Virginia is an amazing state – from the city to the rolling countryside, the natural beauty and monumental splendor is endless. My best friend lives in D.C. and I’ve visited her in the city many times. But a few years ago we decided to embark on an epic hiking road trip adventure. We rented a car and toured the state for a week – and man, what a week! That car got some miles, baby! Virginia is magnificent, but I’m going to cut right to the chase on this post. We did about five hikes that week, and they were all beautiful and incredible in their own way. But our hands down favorite was Old Rag Mountain, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park. This hike was the second one we did on our trip and unfortunately no hike after this compared to its splendor.
Old Rag Mountain – Do Your Research First!
Let me preface this post by saying that we did virtually no research for this trip. We found a list of the top hikes, quickly picked out the most interesting, mapped a route, packed the car and off we went! With pretty much no hiking experience (I’m a Florida girl who has seen nothing but sand castles up until this point) we had no idea what we were in for. So by reading this post – kudos, you’ve already done more research than we did! All this to say, please don’t follow our footsteps! There is a list of safety tips on the National Park Services Web site, please read them and PLAN.
Old Rag Mountain – We’re Here!
We started this hike without knowing much other than, its extremely strenuous but totally epic. We started the ascent and noticed backpackers with some serious equipment and we immediately knew we were in over our heads. We got a late start, scarfed down cold pizza in the car, and had some waters and Cliff bars for the hike. But, we just got here and weren’t turning back until we tackled this mountain!
Old Rag Mountain, Virginia – Are We There Yet? The Longest Three Miles!
For about the first three miles you will still be climbing from the woods – see the photos above. Again, not knowing exactly what we were going to see (literally no research) we were a little bit skeptical about what we were climbing “to”. It was a pretty steep hike with about 9 switchbacks before you get to to the rock scramble, and it was TOUGH! We went in early September, it was HOT, we definitely took too many breaks and probably finished our water and snacks way too early. Tip: try to get through the forested part as fast as you can, because you will want to take your time once you get to the scramble.
Finally the landscape begins to change and you will start to see the granite rocks start forming around you. As you continue onward you’ll come to the first lookout and it was an amazing view. It was super rewarding to see this after trekking through the trees for what felt like forever. We had no idea the sights that were up ahead so we paused to take in the beautiful scenery. But this still doesn’t compare to what was coming.
The Rock Scramble on Old Rag Mountain – Is This What We Signed Up For? Are We Crazy?
As you continue on, you will start to embark on the rock scramble. We had no idea what was coming today, so we took a breath and got to climbing. I kind of didn’t realize this is what we were doing for a while until about an hour into it. I think I read somewhere that it was a “rock scramble” but I don’t think I knew what that meant! FYI you need to be able to actually climb rocks! You will need some arm strength to pull yourself up and the cardiovascular health to make this uphill climb. It was thrilling and exhilarating and I was just amazed at the magnitude of these boulders. This climb was the biggest challenge I ever took on physically and I was having a blast!
Safety Tip: please be sure to follow the blue marks indicating which way the trail continues, you NEVER want to venture off trail, especially this one.
Old Rag Mountain – The Second Overlook
We finally made it to this second overlook and wow – what a view! But we weren’t done yet. We had lots more scrambling to do. We took some shots of this amazing landscape and got back to it. See the boulders going out the mountain in the photo below? That’s what we had ahead of us from this second overlook!
Old Rag Mountain – Just Keep Going!
We finally made it to the top and still had some energy to goof off and take photos with this giant boulder. Again, these giant granite rocks just amazed me! We were so elated that we made it to the top after some serious serious challenges. There were some places where I had to boost Lauren up, some places where I needed help from new friends along the way too. It was such a cool experience.
The Top of the Mountain! We Climbed Old Rag!
The views were just mind blowing, you could see for miles. After the challenging scramble, the view was incredibly rewarding and absolutely breathtaking. The whole experience is indescribable. The vibe at the summit was awesome, everyone was just taking in the beauty of this magical place as we relaxed after completing the scramble. I couldn’t stop taking photos I just had to make sure I captured the scenery and the moment right!
It took about four hours for us to get to the top, it was now about 5pm and we still had to get back down. There are actually two ways to get to the top, either the rock scramble (which is what we did and you just read about) or the Saddle Trail to the Fire Road. If you do the full loop taking the scramble up, and and then the Fire Road down like we did, it is a pretty easy ascent down, but it was about a mile longer at about 5 miles one way. We decided to take this route to go down because it was getting dark now and we didn’t feel comfortable going down the scramble as tired and achy as we were. We had no equipment, no headlamps, and we needed to hustle to get to the car as soon as possible and get home!
We tried to get back to the car as soon as possible, and since taking the full loop this way it was pretty easy. The whole thing took about 6 hours, but I suggest planning for the whole day. Try to avoid rolling up around 1pm like we did, get there as early as possible on a week day if you can, to minimize crowds. Getting there early will avoid having to rush through like we did and work so hard in the middle of the afternoon.
One more tip, when we went in 2016, there was no cell service the entire time on the mountain as well as a few miles driving up to the parking lot, and back out again. So it took a little guess and check to make sure we were on the right path home. Its also very dark and very narrow roads, on the side of a mountain (pretty scary for this Florida girl). We made it to the car just when it started to get dark out, so we got lost a few times trying to get home. We figured it out, but its worth mentioning in case this makes you a little uncomfortable if you want to plan to get to the car when its still daylight.
We were STARVING by the time we got to the car. We actually had plans to meet some friends camping nearby, but somewhere along the hike one of us thought Cracker Barrel sounded amazing, and it became our chant when we started feeling tired, sore, or hungry to think of Cracker Barrel to get us through! We clung to the thought of syrup and pancakes and hash brown casserole as we clenched the boulders for survival! …Or that’s how we felt at the time. It actually wasn’t so dramatic but once we got the ideas of giant pancakes, biscuits and bacon in our heads, it was pretty hard to let go of. So halfway to our friends’ camp ground we hung a sharp u-turn and looped back to CB and breakfast was on baby! We ordered just about everything on the breakfast menu and holy cow, that was the most enjoyable meal I think I ever had! Look at Lauren’s face! We can’t even stand the excitement! (BTW if you notice the pancakes are missing, don’t worry, they were shortly on their way to our table! We just couldn’t wait to dig in any longer!)
I hope this post was helpful! Leave a comment and let me know if you have ever been to Old Rag Mountain and if this post helped you plan your trip! Make sure to follow me on Pinterest (Amanda Meets World) and Instagram (@Amanda_meets_world_) !
