Beautiful views and rock scrambling makes for a basic day hike in Virginia’s Shenandoah Nationwide Park
There’s one thing thrilling about summiting a mountain. This sense was palpable among the many 20 different hikers heading uphill from the Previous Rag car parking zone. The Ridge Path wasn’t too crowded, however virtually everybody gave the impression to be sprinting out of the gate, attempting to get in entrance.
“Let’s tempo ourselves,” I recommended to my spouse. “We’ll in all probability simply move all of them later.”
We stepped off the path to let a gaggle of laughing faculty youngsters virtually run previous. There was no must hurry. It was 9 a.m. on a foggy Thursday morning in early August, with temps within the mid-60s. We had loads of time to finish the 9.4-mile loop, which begins with an elevation achieve of two,348 ft when heading within the recommended clockwise path.
I’d heard good issues about this difficult summit hike, which is the most well-liked path in Shenandoah Nationwide Park. Lots of the park’s 1.5 million annual guests come from the Washington, D.C. metro space, positioned about 90 miles east. Lately, Previous Rag had developed a repute for overcrowding, notably throughout summer time and fall weekends. At instances, strains of hikers may kind beneath the trickier spots.
Then in 2022, the park service adopted a rising pattern at standard outside websites. They instituted a each day quota system, capping Previous Rag customers at 800 per day. The $2 tickets are launched on Recreation.gov, with half obtainable 30 days prematurely and the remaining obtainable 5 days forward. Two weeks earlier than, I’d focused our hike for a weekday, not realizing what to anticipate. After we checked in on the entrance station, the ranger mentioned solely about 350 spots had been reserved that day.
From Forest to Granite
For a mile, the path rose steadily by way of a powerful hardwood forest earlier than steepening with a collection of rocky switchbacks. As predicted, we slowly handed many of the teams who had rushed forward firstly. Some of us have been resting on rocks. Others stored glancing nervously uphill. A couple of individuals rotated and went again down.
As we ascended, deciduous bushes gave solution to an growing variety of conifers. A gradual mist blew eerily by way of the treetops. After about 2.5 miles, we emerged on a sparsely vegetated ridgeline and started traversing granite slabs and ledges. The fog had lifted by now, and occasional viewpoints revealed a string of colourful specks. These have been individuals slowly making their means towards the summit. To both facet have been extensive open views of the shadowy peaks and ridges of the Appalachians.
The repeated exclamations of close by hikers made it clear why that is such a beloved route. By now, we’d made pals with just a few teams shifting at roughly the identical tempo. Sometimes, we took breaks collectively and chatted about our impressions of the park.
An “Japanese Park within the Western Custom”
Each Shenandoah and Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Parks have been licensed in 1926. The aim was to create two Western-style nationwide parks—like Yellowstone and Yosemite—within the Southern Appalachians. Nevertheless, acquiring the wanted lands in these extra populated areas was a lot more durable than reappropriating federal lands within the West. Quite a few non-public parcels needed to be acquired in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee by way of purchases, donations, and controversial declarations of eminent area. The method was nonetheless underway within the early Nineteen Thirties when a 3rd unit, the Blue Ridge Parkway, was licensed to attach the 2 nationwide parks.
Summiting Previous Rag was the principle aim for our first go to to Shenandoah. Yesterday, we’d put our camper on the wooded Huge Meadows Campground. At simply over 3,500 ft, this standard space typically has a gradual breeze and gentle temps in comparison with the valleys beneath. After establishing, we walked over to the customer heart and did a brief hike to Darkish Hole Falls. Tenting at Huge Meadows put us within the coronary heart of the park, about an hour from Previous Rag. It’s vital to notice that the trailhead is positioned on the jap fringe of the park, so it’s important to drive out and round by way of Sperryville.
Apart from Previous Rag, Shenandoah’s major function is the 105-mile Skyline Drive. Just like the parkway, it follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Alongside the best way, there are lookouts, campgrounds, lodges, waterfalls, mountain climbing trails, and over 90 named peaks. Amongst these peaks, many are capped with greenstone, a sort of metamorphic volcanic rock. This contains the park’s highest level, Hawksbill Summit at 4,050 ft, which may be reached by a number of brief however steep trails simply off Skyline Drive. Regardless of being on the shorter facet, Previous Rag is exclusive for its granite bedrock and large boulders that hikers more and more encounter as they method the three,284-foot summit.
Rock Scramble to the Summit
The perfect a part of mountain climbing Previous Rag started a few mile beneath the summit, round 2,200 ft. That’s the place the trickier rock scrambling began. At first, this largely concerned mounting rounded boulders utilizing fingers and ft. My spouse was doing nicely however getting cautious about what was to return. Glancing forward, we might see the terrain steepened.
“That is powerful,” she mentioned, wiping away sweat throughout a break.
One purpose for her nervousness was as a consequence of our prior encounter with a “massive talker.” Three months earlier than, we have been chatting with a hiker on a waterfall path within the Smokies. When he heard we have been heading to Previous Rag, he turned critical.
“That’s a harmful hike,” he mentioned. “You’re principally mountain climbing and not using a rope.”
The way in which he went on to explain ascending Previous Rag, prefer it was similar to free soloing El Capitan, didn’t sound correct. However his warning had clearly rattled my spouse.
“Possibly I ought to skip that one,” she mentioned, the second he was gone.
I disagreed. The man was clearly speaking himself up by over-selling the issue of Previous Rag. Sure, we would have liked to be cautious, however the route was a scramble, not an enormous wall climb. Nonetheless, he’d sowed sufficient doubts for me to toss in my backpack a brief rope that by no means acquired used.
After a fast relaxation, my spouse and I reached our first actual “transfer” on Previous Rag. A sunken crevice about eight ft deep. There have been a number of methods to descend, and it jogged my memory of exploring slot canyons out West. Our approach concerned scooting ahead into the hole and reducing ourselves utilizing legs, arms, and our bodies to wedge towards the partitions. As soon as our ft rested on a slender ledge, we crept fastidiously to the top.
Not everybody was as skilled, and two faculty ladies behind us appeared overwhelmed and about to surrender. My spouse slipped into instructor mode. She scrambled again up the slot and demonstrated the approach. The primary lady taught her buddy, and steadily all three emerged, brimming with confidence.
From right here, we skirted alongside some cliffs. Clambered over rocks and up naked slopes. Sometimes, the route adopted cracks or handed beneath small alcoves. Generally we hand-walked. A couple of instances we crab-walked. One intriguing function was a pure staircase rising up by way of one other slender crevice. We spent an hour on the rock scramble, stopping typically to attend for others, tempo ourselves, and benefit from the views.
A Traditional Nationwide Park Hike
By midday we have been on high, having lunch whereas sitting on clean boulders. Close by have been a dozen different hikers, every of them clearly drained however buzzing with pleasure. At all times an excellent signal.
Granite is my favourite sort of rock, and it jogs my memory of a favourite mountain vary, the Sierra Nevada in California. I’ve been atop quite a few peaks there, together with Half Dome in Yosemite. Mountain climbing that 8,846-foot peak is unquestionably harder than Previous Rag, involving virtually twice the mileage and elevation achieve, and ending with a cautious scramble up the graceful dome assisted by cables.
In the meantime, throughout the Appalachians, among the highest peaks have been developed, with close by parking heaps permitting quick access to brief, graded paths resulting in commentary platforms. That does make the summits extra accessible to everybody, however it can also dampen the joys for a lot of outside of us.
In distinction, Previous Rag presents just a little little bit of every little thing adventurers search from a summit hike: a bodily problem, a rugged panorama, and loads of scenic rewards.
We would have stayed longer, however thickening clouds have been rolling in. Mild rains caught us a number of instances on the extra gradual descent, which begins with about 1.5 miles on the Saddle Path and ends with three miles on a hearth street. As we neared the underside, we have been exhausted, in a great way.
“I believe that’s one of many hardest hikes I’ve executed,” mentioned my spouse.
“That may be a basic nationwide park hike,” I mused.
Like a small piece of Yosemite inside Shenandoah Nationwide Park.
