Cleansing of the soul

Safety first

Finally an opportunity to get out in nature again, in good weather. Since the weather was poor in Great Smoky, the only outdoorsy stuff we had done was the kayaking in Melbourne. But now the time had come to hike the (in)famous Old Rag Mountain. We were quite nervous due to the fact that you have to watch a safety video online to get access to the maps from the National park service.

Despite this, we decided to give it a go. We woke up at 7, got breakfast at the hotel, and set off around 8, and arrived at the trail head at 9. The temerature was a brisk 6-7 degrees, so Sindre with his lack of wool shirt, and his $1 pants from the dollar store, was feeling quite cold. We were both quite negative, and wondering what the hell we were doing.

Some climbing was required

But as the day went on, the sun got higher, and the climb steeper, we both got nice and warm, and had to change into shorts and t-shirts to keep cool. The hike was not at all as scary as the National Park Service and other sites described it, but just a nice hike, with some decent scrambling. We got to the top in two hours, passing two groups on the way up.

And some caves passed throug

The views was great, and you appreciate them way more when you have hiked to see them, compared to just driving to a viewpoint in a car.

Route and map

The hike down was tedious and boring as they usually tend to be, but we met some horses, saw a deer and enjoyed the sun.

And rocks crawled under

Mountain Goat

Safely down we both agreed that 14 km was just about enough for two people out of training, and drove back to Culpeper. Here we got food at an Italian restaurant with an average age of 80, and relaxed in bed.

But the weather was nice

Summitselfie

Boulderjumping

And the views decent

Was nice below the bushline as well