Old Rag Summit - Shenandoah National Park

On Friday, Adam and I took the day off work so we could hike Old Rag. The main goal was to hike it early on a weekday, so we could avoid the legions of people that crawl the mountain on fair-weather fall weekends.

 

In that, we succeeded. We got to the upper parking lot right after sunrise and found only three other cars. There was nobody at all in the 200 car overflow lot. (Old Rag is so popular that the NPS had to buy land about a mile down the road from the trailhead to accomodate the masses.)

 

We hiked the Ridge Trail over to the summit, and then followed the Saddle Trail and Weakley Hollow Fire Road back down. The Ridge Trail includes Old Rag's famous boulder scramble. There are several 10-12 foot drops into narrow box "canyons" and lots of places that require hand over hand climbing and pulling yourself up over obstacles. The Ridge Trail has been a route up the mountain since the early 1930's.

 

The hike is just over seven miles and has 2200 feet of elevation gain in the first 2.5 miles. Trailguides recommend setting aside about seven or eight hours for the hike, but most people we know hike it in about 4-6.

 

The hike is rated as "very strenuous", but actually it's a very moderate hike that just happens to have one mile of challenging rock scramble. The rest of the hike is really pretty gentle with well-planned switchbacks and excellent trail conditions. People who are afraid of heights or just want to avoid the boulder scramble can hike to the summit, out and back, on the Saddle Trail. (although, I personally think the scramble is the best part of the hike!)

 

Below, I've included a few snapshots from the day. It was not a good day for photos, but it was a perfect day for the hike.

 

Another fun side story... I chatted briefly with a fellow photographer (Retzcare) on the summit. It turns out that he's also on Flickr. Check out his photostream.

Done