Walk the Trails

The trail map shows the two official trails of the park as the yellow dashed lines.

NPS Photo

Whitman Mission Trails and Walking Paths

Whitman Mission National Historic Site contains about 1 mile of paved walking trail and 2 miles of unpaved mowed paths exploring the grounds of the park. The two paved sidewalk trails are the Mission Trail and the Grave and Hill trail. There are two seasonally available mowed paths in the park that can be found branching off of the paved trails. The brochure map to the right shows where the paved trails are but does not show the mowed paths. Look below for more information about each trail and path.

 

The Immigrant House is one of the building outlines seen along the Mission Trail

NPS Photo

Mission Trail

The Whitman Mission NHS Mission Trail is a 1/3 mile loop trail over mostly flat, paved sidewalk. The trail leads to the mission site, past the Whitman's two homes, a re-created millpond, and the other buildings of the Presbyterian mission. The buildings are no longer standing but the foundations are outlined by cinderblocks along the trail. Branching off from the Mission Trail is a re-created wagon rut trail that connects to the Grave and Hill Trail and the mowed path along the Walla Walla River.

 

The Hill Trail leads up to the Memorial Obelisk

NPS Photo

Gravesite and Hill Trail

The Gravesite and Hill Trail is a .5 mile paved sidewalk trail that leads past the Great Grave and other gravesites on the hill to the top of the hill where a memorial obelisk was placed in 1897. Both the north side and south side of the trail to the top of the hill are steep, though the south side is slightly longer with switchbacks. From the top, visitors can see the entire park and on clear days the Blue Mountains of Washington and Oregon stand out on the horizon. Along the base of the hill is a trail that connects the north and south sides of the hill and also has a gravestone for Alice Clarissa Whitman, The Whitman's daughter who drowned in the Walla Walla River at the age of two.

 

The Walla Walla River forms the southern boundary of the park

NPS Photo/Mike Anderson

Mowed Paths

Whitman Mission NHS has two informal mowed path trails that can be used as hiking trails to reach other parts of the park off the paved sidewalk paths. The mowed paths are available seasonally and may not always be mowed and accessible.

One mowed path leads along the southern boundary of the park along the Walla Walla River and is 1 mile along flat ground. This mowed path branches off the Mission Trail; to start this trail, follow the Mission Trail counter-clockwise and walk through the apple orchard to the mowed path in the open field. It returns at the junction of the re-created Oregon Trail and the Hill Trail.

The other mowed path is a 1 mile round trip across mostly level ground that follows Mill Creek and Doan Creek. This path leaves from the end of the visitor center parking lot near the picnic shelter. To start, cross the road at the picnic shelter. The trail splits a short distance in, to the left is a dead end overlook of Mill Creek. The path to the right follows Mill Creek to Doan Creek (where a beaver pond is visible). The right path loops around to the Hill Trail near the Great Grave.