Hiking Old Rag

I'm finally catching up on some long overdue posts. In July I got a chance to hike "Old Rag" in Virginia. Old Rag includes something called "rock scrambles" and is one of the highest rated hikes in the Eastern US. One review said this is one of the few hikes that requires upper AND lower body strength.  Sounds promising, let's do it. I grabbed my Ergon pack, swapped biking supplies for hiking supplies, added full finger gloves and set out.

Man what a trip! If you love, or even like the outdoors and hiking then you MUST do this hike. I do recommend gloves to protect your hands. You will be using your hands.

The first treat of the day was hiking up above the cloud line. Looking down on the cloud baseline was a bit of new experience. The Shenandoah valley was beautiful - when it was visible.


Clouds encased the ridge line a few times. Visibility was never low enough to be a problem but the fog certainly enhanced the experience.





There are several false summits on the trail. I thought I was in heaven at the first summit. Then I learned that it kept getting better.


I was too busy grinning and frolicking to get many pictures. This is one of the early "interesting" points. Crawl through, or over :-) , a cavern in the rocks, pop out the other side and take a hard left to walk along this sheer face. This is looking backward after the fact. Trail descriptions say to go counter clockwise for easier descents and clockwise for tougher ascents. Guess which I chose?


During occasional breaks in rock scrambles and cloud covers I took time to appreciate the views.


That cloud line? Yep, it passed through me on the ridgeline.


I thought this view as amazing when I experienced. It resonated even more in the weeks to come. I thought I was on a peak. The people give perspective. The climb actually continues up into the clouds. We talked about "local maximums" the subsequent week at work. I had first hand experience to share. It also goes hand in hand with an ongoing project.











This the view from the penultimate summit. I highly recommend packing picnic lunch, even just a cliff bar, and savoring the summit.

I finished the day with 7.5 miles of hiking and 3k feet of elevation gain. I sliced my palm on a rock before remembering to put gloves on. This is an amazing hike. You will use hands and feet. Plan accordingly.

As fun as it is it is not impossible. One notable experience was jockeying back and forth with a family of four: mom, dad, and two small kids. We passed back and forth on climbs before they ultimately passed me running down from the mountain. What a family experience.