Whitestone Rock

Overview

Whitestone Rock is located on the east shore of Lake Roosevelt in eastern Washington. It is within the boundary of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area but access is somewhat limited due to private property. There are a few options available though. Easy access can be had if a boat is used.

Getting There

By Car:
There appears to be only two land approaches; from the south, which requires access through the Whitestone Vineyards. (They have a few nice pictures of Whitestone Rock on their website). Since they did not reply to my request for permission, I chose to approach from the only other obvious direction; the north side as outlined here.

Traveling east from Wilber WA, follow highway 2 for just less than 4 miles to Sherman Creek road. Turn left onto the paved road, heading north. Traveling west from Creston WA, follow highway 2 for 4 miles then turn right onto Sherman Creek road. Follow the road (which eventually turns to good gravel) for about 4.25 miles to a stop sign. At the stop sign, turn right onto the fork that goes NE – not hard right. Continue on this road for about 8.5 miles to a parking spot on a hairpin turn overlooking the river. Note that at about 4 or 5 miles along this last section of road, the road going straight ahead will have a “Dead End” sign and there will be another fork heading right – stay on the road straight ahead; the one marked “Dead End.”

There is no trail from the parking spot to the rock.

By Boat:
A boat can be launched from several locations. The closest and easiest to access would be either at Lincoln (then head downstream roughly 9 miles) or at Keller (then head upstream roughly 9 miles). It’s also possible to launch a boat from the Jones Bay campground and head upstream about 3 miles to the rock. Access to the west side of the rock seems easiest from the upstream side of it. One advantage to a boat approach is the view of the east face, which drops from the summit directly into the water. I don't recall the quality of rock on this face but it could be worth checking into.

Red Tape

I determined ownership/boundaries of the properties here based solely on a map, which showed that the National Recreation Area boundary was right where the hairpin turn is. There were no boundary markers that we could find, nor were there any fences or “No Trespassing” signs.

Camping

Jones Bay Campground is the closest camping that I’m aware of. I believe there may be a campground in Wilber too but I can’t say for certain on that one. Jones Bay is accessible via backroads from Wilber. It has a small boat ramp, vault toilets, level camping spots and excellent swimming.

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Images

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