Old Rag Hike

Just as my legs started feeling better after my trail run, we decided to take up some friends on an invite to hike Old Rag. My quads still were a tad sore but the weather for the Saturday hike was supposed to be superb and we had not done a good hike since our April hike in Damascus so we opted to meet up with some friends and hike Old Rag.

Old Rag is the most strenuous hike in the Shenandoah National Park according to the nps.gov/shen web site. It is really unlike any other hike in the park. The hike starts at the lower parking lot for Old Rag where it is necessary to pay the fee. We have a park pass that covers the fee.

We parked at the parking lot, everyone paid their fees, and we started up the road for about a half mile to the trail head. Then the hike turns into the woods for a climb up the mountain. The first part of the hike is like most hikes that climb a mountain. There are woods all around and there are several switchbacks to traverse as you go up the mountain. On this particular day, we were hiking with some young 20 somethings who appeared to be out for a leisurely stroll but who were walking pretty fast. I broke a sweat pretty soon into the hike and was breathing fairly hard as we made our way up the mountain. We kept up them with some work. They did not seem to be laboring at all. Ah, growing older and slowing down.

What makes Old Rag so much fun and different is the second part of the hike. After going up the switch backs, we arrived at the beginning of the rock scramble. The rock scramble is challenging and fun. We jumped from boulder to boulder, lowered ourselves down into crevasses, wedged ourselves between rocks, lifted ourselves up through little chimneys of rocks, did some little climbs, and all the other stuff that goes along with a good rock scramble.

One thing worth mentioning is that I decided to do this hike in my Vibram Five Fingers. It was really great! I had virtually no weight on my feet and I could really connect with the rocks with my feet. It was the closest thing to climbing a mountain in bare feet as you can get without actually being barefoot.

Once we got to the top, we rested and ate and enjoyed the 360 degree views of the surrounding area. I had first done this hike when I was about 12 and I remember that it seemed like we could see forever up there on the summit. Nowadays, the view is still great but there is a haze on the neighboring mountains and nothing is quite a crisp as I remember it 30 years ago.

After lunch we descended the mountain on the other side. The descent is less exciting as it does not involve a rock scramble. After going down some switchbacks for a while, the trail comes out onto a fire road that leads back to the road and parking lot. I must admit that going down was a little harder on my feet than going up. I had to go a little slower and the balls of my feet did start to ache slightly. By the time we got back to the car, my feet did hurt a little but but all in all it was a great experience hiking in the Five Fingers. I plan to do it again as soon as possible. In fact, I think hiking in the Five Fingers is great training for my feet and calves. These kinds of hikes will help build up my feet and calves so I can do more barefoot running. I am hoping anyway.

So that, in a nutshell, is the story of our Old Rag Hike. I was a little late in posting this but finally got around to it. Below are some of the pictures we took a long the way. A few pics show the people we were hiking with. Don't they look young?

Clay and Rachel

Clay and Rachel Taking in the View

Looking back down at some of the rock scramble we had completed.

Taking pictures of each other.

The rest of our group. Young Right?

Another shot of the group. This is not the summit by the way.

Interesting Tree

If you look carefully at this picture, you will see all the people climbing up the rocks down below. We had already done that section and were looking down at them. Look closely.

I used the Zoom on this one. Do you see the people?

The classic picture where I hold the camera and take our picture.

My feet at the summit.