Old Rag Mountain November 2008
I decided early November to hike Old Rag Mountain again. The last time I did this it was summer and much hotter. When I was finished the mountain totally kicked my ass. I promised myself I would come back another time and do the full circuit hike of the mountain. The cool weather of fall was reason enough to try the hike again.
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I was hoping to get another shot at the fall colors but the closer I got to the park the fewer leaves I saw. I was hiking another trail earlier in fall and got a pretty good show. If I had waited another week or two the trees would have been at peak. If I couldn’t get the color at least I got cooler temperatures. This time around it was about 50 degrees in the mountain. Not all that bad in the grand scheme of things, but up there it was pretty windy and that made things pretty cold.
I got an early start that day but I still arrived about 10:30 in the morning. I knew I needed about 4 hours to do the whole circuit so I wanted to get started early. With the days getting shorter it was even more important to get hiking early. So when I arrived I didn’t expect to see many people. Very much like the first time I hiked the trail. However this time when I arrived the parking lot was filled to capacity, a ranger had to direct cars to there spot.
This time around the hike up the mountain was not nearly as bad. This time around I knew what I was getting into and was more prepared for the hike. With the cooler temperatures it made things much more comfortable and I sweated out less fluids. Getting up the mountain took no time at all. When I did make it to the summit you could see clear across several valleys. Most of the trees were bare except for small grooves of maple trees and their bright yellow leaves.
hiking trail in fall
After a few minutes at the summit, and with light fading fast it was time to hike down the mountain. This time I would take the fire road. It was a more steady slop and easier surface to walk down. Even though it was longer it was still faster than hiking down the mountain via the previous path. This way takes you down a perfect path in the forest, eventually meeting up with a creek flowing down to the parking lot.
Another thing that was strange this time around was the amount of people. Even with the lot packed I never thought I would see so many people walking the trail. There was rarely a moment when I was alone on the trial. Mostly that happened on the way up the mountain. At one point everyone was actually stopped on the trail. There were probably 20 people in front of me waiting to get past one particular rock climb.
At the summit is were i saw the most people, just sprawled across several large rock groupings. It was a great place to take a break and have some food. The back drop while you ate lunch was spectacular. It made me wonder what it would look like in the middle of winter with some snow on the ground. Not only would the valley appear to have a wool blanket covering everything up, it would probably be a very deserted place that time of year.
It is a great place to hike and I look forward to the next time I can get out there.
summit of Old Rag
