Old Rag Hike and Ascent - Tuesday November 13

Following our successful climb of the Half Dome in Yosemite in 2005 (view at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_dome and scroll down for the famous “Cable Route”), Chris and I decided to do the Old Rag hike in SNP on Tuesday.

From http://www.hikingupward.com/SNP/OldRag/ , the Old Rag Mountain hike in the Shenandoah National Park is one of the most popular hikes in the mid-Atlantic region. With many spectacular panoramic views, and one of the most challenging rock scrambles in the park, this circuit hike is favorite of many hikers but can be crowded (that’s why we went on a weekday).

The hike features great views, but features a mile long rock scramble that is challenging due to its steepness, and for forcing passage through cracks in the rock. Hopefully, some of the pictures give a sense of the challenge.

Now, more on the mountain, from Wikipedia: Old Rag Mountain, or simply Old Rag, is a mountain in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia…and is unusual in that, unlike most mountains of the Blue Ridge, it has an exposed (rocky) top.

The photos (most from my phone cam, but some are borrowed from Wiki and Hiking Upward) start with a picture of the mountain as one approaches it, then I have Chris and me as we set off. Note, the dot-com vintage Kozmo.com gear bag Chris maintains! And there is a great history of this company at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozmo.com !

From there, after a mile or two, you come to a couple of opportunities for views. The ones I selected here feature the foilage, then a look up at the peak and the beginning of the rock scramble.

Next, here are a few photos of the rock scramble itself. As advertised, it was very challenging, requiring movement up, down, and sideways in all directions. At one point, during a particularly tough pull up a boulder, you realize you can’t just go back anymore – the way back down is just as tough as the rest of the way up.

And finally a couple of photos of the summit – the sign, and this incredible boulder sitting up on a flat rock. Lastly, a shot of Chris climbing up as high as possible, almost to the full height of the mountain.

As is typical of our approach, our goal was to summit and then get as far down the hill as possible by nightfall. We were successful, but did the final 2 miles in the dark using headlamps. No problems here, as that part of the route is on a fire road. Last photo here is a topo map of the route.