Let me tell you how this story begins. My two friends Jessi and Rebekah came for a visit and we were going to go out to Shenandoah National Park and go hiking and camping. We spent an evening on skype planning out which trails we would do. Well if you know anything about Shenandoah National Park, you will know the most popular hiking trail in Shenandoah is Old Rag Mountain. I watched youtube video after youtube video to prepare myself for what lay ahead.
The day before we are set to go hiking I drive up to Baltimore Airport to pick up my guests. They were supposed to land at 10:30, which wouldnt have been too bad, home by midnight, get in bed and ready for the hike ahead. Of course their flight was delayed so they didnt land until about 11:00. Still not awful its only an hour home, in bed my midnight, up ready to conquor the day by 7:00.
Well me and Baltimore Airport have a love hate relationship. I love that I can fly direct to Houston, I hate how they cant seem to get baggage here. When mom came to visit her bag didnt show up. While Jessi and Rebekah came to visit, they just couldnt seem to get the baggage off the plane and onto the baggage claim. So around midnight we finally get the baggage and head back towards Vienna.
Now everything I have read about Old Rag suggests you get there early as the parking lot will fill up. So for the drive home, im thinking if we get in bed as soon as we get home we can sleep for 6 hours before we need to get up and leave. This was a perfect plan, except Jessi and Rebekah had never seen my house so I had to give a tour, and they needed to pack their packs since they traveled with regular luggage. And honestly I was still a bit excited that people from Texas were with me, so I wasnt at all ready to go to sleep. Around 2:00 we finally decide to call it a night, and decided we would get up so we could leave around 7:00 in order to be at Old Rag around 8:30.
Needless to say we were moving pretty slow the next morning, four hours of sleep has never really left me feeling refreshed and ready to conquor the day. But knowing what awaits I was excited to get out there.
Between you and me we didnt actually leave by 7:00. It might have taken a little longer to get our stuff together and in the car than originally planned. We got on the road about 7:30 and headed to the local Safeway to do some grocery shopping. At Safeway we picked up 6 gallons of drinking water,some baby carrots, easy cheese, and pop tarts. So far all I had for breakfast up to this point was two cups of coffee. Add to my two cups of coffe a delicious cinnamon and brown sugar pop tart and I was ready.
Part of our plan was to camp for the night at Shenandoah so we could get up and hike a different trail on Saturday. Well by the time I was ready to book a campsite it was only first come first serve available. So this meant before we could get to Old Rag we had to be one of the first to come so we could be the first to get served and reserve a campsite. We roll up to the thornton Gap entrance of Shenandoah National Park. As a side note, did I mention I rented the sweetest nissan versa for this trip. nothing says tough and manly like a nissan versa. Anyway thats a story for another day. AT the Thornton Gap entrance we meet a lovely lady whom I purchase an annual pass from and who gives us directions of which campsite to drive to based on our hiking plans. I told her we wanted to go to Old Rag Mountain and WhiteOak Canyon. She advised the Big Meadows campground would be between the two so we should go left on Skyline Drive.
I've never driven skyline drive before, but I have read about it, and the speed limit is 35 MPH. well unknown to me, the campsite we were going to drive to is 20 miles from the entrance. So 45 minutes later we get to this campsite and reserve a spot. For those keeping track, the time is now after 10:00. Remember earlier when I said all the reviews recommend you get there early as the parking lot fills up?
I ask the ranger how to get to Old Rag mountain, and he politely directs me back to Thornton Gap, where I came in, back through Sperryville and then to Old Rag Mountain. You have to be kidding me, Its an hour away by car, but probably only like a mile and a half by flight. Well this is what we came to do, so this is where we were going. So an hour later, we finally make it to the Old Rag parking lot. To my surprise "they" were wrong. The parking lot was not full. Nope, plenty of room to park my huge Nissan Versa. How could they have been so wrong, it was a Friday during summer vacation. OHHHHH thats right, it was over 100 degrees outside and it was just about noon.
Yep, thats right folks, once we got our backpacks ready and strapped on, it was about 12:00 and we were going to complete a 9 mile hike in over 100 degree weather.
There we are on the way up the mountain.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this incredible adventure.
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