The jewel before winter

I had hoped to save Old Rag for my victory lap but the impending winter and my delayed completion argued for hiking the Old Rag loop sooner rather than later.  So yesterday I climbed the wondrous peak.  As Melanie Perl had suggested, I parked at Berry Hollow which enabled me to complete the Berry Hollow Fire Road and the Old Rag loop without any mileage penalty.

The Berry Hollow FR went up steadily but it's a smaller road than Old Rag and Weakley Hollow Fire Roads so it was quite pleasant.  When I reached the junction with the latter, I walked down it to the Ridge Trail.  As I walked I stole frequent glances through the leafless woods at Old Rag.  Was that a sheet of ice hanging off the northern side of the ridge?  Yes!  Then I thought I remembered something about the Park's closing the Ridge Trail for repair work.  Was this the time they were doing it?  Luckily, on both counts, the trail was open and the ice was avoidable.

Here's some of what I saw going up the Ridge Trail.

Ice coated rock in middle of photo

I started noticing more and more ice as I reached the ridge and first overlook.  I figured I'd find ice in the usual places and on the top and both turned out to be the case. For those readers who haven't hiked Old Rag before, the Ridge Trail is quite a challenging trail.  It winds over, under, and through rocks, involves rock scrambling and even low grade rock climbing in a few places, and it has panoramic views all along the ridge.  Much of the trail is in shadow and once ice forms, it takes a long time to melt. 

 But none of the ice got in the way of my progress.  Muddy and wet trail runners did make me slip a bit on the rocks however.  Sometimes I think I'm getting too old for the Ridge Trail.

As I sat on top eating a late lunch, the sun finally broke through the clouds.  The temperature was still quite cold, though (I'd say the upper 30s).  But it was quite a fine day for hiking nonetheless. 

And the panoramic views from the top of Old Rag were spectacular.

I encountered more ice on the way down

but also trail improvements.  Where before there was a slippery wooden staircase, there is now an excellent stone staircase (below the first shelter).

I finished the loop and returned home.  Just as I left the Rt. 600 to go up and out of the valley, a bright bluebird flew in front of me.  Absolutely goregeous.

A snag on the beltway meant that it took me 4 hours (instead of the usual 2) to get home.

I would like to introduce my blogging partner now.

Black Girl often helps me out by sitting on the keyboard or just pressing a few keys down.

3 more trails finished.  I'll calculate my thermometer progress after I have recalculated my AT miles since I'm unlikely to do the AT through the Park in one go.

One stupid mistake I made earlier this week was NOT to hike the Hull School Trail from Thornton River Trail to the Knob Mt. Trail.  For some reason (and without my Excel table in hand) I thought I had previously hiked this section.  Now, because of my idiocy, I'll have to hike 5 miles to gain 0.7 miles remaining of the Hull School Trail.  GRRRR.