look at our nearby trails section on this page.
HIKE ON!
GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS
HIKE ON!
You need to know: Fee required to access the park.
Your adventure begins at the Meadow Spring parking lot. At the far corner of the lot , find the trailhead for the Hazel Mountain trail and turn right to join the trail. The trail begins as a yellow blazed fire road with terrain featuring a slight declining slope, small stones and a wide girth for ample foot traffic. At the 0.4 mile mark come to a junction with Buck Ridge Trail, however remain on Hazel Mountain trail by veering right. Continue for 1.1 miles until your turn onto the White Rocks trail (left). The trail remains yellow blazed and relatively easy to navigate beautifully accompanied by a dense forest canopy, touches of mountain laurel and pine groves. You will continue on the White Rocks for 1.0 mile until a trail post, turn right to head to the falls. The falls trail ramps up the intensity as its a steady decline with rocks, boulders, loose dirt to manage. This area requires care and caution and maybe a new knee. After 0.2 miles come to the bottom of the gorge and turn right to experience the Hazel Falls area. This area has multiple access points to the river, with several falls and rock formations to engage. The trail ends at the Hazel Falls, a 30 foot cascading falls mixed within large boulder crops. To the right of the falls find a small cave pass through for a fun scamper and along the gorge wall look for smaller caves to look in and experience.
Ready to head back? retrace your steps to your car, remainder that the exit out of the gorge is a tough ascent but short and doable! Follow the White Rocks to Hazel Mountain trails we talked about earlier to return to your car. The trail itself is lightly used and perfect for a day hike, if you are looking to combo it with other hikes look at our nearby trails section on this page.
HIKE ON!
GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS
- 2 Water bottles
- hiking shoes or hiking boots
- heavy snack or lunch
- Bug Spray
HIKE ON!
