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 parking zone. The Ridge Path wasn’t too crowded, however nearly everybody appeared to be sprinting out of the gate, making an attempt 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 children 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 toes when heading within the recommended clockwise course.
I’d heard good issues about this difficult summit hike, which is the most well-liked path in Shenandoah Nationwide Park. Most of the park’s 1.5 million annual guests come from the Washington, D.C. metro space, situated about 90 miles east. In recent times, Previous Rag had developed a popularity for overcrowding, notably throughout summer time and fall weekends. At instances, traces of hikers may type beneath the trickier spots.
Then in 2022, the park service adopted a rising development at widespread outside websites. They instituted a day by day quota system, capping Previous Rag customers at 800 per day. The $2 tickets are launched on Recreation.gov, with half accessible 30 days prematurely and the remaining accessible 5 days forward. Two weeks earlier than, I’d focused our hike for a weekday, not figuring out what to anticipate. After we checked in on the entrance station, the ranger stated solely about 350 spots had been reserved that day.
From Forest to Granite
For a mile, the path rose step by step by a powerful hardwood forest earlier than steepening with a sequence of rocky switchbacks. As predicted, we slowly handed many of the teams who had rushed forward firstly. Some people had been resting on rocks. Others stored glancing nervously uphill. A number of folks circled and went again down.
As we ascended, deciduous bushes gave solution to an rising variety of conifers. A gradual mist blew eerily by 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 had been folks slowly making their manner towards the summit. To both facet had been broad 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 buddies with a number of teams transferring at roughly the identical tempo. Sometimes, we took breaks collectively and chatted about our impressions of the park.
An “Jap Park within the Western Custom”
Each Shenandoah and Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Parks had 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 purchases, donations, and controversial declarations of eminent area. The method was nonetheless underway within the early 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 Massive Meadows Campground. At simply over 3,500 toes, this widespread space usually has a gradual breeze and gentle temps in comparison with the valleys beneath. After organising, we walked over to the customer heart and did a brief hike to Darkish Hole Falls. Tenting at Massive Meadows put us within the coronary heart of the park, about an hour from Previous Rag. It’s essential to notice that the trailhead is situated on the jap fringe of the park, so you must drive out and round by Sperryville.
Except for 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 kind of metamorphic volcanic rock. This consists of the park’s highest level, Hawksbill Summit at 4,050 toes, which will be reached by a number of quick 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 strategy the three,284-foot summit.
Rock Scramble to the Summit
The most effective a part of mountain climbing Previous Rag started a couple of mile beneath the summit, round 2,200 toes. That’s the place the trickier rock scrambling began. At first, this principally concerned mounting rounded boulders utilizing arms and toes. My spouse was doing effectively however getting cautious about what was to return. Glancing forward, we may see the terrain steepened.
“That is powerful,” she stated, wiping away sweat throughout a break.
One cause for her nervousness was as a consequence of our prior encounter with a “huge talker.” Three months earlier than, we had been chatting with a hiker on a waterfall path within the Smokies. When he heard we had been heading to Previous Rag, he turned critical.
“That’s a harmful hike,” he stated. “You’re mainly mountain climbing with no rope.”
The best way he went on to explain ascending Previous Rag, prefer it was corresponding to free soloing El Capitan, didn’t sound correct. However his warning had clearly rattled my spouse.
“Perhaps I ought to skip that one,” she stated, the second he was gone.
I disagreed. The man was clearly speaking himself up by over-selling the issue of Previous Rag. Sure, we wanted 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 received used.
After a fast relaxation, my spouse and I reached our first actual “transfer” on Previous Rag. A sunken crevice about eight toes deep. There have been a number of methods to descend, and it jogged my memory of exploring slot canyons out West. Our method concerned scooting ahead into the hole and reducing ourselves utilizing legs, arms, and our bodies to wedge in opposition to the partitions. As soon as our toes rested on a slim ledge, we crept rigorously to the tip.
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 method. The primary lady taught her good friend, and step by step 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. Typically we hand-walked. A number of instances we crab-walked. One intriguing function was a pure staircase rising up by one other slim crevice. We spent an hour on the rock scramble, stopping usually to attend for others, tempo ourselves, and benefit from the views.
A Traditional Nationwide Park Hike
By midday we had been on high, having lunch whereas sitting on clean boulders. Close by had been a dozen different hikers, every of them clearly drained however buzzing with pleasure. All the time an excellent signal.
Granite is my favourite kind 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 certainly harder than Previous Rag, involving nearly twice the mileage and elevation achieve, and ending with a cautious scramble up the sleek dome assisted by cables.
In the meantime, throughout the Appalachians, a number of the highest peaks have been developed, with close by parking heaps permitting quick access to quick, graded paths resulting in statement platforms. That does make the summits extra accessible to everybody, however it can also dampen the fun for a lot of outside people.
In distinction, Previous Rag gives just a little little bit of every part adventurers search from a summit hike: a bodily problem, a rugged panorama, and loads of scenic rewards.
We’d have stayed longer, however thickening clouds had 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 fireplace highway. As we neared the underside, we had been exhausted, in a great way.
“I feel that’s one of many hardest hikes I’ve carried out,” stated my spouse.
“That could be a basic nationwide park hike,” I mused.
Like a small piece of Yosemite inside Shenandoah Nationwide Park.
