By As I set out on this quest to see the best America has to offer, I started out with the more obvious mountainous areas in a 10-hour driving radius from West Michigan, where the views would be amazing. This one hike kept popping up on all the research sites I was perusing. I read the description, the reviews, saw the photos and videos and knew this had to be my first trip. It is a 9.3 mile loop at Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The first 4 miles is a 2400 ft. climb up the face of the mountain. The last mile of the climb is described as a boulder scramble, that is followed by the summit itself, and then a 5.2 mile hike down the backside of the mountain to the parking area.
I found a campground a couple hours north of the hiking trail, as there wasn’t much availability in the Shenandoah National Park on the weekend I was planning to go. Unbeknownst to me, it was National Public Lands Day and the park access was free that Saturday. It made it busier than normal and there were a few large groups in the area that weekend. I’m really glad I found the campground that I did though, because it was amazing.
The McCoy’s Ferry Campground in Clear Springs, MD (link below) was great. There is a tunnel access to get to the sites and luckily the height was 10’3” in the center. The Sprinter could squeeze through it if I drove right down the middle and was totally worth it. The site is right on the Potomac river on the Maryland side and was excellent. This is a non-powered campground and has several portable toilets that were very clean. There are no showers at this location, so come prepared. https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/252969
I jumped in the drivers seat of the van at right around 5:00 a.m. to get to the trail head. I was about 2 hours and 20 minutes north, but knew there wouldn’t be any traffic at that hour. All the reviews I read said to get to the parking area around 7:00 a.m. because it can fill up fast. It’s normally a $15 fee to park at the trailhead, so bring some cash. I was gearing up at the van and noticed several warning signs about bears and how they are day active at Old Rag. I figured with the amount of people on the trail that day that there wouldn’t be any issues. I was on the access road to the trail head by 7:30 a.m. and had a small hydration pack with 3 liters of water for this trip. It was enough as it wasn’t that hot that day.
The trailhead is well marked with a full-size map on the board. You can see upon walking up that the trail is very rocky and the climb starts right at the marker, or actually a little before. This is exactly what I was looking for and the excitement was building for what the day was about to bring. I had a decent pace through the first couple miles of the climb and even saw a few deer running through the ravine as I moved along. There are several switchbacks and natural rock steps as you gradually climb the first few miles. There is a point where you realize its getting much steeper and you are approaching the boulder scramble. Very impressed with this trail at this point in the hike.
The boulder scramble exceeded every expectation I had and the descriptions and photos do it no justice. This was a solid mile of navigating ravines, boulders, cliffs, and caves to get to the marked trail connectors on the ridge. Nothing short of amazing and it will bring me back here several more times. There were some challenging parts to navigate in this section and some experience or a hiking buddy would be helpful. There was a line at some of the more challenging areas since the pace slowed way down. I’m not sure how busy it is on a normal day, but there was about 30 min of total wait time in the entire scramble. It forced me to slow down and take in the scenery, which was breathtaking.
The summit was great and there were plenty of areas to stretch out, take your pack off and have a picnic. There is no bad photo from up here and it should be enjoyed. I took about 20 minutes to take it all in, eat a protien bar, hydrate, and I was back on the trail.
The descent is 5.2 miles and the first 2 of that is steep cut backs and rocks. Once out of this section, you connect with a fire road that takes your the last few miles. This is all downhill and the pace definitely increases at this point.
The entire trail took me 5 hours and 15 min with the wait times. My GPS said it was 4 hours and 15 minutes of hiking and 56 minutes of rest time. This trail is amazing and I would recommend that everyone get out there if you can! It was a great first trail to get this adventure started.
You can see more photos on my Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/p/B2992M8FXc-/
Here is the link to the AllTrails map to start planning your trip! Enjoy! https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/virginia/old-rag-mountain-loop-trail
exploitsandadventures.com 