White Rock Loop near Johnson City, TN

White Rock Loop in Buffalo Mountain Park near Johnson City, TN is another trail with a "unique" name. It seems like there is a "white rock" pretty much in every park, not confusing at all.

My plan today was to hike two trails starting with White Rock. The parking lot at the trailhead was tiny with maybe 6 car spots available. I was the 4th car. The trail started out with a few streams, but sturdy bridges were conveniently placed by some human beings right over them. 

I decided to hike counterclockwise and when it came to the first intersection instead of hiking the actual trail I took a detour on Tower Ridge. Bad choice for two reasons. I most likely was the first person hiking the trail today, so I managed to catch every single spider web stretched across the trail. I also bypassed the actual White Rock viewing spot (or so I think). As I reached the intersection again, I turned to backtrack White Rock trail and possibly see White Rock. I found a nice viewing spot, but I am not sure this was the very spot I was supposed to be at.

View from supposedly White Rock (but probably not...)

Lesson learned, just follow the damn trail!

I continued along the loop towards the lookout point on top of Buffalo Mountain towering over the city at 3,300 ft. The elevation gain throughout the hike was pretty miserable, especially with humidity as high as it was today. Luckily, I was hiking in deep shade (with spider web sticking nicely all across my sweaty body) again. I reached the lookout point, but the view was not really spectacular because of the foliage coverage.

The view from Buffalo Mountain lookout point

There were two picnic tables there, but luckily no people. I sat for a few minutes in peace and quiet, but was feeling "buggy" (probably because of all this spider web and who knows what else stuck to me). I continued going along the loop briefly debating whether I should just turn around and see the view from the real White Rock. The QR codes on the signs convinced me otherwise as there were even more viewpoints on the second part of the loop.

The trail continued mostly flat and slowly lost elevation. It was a very narrow trail, almost overgrown. I stopped at a few viewpoints that were quite nice as well before returning to the parking lot.

I really was not feeling up to hiking the second trail that I planned, another 40 min driving distance. I wanted to take a shower.