Winter hike through the challenging Old Rag Mountain. The Old Rag is considered the hardest hiking trail in Virginia with high elevation and many challenging rock scrambles.
The benefits of hiking the Old Rag Trail during the Winter season is that it is less crowded as you can see, which means you also don’t have to reserve a day pass during the Winter season, which starts and ends on November to February. Of course, you’ll have to deal with the cold weather and the occasional snow, but cold weather also means that there are no flying bugs you’ll have to deal with. During the warmer months, the base of the mountain can get quite buggy.
This trail is a very challenging hike for anyone, and because of the usual crowd and the popularity, during Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons, you have to reserve a day-use pass on the Reservation.gov in order to hike this trail along with your National Parks Entrance Pass.
If you hike during the Winter season, as I did here, you also have to deal with the snow and more importantly the ice on the rocks, which makes the rock scrambling twice as difficult and can get very dangerous.
As you might imagine, the trail is well laid-out but it is mostly uphill and when you get closer to the Summit, there are many difficult rock scrambles. Don’t even think about hiking this trail in anything other than a really great pair of hiking boots with a good lateral ankle support.
If you decide to hike the entire Old Rag Circuit, which is basically a complete round trip, it could take up to 8 hours depending on your fitness level and your pace. The Circuit starts at the parking area and it peaks at about 2700 feet Mountain Summit. After you reach the Summit, you have the option of turning around and going back down to the same trail or you can continue forward at the Summit marker and complete the circuit to return to the parking area.
After about 3 miles, you’ll reach the famous “staircase”. This is a good spot to take some pictures and rest up a bit before you reach the Summit, which is only about 0.8 miles away from this spot, but be aware, more difficult rock scrambles are ahead.
Be sure to bring plenty of water and other nourishments because at the Summit, it is a perfect place to sit down and enjoy the vista while rehydrating and munching on your favorite snacks.
Music credit: "Neon and Aluminum" by E*Vax.
27 сен 2024
