White Rock Hills Peak - 4/8/25

White Rock Hills Peak

Scrambling up the South Side

Trailhead far Below

South Side

Eight hikers gathered at the Willow Springs Picnic area in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area at 8 am. Our hike this day was to summit the high point of White Rock Hills. From a distance this doesn’t look that hard. But looks are deceiving. Even the stats for this hike don’t suggest the difficulty that we were about to endure (2.5 miles and 2,000 ft of elevation gain). Right from the parking lot we started up the southwest slopes right behind the pit toilet. The terrain here is very rugged with almost continuous class 2 scrambling over large sandstone boulders, slabs, and obstacles. We scrambled up just to the right of a rock climbing wall called “Outhouse Wall”. It gets its name from the proximity of the wall to the pit toilet near the parking lot, which, by the way was very clean. 

Helping Hands

Higher and Higher

Spotters needed Here

Another Class 3 Spot

We continued scrambling up for about an 1/8 mile and then started a traverse along the southwest face.We encountered our first class 3 obstacle of the day and the hike coordinators made sure everyone got through it safely. Shortly after this obstacle we reached a wide gully. This gully had some very steeply slanted slabs, some dry pour overs and other fun obstacles. Near the top of the gully we had to scramble up very loose rock and dirt until we hit the saddle. From the saddle we crossed the long step over class 3 obstacle safely and started our traverse around to the west side of the mountain. One hiker decided to stay here while the rest started the traverse through the piñon pine forest on the northwest side of the mountain. From the forest we went up three different gullies traversing half way up the first two. At the top of the third gully we reached the crest of the southwest ridge which we followed up to the summit. We had one more class 3 spot and the we were near the summit block with its class 3 move to get to the high point and the register.

Group photo just below the Summit

The last scramble to the Summit

Coming off the Summit

Class 3 Descent

We took a well deserved break and then took a group photo and started our way down. The temperature was not too hot but you could tell summer was coming. The humidity was high but a slight overcast helped keep things from really heating up. We started down the way we had come and picked up the hiker who stayed behind. We made our way back and we were surprised with the amount of brush and the number of ticks people were finding on themselves. We made it back and everyone was happy to be back! It had taken us just over 6 hours to go 2 1/2 miles with 2,000 ft of elevation gain. ~Jerry


Photos by Cheryl, Jerry, and Bruno

Stats: 3 miles; 2100' gain; 6 hours

Tough Stuff

Helping Hands

So glad to be Down