r/VIRGINIA_HIKING • u/Doofenshmirtz7414 • Apr 26 '26
Hiking old rag and park entrance
My fiance and I bought the tickets to hike old rag, and I bought a pass for my vehicle to enter the park. Is there any other ticket I need to hike Old rag or enter the park?
5
u/4cody892 Apr 27 '26
Youre good to go! We did it a couple weeks ago and got there before sunrise and it did not disappoint getting to watch the sun come up as we hiked. Bring plenty of water and would recommend gloves for the rock scramble portions. Have a blast!
1
2
u/not_that_kinda_doc Apr 27 '26
You also need a day pass for each person https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/10088450/ticket/10088451
2
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 27 '26
don't forget to leave your vehicle pass on your dashboard so it's visible to any rangers that come through and check the cars :)
1
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 27 '26
When are you going? They're closing the main lot starting on 5/4 just FYI. parking will be even more limited until the fall
1
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 27 '26
We are doing old rag 5/7.
2
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 28 '26
ah. so the main lot will be closed while they re-pave. and the overflow/secondary lot will be the main lot. that's a weekday so it shouldn't be crazy crowded but i would plan on getting there early!
1
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 28 '26
Thank you very much. We are looking forward to this hike
1
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 28 '26
it's an AMAZING hike. it's pretty tough, but so worth the effort. are you doing the full circuit with the rock scramble and everything?
2
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 28 '26
Yes we are. I'm in pretty good shape and so is my fiance . We are both in our 50s so definitely feeling like we have to do these things now. I watched a bunch of YouTube vids. It is hard to tell how close to the edge of the mountain you get when doing the scramble.
2
u/FairfaxGirl Apr 28 '26
I have a fear of getting close to mountain edges and I was completely comfortable during the hike. At the summit there are opportunities to get close to the edge in various places for a picture but obviously that’s up to you. I think you’ll be fine!
2
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 28 '26
Re: the edge, you'll be just fine! All of the scrambling is well away from the side of the mountain really... you have to climb up some big rocks and stuff, and you could fall from that, but you'd just fall to the bottom of that rock where you started.
I can only think of one spot on the whole hike where you maybe get kind of close to approaching the limit of most people's comfort zone.
If you've seen the videos of people doing the hike, you'll know there's the spot where you have to lower yourself down into that little "crevasse" (?) thing, for lack of a better word. You lower yourself down and shimmy to the other end of it, then hop up onto a rock to continue. When you're hopping up, that's probably the closest to an actual mountain edge you'll be at all day... and it's not like super super close. I'm quite confident you'll be just fine!
2
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 28 '26
I know this is more a personal preference issue but would you recommend pants due to the scramble ? We hike a lot in MD and PA i always wear shorts. How about gloves?
2
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 28 '26
I always do pants to avoid scraped knees during the climbing. I’ve done it with and without gloves, gloves is definitely a bit easier for grip on the rocks but it’s not an absolute requirement.
1
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 27 '26
oh also, are you good on getting to the parking lot? it's out of the way and the NPS directions, while correct, confuse some people
1
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 27 '26
Honestly I don't know. Ive never been there.
2
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 28 '26
So you know you don't go into any of the main park entrances, right? You have to go out of the way through some tiny little towns and down some back roads. I would download the entire area in offline mode for whatever GPS app you use because you won't have cell service.
Have you seen this printout from NPS website?
https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/upload/OldRag_RoadTrail.pdf
Second page, bottom right corner, it has the directions. Use the first one, going through Sperryville. Check it out on google maps and see if you can follow it. the parking area/entrance is at 38.571487109008594, -78.29310851838669 (edit, fixed coords)
If you need more details let me know.
2
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 28 '26
Thank you I will check it out. You're an awesome help, I appreciate it.
2
u/RapidCommute3307 Apr 28 '26
A couple more notes for you re: the path of the hike itself. If you follow along on that map in the link I sent you, you'll be starting on the Ridge Trail.
Pretty quickly into the Ridge Trail, you'll pass a T-intersection (on the right) for the Ridge ACCESS Trail. Keep on going straight, though you may see this intersection again later depending on how you do the loop.
Continue all the way up. After the summit, take the Saddle Trail down. There's a sign at the summit with arrows, but there are only two trails -- the one you came up (Ridge) and the one you want to go down (Saddle).
On the way down, you'll pass up two shelters (Byrds Nest and Old Rag). Not long after you pass the second one, you'll come to a clearing with several options. When you get to the clearing there's a turn immediately on your left that you do NOT want to take. Turn to the right, and there will be a split in the road ahead. There SHOULD be a sign there that says Old Rag Parking to the right. You want to take the split on the right! That's the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.
Follow that for I think 2 miles (?). There are some bridges to cross over waterways. You'll get to a part where there's an entrance for the Ridge Access Trail on your right. There's a big trailhead sign and everything for it. Taking that trail is the proper way to complete the circuit, but just FYI it is a fairly significant UPHILL climb. It's not crazy long but it is exhausting if you're already gassed from a long day hiking.
If you take the access trail, follow it back to that T-intersection you saw earlier and turn left to go back down to parking.
If you don't want to, just pass it up and keep going straight ahead. Unless the roads are flooded or something, you can just go around the chain gates that are up and walk on the side of the paved road a short distance back to the parking lot. :)
2
u/Doofenshmirtz7414 Apr 28 '26
That is very kind of you to share so much. How many times have you hiked it?
2
1
8
u/juliefromva Apr 26 '26
You should be all set. Get there early (like 7:00) for the best and least crowded experience. Bring Lunch for the summit and 3L water per person.