The summit of Old Rag in the Shenandoahs
I love Old Rag Mountain. I think of it as the queen of the northern Shenandoahs. True, it stands only 3,268 ft tall. However, it is basically a great big chunk of (mostly) exposed granite and, as you drive by it to the west on Skyline Drive in Virginia, it looks pretty darn impressive. While I lived in Maryland, it became my favorite day hike destination, despite requiring a 4 hour round trip in the car just to get to and from the trailhead. I have hiked to its summit at least a couple dozen times. When my daughters got old enough, I started taking them along with me and soon they too developed a love for the mountain. Despite my move to Wisconsin, it is still my favorite day hike. It is also where I plan to be on a more permanent basis. After, that is, I am dead.
It’s true. In my will, notwithstanding National Park Service rules, is my command from the grave to my daughters: they are to take my ashes and, together, hike me up to the summit one last time, where I am to be left. They know of this request and I am fairly confident that they will follow through. I plan to remind them of it on a regular basis while I am still around.
I’m not sure if I can describe exactly why I love Old Rag so much. It is no more than a 9 mile hike round trip. The first half of the walk to the summit is a (mostly) rocky footpath, throw in about a dozen switchbacks. But then, half way up, something wonderful happens – you get to this great jumble of granite slabs and all of a sudden you have a rock scramble for most of the rest of the way to the summit. There are even some Class 2 and 3 sections just to give you a little something to think about. The Park Service has blazed the rocks to prevent the novice from getting lost. Follow the blue blazes up and down, across rock crevices, throw in a few boulder climbs and a tunnel through one section of granite. You get the picture. Sometimes I think of it as a kind of paint by number hike – the Park Service has numbered the blazes. Go figure. From the summit, you gaze across a seemingly endless sea of rolling green – the Shenandoahs spreading out before you. It is truly food for the soul.
We recently went back to Maryland for a visit. Naturally, I immediately started scheming about how I could work in a side trip to Old Rag. I convinced one of my daughters to join me and all of a sudden it was set. Truth be told, I was a little nervous. It was over three years since I last hiked it. Put another way, I was now three years older.
As you go through life, from one moment to the next, we mostly think (at least I do) about what’s coming up next. Oh, I could talk the talk before retirement about having a five year career plan. But, the reality, at least for me, is that you usually end up dealing with the immediate day to day stuff and then, five years later, you look around and think: “How did I get here?” and “Who am I now, really?”
Mountains have a way of succinctly answering such questions, especially if it is one that you have measured yourself against repeatedly over the years. Think of it as the equivalent of the enigmatic “check engine” light that can mysteriously light up on your car’s dashboard. When it blinks on, it is saying that things aren’t exactly copacetic in the engine compartment, but it leaves the specifics to your imagination. Old Rag is my check engine light. I know how long it takes me to get to the first switch back, to the first boulder before you start the rock scramble, to the place I call the “false summit”, then the true summit, etc. I know these numbers because I’ve written them down. Religiously anal (tell the truth –have you ever heard THAT phrase before?), I’ve recorded these times on my trail map whenever I do Old Rag. For years they have been remarkably consistent numbers – in brief, 2.5 hours to the summit and 4.5 hours round trip back to the trail head.
As we began our hike, I wondered how I would feel when those numbers started climbing higher. Would today be the start of that trend? Climbing Old Rag is like spending time with an old friend, one who knows you very well – a brutally honest old friend, the kind who will take you aside, and, for your own sake, let you know that maybe you are not quite the same person you used to be. I wondered what she would be telling me this time around.
Compared to these neurotic musings, this hike was a bit anticlimactic. It was a beautiful day, there were plenty of other hikers around (but not too many). The views were just as spectacular as I had remembered. I got a bit gassed on the switchbacks, slowed down when we reached the scramble section but never felt seriously out of sorts. In short it felt good to be back on its slopes. We made it to the summit and then back to the trail head. I looked at my watch – 4 hrs 35 minutes round trip. No check engine light on, just yet.
Of course, there is always next time on Old Rag. As mentioned above, I know that eventually I will end up back there. In case you are wondering, no, I have not specified how fast my daughters need to hike when they bring me up the mountain that one last time. It is supposed to be about the journey, not the destination, right?
The Gray Mountaineer 