Climbing Old Rag: Shenandoah National Park

Six hours. Eleven and a half miles. One day in March.

Tony at the Old Rag summit, March 15 2013.

Old Rag is my boyfriend Tony's "favorite hike in the world;" and this is a guy who has climbed glaciers in Iceland. When we both found ourselves with an opportunity to take the day off this month, Tony decided that we needed some fresh air, and that he wanted to share this hike with me. While I'm not a novice outdoors lady, I'm also nowhere near expert; the more I read up on this hike beforehand, the more nervous I became. But with Tony's confidence in me, and my own in myself, on the line, I became determined that I would reach the tippy top, and be darn proud of myself once there.

We left home at about 6:45 and made the long drive into Virginia toward Shenandoah National Park. Once off the highway, we drove toward the mountains with Fleet Foxes in our ears. Past Sperryville we got a little turned around, but eventually found our way down the rural roads and into the mountain's shadow. I was treated to some views of Old Rag's bald top as we approached, which didn't ease my apprehension about the hike ahead. 

While Hiking Upward only gives the trail a 4 out of 10 for difficulty, this is on the upper end of difficulty for a one-day hike. The trail circuit runs about 11 miles, and the climb upward is more than 2,000 feet. A calorie calculator I found online estimated that the climb would burn over 2,000 calories! The last mile of the the hike, should you choose the blue trail as we did, consists of a rock scramble that requires some hand-over-hand climbing. And if you're short, like me (I'm maybe 5'4" in my boots), you'll probably need a boost to get through the toughest parts of the trail. Even in spring the trail can be icy or snowy, making the rock scramble slippery and a little dangerous. If this was a 4, I can only imagine a 10!

Snow on the mountain in Mid-March

There are two trails you can take to reach the summit of Old Rag: the blue trail, which includes several miles of switchbacks and then the rock scramble, and the yellow trial, which is comprised of switchbacks all the way up or down, and then a much longer walk from/back to the lower parking lot. We chose to go up the blue trail, and reward ourselves with an easier hike back down on the yellow trial.

As it turned out, the hike was a challenge for me, as I expected. The switchbacks are deceptively simple, but they take a lot of effort as you climb upward. As for the rock scramble, I definitely could not have done it on my own. While my Gollum-like crawling and shimmying served me well, there were spots where I was just too short to even find a good hand or foothold. It was at those spots where some serious team work was required between Tony and myself.

View from the Old Rag summit, 2k feet up.

Things to bring:

• As much water as you can comfortably carry
• Protein-packed snacks
• Climbing gloves
• Extra socks, in case your feet get wet
• A hat, to warm your ears at the windy summit
• Tissues or a handkerchief
• Your inhaler, if you're even slightly asthmatic

Other tips:

• Set your GPS to Sperryville, Virginia. Then, follow the route past the pizza place, out of the town, with the mountain on your right, until you reach Nethers Road; make a right onto Nethers and follow it all the way down to reach the Old Rag lower parking lot. You'll have to pay $15 per carload to access the park.
• Invest in waterproof hiking shoes. There was still snow and ice on the mountain in mid-March, and our feet could have gotten soaked in sneakers. Also, regular athletic shoes won't quite provide the grip needed for the more difficult parks of the rock scramble. I bought these L.L. Bean boots and they held up perfectly. As I didn't have time to break them in before the hike, I invested in a Friction Stick from Band-Aid, and that rubbed onto my feet really helped protect against chafing.
  
• Pack on some sunblock before the climb, even if you won't need it. Tony and I were only on the summit for about an hour, and we both came home with sunburned faces and necks!
• Bring extra water and snacks to leave in the car, that way you can refuel and rehydrate when you get back to the lot.
• There are some port-a-potties in the lower parking lot, but other than that, you're on your own for the entirety of the trail. No bathrooms. Ladies, plan ahead. Carefully.
• Dress in layers; we peeled most of ours off on the way up, but piled them back on once we reached the top!
• I would not suggest hiking this trail alone, especially if it's your first time. Bring a friend to help you through the more difficult spots. 
• Give yourself a day after to recover. Really. We needed it.

Going off of that last bullet point, be warned: if you're not in utterly fantastic shape, you'll feel this hike at least a little the day after. Tony and I are fairly active people, and our muscles began burning on the drive home and didn't stop the next day. Saturday I also discovered a number of minor injuries: bruises on my knees and elbows, a big bruise on my right thigh, scraped palms from the climb, a strained shoulder muscle (from Tony pulling me up by my arms) and even bruises around my ankles, where my new shoes had ground into them all day. So plan ahead, and give yourself the day after to recover. Really.

But the bumps and bruises and moment of mild panic were well worth it. Even the view from the first rocky spot was incredible; we could see past the farms spreading out below the mountain all the way to the highway that had led us here. I thought we were nearly there, but my upward glance had deceived me; the rock scramble was only just beginning. By the time we had struggled and shimmied to the top a mile later, with the wind whipping and whistling around our cold ears, and my smiling boyfriend's arm around me, I knew that I had something to be proud of.

For more detailed information, Hiking Upward has a great page for Old Rag information, including weather forecasts and a printable trail map.  You can also find more information on the National Parks website. Happy hiking!