July 22 Old Rag

I've heard of Old Rag in Shenandoah NP for years but never had the opportunity to hike in the area. When I saw it on the ATC schedule, I was pleased and signed up immediately. Since it was to be an organized hike, I didn't even have to check out the logistics, just had to show up in the parking lot at Winchester. After 5 days of brutally hot and humid weather, we are treated to what may be the best summer day of the year. Our hike leader is Scott from Richmond area. We are a small group of 6 hikers. The original hike leader, Bob Look is unable to hike with us due to some heat related issue he suffered a few days before. However, Bob is to meet us in the Old Rag parking area for some interpreting and again on top, via an easier route.

Old Rag is such a popular hike, on a nice summer or fall weekend, there can be as many as 800 hikers. There can be 200 hikers waiting up to 2 hours to get through the rock scramble. "Rock scramble"? What is that all about? Apparently, that is part of the attraction of the hike. Due to its popularity, the small parking area at the end of the road was closed long ago. It looked big enough for a dozen cars parked like sardines in a can. Cars would park along the road and it would become a one way route and something had to be done. So, one mile back down the road the park uses a large field for parking. When that fills a nearby farm charges $10 per vehicle to park. We park in the park field. There is a parking kiosk where you can pay $20 per vehicle to park. My $10 senior pass ensures we do not have to pay this fee.

The walk to the end of the road where the hike used to begin is .8 mile. Here we start hiking up on a wide trail through forest. The trail is quite nice. We are headed steadily up. After a hour we see a couple views and scramble over some rocks. 

Then we pop out onto a very pretty rock balcony with great views. It seems as though we are at the top but a quick glance around reveals otherwise. We have much higher to go and it looks rough. This is the beginning of the rock scramble. Right away one of our group has some difficulty negotiating a down scramble. Sometimes the rocks squeeze up so close, my water bottles rub the sides. A bladder would have been a better choice. And the hiking pole I brought along was useless here.

The one fellow with the early difficulty is not enjoying this section. His vertigo is kicking in and he has many problems through here, slowing us. I was able to manage all the scrambling without assistance but I can see that most hikers will need a hand or a butt push in several spots. This would be a very dangerous hike in wet conditions. Good foot traction and pant bottoms that slide well are needed here. The scramble continues for 3/4 mile and takes about an hour. 

The views are spectacular whenever there is a break in the rocks. Most of the time we are surrounded by boulders and just trying to squeeze through them. A knee pad would have helped in a few spots too as I found myself on one knee about half a dozen times.

The 1.3 billion year old granite has weathered into all sorts of shapes, some look like there are about to fall or roll away.

The crack above is not one we go through but the one below is a passage complete with steps and a boulder holding the crack open.

One final false summit and then we have a short distance to the top. The top is a large rock balcony with all sorts of erratic boulders perched haphazardly. I found a spot in the shadow of one for a leisurely lunch. I went shirtless and shoeless for the lunch break. It was quite a pleasant day to be on top of Old Rag

Our hike back was a more gradual descend on other trails making our hike a 9 mile loop. On the return we saw mama bear and her two cubs. We also passed through the former community of Old Rag, now completely reclaimed by the forest.

Great hike!