I had planned on taking Sam to hike Old Rag back in January, but the weekend of the camping trip we had Snowmageddon 2016, and Shenandoah Nat'l Park was closed. Two weeks ago, the weather was perfect, and Sam's soccer hadn't started yet, so we decided on a whim to go on the camping trip that got snowed out in January.
I got off work as early as I could. I crammed a bunch of stuff in my backpack, and I made Sam cram some of his own stuff in his backpack. We headed out to the Berry Hollow trailhead to Old Rag (Berry Hollow is a 5.5 mile out-and-back route rather than the usual 9 mile loop trail) at about 5pm. We got there at 7pm. Our car was the only one in the 10-car parking lot. It was pitch black, and I'd never been there before. We got our stuff more organized, and hit the trail to look for a backcountry camping spot, which, it turns out, is hard to do in the dark when you've never been somewhere before. I was feeling a heavy fatherly burden to keep Sam from being eaten by a bear or an Appalachian cannibal redneck, so I wasn't sure if we should make lots of noise (to scare away bears) or no noise (to avoid attracting rednecks). In the end, we tried to make a moderate amount of noise (for the bears) but to keep a low profile (for the rednecks).
After walking down the main path for 10 or 15 minutes, we found a small offshoot trail that led to a perfect campsite about 100' off the main path (and out of sight of the main path--part of the low profile). We set up our tent, found a big flattish rock a ways away to cook dinner on, hung our food up in a tree (for the bears, and possibly the rednecks), and went to bed.
This is a picture of Sam standing exactly where our tent was. He was making a funny face, of course. I forgot to take a picture before packing up the next morning. We woke up about six o'clock and were hiking by seven.
Either I have an inadequate sleep system, or I'm terrible at sleeping when camping. I tend to sleep for a couple hours, wake up for what seems like a couple hours, toss and turn a lot, then fall asleep for another two or three hours before waking up for good. By way of background, I have a good 0-degree non-mummy sleeping bag and an inflatable sleeping pad. I use my puffy coat for a pillow. I'm open to any suggestions on improving my camping sleep experience.
There are a few really pretty views on the way up. Here's one:
This is looking west into Shenandoah. Just lots of trees and mountains.
At the top it was really cold and windy. Hence the socks on Sam's hands in the photo below. When we got to the top, there was only one other guy up there. By the time we left there were probably 10-15 people up there.
The summit rock is behind Sam and to his left here.
Looking back east. You can see Sam on the right side of the panorama.
Sam was the only little kid we saw the whole time. He did a great job. We got back to the car at about 11:30am, got packed back up, and drove back home. We stopped at a Tastee Freez in Gordonsville for lunch. It was the only thing I really saw in town. I remember when I was little that Tastee Freez had all sorts of delicious milk shake options. I was excited for my butterscotch milkshake. This one had a grand total of four flavors: chocolate, vanilla, banana (I think), and some kind of chocolate mint. (I think the chocolate mint was somehow in honor of St. Patrick's Day. No idea how banana makes the permanent list with vanilla and chocolate.) Total let down. After we ordered our overpriced stuff, I turned around and saw a Burger King right across the street. Don't know how I missed that.
Another interesting thing about the Tastee Freez was their drawing to win the "World's Largest Easter Bunny." It was a stuffed animal bunny hanging from a hook in the ceiling and was probably 2.5 feet tall. I've eaten larger hollow chocolate Easter bunnies as a child. Why are they always hollow? And why do their candy eyes always taste so gross?
We had a great time on our trip together. Sam's favorite part was the camping. My favorite part was the view from the top.
