Daily Dozen : Striving for a life lived in motion: OLD RAG MOUNTAIN

The summit of Old Rag Mountain, in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah National Park, is at 3,291 feet and on a cool, crisp September morning we set out to conquer it.

The guide books and trail information provided by the park were quick to stress to extremely strenuous nature of this over 7 mile circuit hike and the one thing I worried about the day before and that morning as we drive to the trailhead was that it cautioned hikers to not attempt it if the rocks would be wet. Despite the rain of the day and night before, we (perhaps foolishly) stuck to our plan to hike Old Rag Mountain that morning as opposed to the next day (a Saturday, a weekend = even more crowds).

For some reason, we were reassured that our car wasn’t the first one in the parking lot at the trailhead. What this really meant was that there were 3 other groups of hikers foolish enough to hike despite the warnings; however, we chose to take it as a sign that it was OK to hike the trail. How bad could it really be, we asked ourselves, if other people are hiking it ahead of us. We are the best hikers out there (nor are we the worst and more importantly, nor does that mean the 3 groups ahead of us were any better than us), so if these other people could do it, so could we. Well, that is what we reasoned, anyway.

We got our Camelbaks ready and ourselves situated for a long hike and took off down the trail, determined to beat the park services’ time estimate of 7 hours for the circuit hike (5.5 for the out-and-back to the summit). As we headed off, I was a little bummed that the day was overcast and gray; the mountain seemed quiet.

The trail was quick to become steep and before we knew it we began a series of several switchbacks that would take us up the mountain for a bit under 2 miles when we would hit the strenuous rock scrambling that would take us to the summit (roughly a mile long). The switchbacks were steep but manageable. For some reason, and I really cannot explain this, I find it to be a very powerful experience to trudge up a mountain trail – heart pounding, blood pumping, leg deadening, lung exploding. It was amazing how we slowly emerged above the fog and realized it was a beautiful, sunny, lively day on the mountain above the fog line.

We took a single rest on the way up and it wasn’t long before we reached the first overlook.

As the trail descriptions promised, once we passed this first overlook the rock scrambling began. We squeezed our way between boulders, climbed up and over rocks, ducked through “caves” and scrambled our way along the trail. We even came to one place that we just couldn’t figure out how to proceed. Mike ended up having to boost me up from behind and once I was up, I had to pull him up. It was quite the team effort and I was so proud of Mike because I know he was fighting his fear of heights.

I had so much fun on this trail. It is the type of trail that keeps you actively engaged, both your mind and your body, as you have to think your way through it. Where do I put my hands? If I put my left foot in that crack, where will I put my right foot next?

However, the fun eventually ended as we reached the summit and were able to take a break. I am proud of our foolish journey to the top of Old Rag Mountain. We worked together and made it to the top together. It is a wonderful experience to share with someone.

After soaking in the views from the top…

…we headed back to the mountain, following a different trail that was longer but lacked the rock scramble. On the way down, the grade was much more gradual and after passing two day shelters along the trail, we came to a fire road that led back to the parking lot.

Two things struck me on the way down. One, it was neat to slowly walk back in to the fog. It felt like were reentering the world, as if, the sunny, bright day above the fog was somehow a dream world that we couldn’t remain in too long. Second, the trail on the way back was so drastically different from the rock scrambling and switchbacks on the way up it was hard to believe they both led to the same point.

Satisfied with our hiking for the day, which took us 4 hours and 15 minutes to complete (7 hours, ha!), we headed back to camp. I highly recommend this hike to anyone interested in a challenging and fun experience. We had a blast!