Old Rag is one of my all-time favorite trails to hike, however, it is not for people who cannot deal with heights or are out of shape. This is one of those trails that I have to train for, and I felt prepared to do it, despite the warnings of a 100+ degree heat index. I fueled up at breakfast and had plenty of water and gatorade. I love this hike because it challenges almost all of your muscles - it requires some rock scrambling and a little bit of bouldering to get up the trail. There are also some majestic views of the Virginia countryside as you get closer to the summit. Of course, this also means some precipitous dropoffs along the edge. I played "sweeper" again on this hike. Again, this meant I was responsible for making sure that everyone in the group made it safely off the trail. I spent the entire day hiking with Susan, Zee and Judy. My friend, Patrick, came along just for fun. We took our time getting up the first part of the trail, basically 2-3 miles of shaded switchbacks that got steep in some places. This has always been the most challenging part of the hike for me because it's not particularly scenic and you're just going up and up through the forest. I'm not the world's fastest uphill hiker, but little did I know that the ladies I was with were even slower. I didn't push anyone because it was so hot, but I was insistent upon everyone hydrating properly and eating enough food.
We finally made it to the first overlook and stopped for a pre-lunch (thinking we'd get to have a proper lunch at the summit an hour later). We got on the trail again and the terrain started to get trickier. There were a few places where I had to coach the ladies on how to get up the rocks, sometimes kneeling down and letting them use my leg as a step stool, sometimes boosting them from behind. Often, Patrick or I would go up first and they would hand up their packs so they could try climbing unburdened. Some spots were so tricky, they insisted on finding a longer way around instead of trying to get up the marked trail.
In retrospect, we should have turned around when we hit the 3-hour mark and we weren't at the summit. But at that point, I thought we were fairly close to the top, and I knew that the trail down the back side of the mountain would be much easier to negotiate than to climb down the technical trail we had just come up. So we kept moving forward, encouraged by other hikers who said things like, "You're close -- it's only 18 minutes away!" But because our pace was so slow and we kept stopping to let faster hikers pass us, it took us nearly 8 hours to reach the summit. All I could think about was getting to the other side so that we could cruise downhill the whole way.
By the time we reached the top, thunderclouds had started to roll in. When we reached the sign for the summit, it had started sprinkling. Instead of checking out the overlooks, I got everyone to continue on the trail and under the cover of the trees. About 10 minutes after we left the summit, a bolt of lightning struck very, very close to where we had been standing. At this point, I started to panic a little, encouraging the slowest hiker to speed it up, while trying not to freak out. At one point, it started to hail and I kept saying, "Let's go! Let's move it!" but they just couldn't go any faster. I'm not sure they realized how much danger we were in.
I stayed with the slowest hiker, patiently lagging behind while she picked her way gingerly down the trail in the rain. I tried everything I could think of to get her to go faster, but my worst fear was that she would try to go too fast and fall, which would be even worse. So Patrick and I stayed with her as the others went ahead. I also knew our hike leader would be panicking by this point, but I had no cell phone reception the entire length of the trail. I was hoping the ladies who went ahead would be able to tell her what was going on, and perhaps get assistance.
We made it to the second of two shelters, where the trail intersected a fire road. As we neared the intersection, a park ranger SUV pulled up with our hike leader in the passenger seat. We were saved! We decided to get a ride with the ranger all the way back to the trailhead. I thought about finishing it on foot, but realized I was out of water, so I reconsidered. I had not been prepared for a 10-hour hike, though next time I will be!
All in all, this was actually not my worst hiking experience. (Remind me to tell you about getting lost in Shenandoah, or the West VA hike of 1,600 stairs.) I would love to hike Old Rag again in the fall when it's not 100 degrees or thunderstorming.
I stopped taking pictures when the rain started, but click here to see pictures from the first half of the hike.
We finally made it to the first overlook and stopped for a pre-lunch (thinking we'd get to have a proper lunch at the summit an hour later). We got on the trail again and the terrain started to get trickier. There were a few places where I had to coach the ladies on how to get up the rocks, sometimes kneeling down and letting them use my leg as a step stool, sometimes boosting them from behind. Often, Patrick or I would go up first and they would hand up their packs so they could try climbing unburdened. Some spots were so tricky, they insisted on finding a longer way around instead of trying to get up the marked trail.
In retrospect, we should have turned around when we hit the 3-hour mark and we weren't at the summit. But at that point, I thought we were fairly close to the top, and I knew that the trail down the back side of the mountain would be much easier to negotiate than to climb down the technical trail we had just come up. So we kept moving forward, encouraged by other hikers who said things like, "You're close -- it's only 18 minutes away!" But because our pace was so slow and we kept stopping to let faster hikers pass us, it took us nearly 8 hours to reach the summit. All I could think about was getting to the other side so that we could cruise downhill the whole way.
By the time we reached the top, thunderclouds had started to roll in. When we reached the sign for the summit, it had started sprinkling. Instead of checking out the overlooks, I got everyone to continue on the trail and under the cover of the trees. About 10 minutes after we left the summit, a bolt of lightning struck very, very close to where we had been standing. At this point, I started to panic a little, encouraging the slowest hiker to speed it up, while trying not to freak out. At one point, it started to hail and I kept saying, "Let's go! Let's move it!" but they just couldn't go any faster. I'm not sure they realized how much danger we were in.
I stayed with the slowest hiker, patiently lagging behind while she picked her way gingerly down the trail in the rain. I tried everything I could think of to get her to go faster, but my worst fear was that she would try to go too fast and fall, which would be even worse. So Patrick and I stayed with her as the others went ahead. I also knew our hike leader would be panicking by this point, but I had no cell phone reception the entire length of the trail. I was hoping the ladies who went ahead would be able to tell her what was going on, and perhaps get assistance.
We made it to the second of two shelters, where the trail intersected a fire road. As we neared the intersection, a park ranger SUV pulled up with our hike leader in the passenger seat. We were saved! We decided to get a ride with the ranger all the way back to the trailhead. I thought about finishing it on foot, but realized I was out of water, so I reconsidered. I had not been prepared for a 10-hour hike, though next time I will be!
All in all, this was actually not my worst hiking experience. (Remind me to tell you about getting lost in Shenandoah, or the West VA hike of 1,600 stairs.) I would love to hike Old Rag again in the fall when it's not 100 degrees or thunderstorming.
I stopped taking pictures when the rain started, but click here to see pictures from the first half of the hike.
