Last week before the heat wave hit all of us here in DC, I took a Wednesday off and escaped to the wilderness for a bit. A friend and I traveled about 2 and a half hours south of the city to go hiking at Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah Valley. We arrived at 10 am and were happy to find only a few parked cars. I've hiked a couple times before but had no idea what to expect from Old Rag. I very quickly realized however, that our day was not going to be a walk in the park.
Old Rag Mountain is pretty distinct because it stands away from the other mountain chains in the Blue Ridge. After hiking up a steady incline and switchbacking for a solid 90 minutes, we reached the base of the rock scramble. From this point on there were boulders to climb over, crevasses to squeeze through and absolutely stunning views of the Shenandoah. On the left we looked over a valley with smaller hills, farmlands and houses. To the right was an endless chain of green mountains and a skyline that seemed to blend into all that was below it. At 3,291 ft we had climbed to the summit of Old Rag and took a hard earned break.
The entire loop is about 7 miles and was super challenging but so rewarding. It was an incredible way to spend a day away from the craziness that is DC and to just hang out in nature. If you like exploring and adventure, I would highly recommend this day hike. You could even turn it into a weekend of camping if you bring your tents! Just remember to have lots of water and some way to snap a few pictures of the scenery.
Keep enjoying the summer, and go play outside!
Alexa
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