Whitewater Memorial State Park: Veterans Vista Loop (Blog Hike #31)

Trail: Veterans Vista Trail (Trail #16)

Hike Location: Whitewater Memorial State Park

Geographic Location: south of Liberty, IN (39.60109, -84.98210)

Length: 1.9 miles
Difficulty: 4/10 (Moderate)

Dates Hiked: November 1998, June 2013

Overview: An interesting loop hike through mostly young forest with overlooks of Brookville Reservoir.

Park Information: https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/whitewater-memorial-state-park/

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=794749
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From Liberty, take SR 101 south to the park entrance road, which is marked by a large, black sign on the right. Turn right here.  Take this park road across the dam to the very rear of the park.  Where the road forks, keep to the left; the one to the right leads to the park cabins.  Park in the parking lot for the Silver Creek boat ramp, which is on the right near the end of the park road.  There is a picnic shelter and toilet nearby.

The hike: For my general comments on Whitewater Memorial State Park, see the previous hike.  This trail (either the Veterans Vista Trail or Trail #16, depending on which identification system you are using) does not contain the most beautiful forest in greater Cincinnati.  What it does offer is a walk through a wide variety of habitats and some nice views of Brookville Reservoir.  For these reasons and because it is not particularly long or demanding, this is one of my favorite trails in the park.  The trail’s location near the park cabins make it a favorite of others as well.           

Trailhead: Veterans Vista Trail

            Once in the parking lot, look across the road for a black sign on the hillside that says "Veterans Vista Trail."  From this sign, the trail enters the young forest on the left and begins winding steeply uphill.  There is a well-placed picnic shelter at the top of this hill providing a nice resting spot and a good view of the lake, which is now well below you.

Hiking through the woods

            Just beyond the shelter, there is a very confusing sign that says "Veterans Vista Trail" and has arrows pointing both left and right.  It appears that the trail forks into a wide, gravel trail going downhill on the right and a narrow, dirt trail heading into denser forest on the left.  In reality, the trail goes left.  The trail going right connects to the horse trail and takes you down to Whitewater Lake and the dam. 

            Turning left here, the trail begins dipping in and out of some shallow ravines, swinging right to cross the creek, then left to cross the ridge.  After following this pattern three times, the trail begins climbing slightly and enters much younger forest with widely-scattered, small trees and a dense layer of underbrush, mostly grass.    

Hiking through the young forest

            The trail crosses the entrance road, then takes a couple of sharp turns.  Notice the remnants of a stone wall on the right just after crossing the road.  All along the trail you will see remnants of the barbed wire fence that was used to divide up land when this land was being farmed.  The wall is located right at the end of one of the barbed wires, possibly as an anchor for the wire or for a more definitive boundary. 

            After passing the wall, the trail treads along the hillside before entering some taller timber.  There were a lot of birds to be seen in this section of the trail when I was here.  They probably prefer the larger trees of this section of the forest over the smaller ones we just passed.  The trail descends rather steeply through the forest back to lake level.  Rather than reaching the lake, the trail takes a sharp left turn, follows a small stream, crosses it, then follows it some more.            

Hiking through the field

            The trail eventually turns right into a field.  Shortly, the trail crosses the park cabins access road and reenters the woods on the other side. The creek you crossed earlier is bigger now and flows along the left side of the trail as some cabins come into view on the right.  After following the creek for awhile, the trail turns left and crosses the creek.  In a couple hundred feet, the trail arrives at a clearing that offers a terrific view of Brookville Reservoir on the right.  However, you should note that this section of the lake is dry during the winter months of October through March.  During this season, this clearing provides a great view of a very large mudhole.  The trail reenters young forest on the other side of the clearing.           

Brookville Lake

            Several hundred feet after reentering the forest, the trail forks, with the right trail leading to a picnic shelter and the left one leading back to the road.  Either one of these choices will take you back to your car to complete the hike.