Today’s hike took us to the summit of Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. Katie, Ellen and Carey came to my parents’ house to pick me up on the way, and I gave them homemade breakfast burritos. The weather was perfect for hiking—mid-60s, breezy and not a cloud in the sky. I had hiked Old Rag 2 or 3 times before, the last time was probably 8 years (and quite a few pounds) ago. The trail was exactly as I remembered, except that they added 2 miles to the hike by making us walk a mile each way from the official NPS parking lot to the trailhead. The first 3 miles consisted of an uphill climb through the woods. I had to stop periodically to catch my breath and snack on trail mix. At one point, my legs and my hip cramped up, so I had to down an entire bottle of Gatorade before I could continue. During one rest stop, we spotted a white-tailed deer bounding through the woods. Eventually we made it to the “fun part,” where the rock scramble starts. My favorite part of this hike is getting to climb up rocks (sometimes with a boost from teammates), hop from boulder to boulder and check out the amazing views from different vantage points. At a couple of points, we all had to take off our packs to squeeze through some tight spots. When we reached the summit around 1:00, we stopped to eat lunch and take in the near 360-degree vista of the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding Virginia farmland. Check out pictures here.

We made it down the back side of the mountain much more quickly than it took to reach the top. On the way down we crossed over a couple of footbridges—a MUCH better alternative to fording the streams from last weekend’s trail at Fridley Gap. All in all, we hiked nearly 10 miles (almost 26,000 steps) in about 6.5 hours, including the rests. Also, I don’t think I’ve laughed during a hike as much as I laughed on this one. My teammates, and our volunteer hike leader and safety guy, Jon, are so much fun to hike with. We just joked and cracked up the whole time.

I love hiking Old Rag (well, except for the first 3 miles) because it gives you such a huge sense of accomplishment when you’re done—sort of an “if I can hike this, I can hike anything” attitude. It’s no Mt. Everest, but it’s definitely good training!  I know I will be sore tomorrow (and probably the next day) but it was all worth it!