Old Rag - November 17, 2015

Iva, Kelly, and Dave take a breather

View from the top of Old Rag

November has brought us some amazing weather!  Five hikers took advantage of the warm, still day to hike Old Rag including Kelly O'Rourke, Dave Borszich, Iva Gillet, Bill Holman, and Marit Anderson (leader).  Unfortunately Lynn Dawson and Grace Nui could not meet as planned.
Midweek hiking allowed us to have the trail almost to ourselves as we ascended via the Ridge Trail.  We loved all the rock scrambles and squeezes, overlooks, and soaring buzzards and hawks.  Bill met us at the summit and we enjoyed our lunch and apple cake together. In the distance we admired Stoney Man and Robertson Mountain.  We crossed on the Saddle Trail and split at the intersection of Weakley Hollow Fire Road (Kelly, Dave, Marit) and Berry Hollow Fire Road (Bill and Iva as they headed north to the PATC banquet in Vienna). The group covered 9.59 miles and 2,464 ft of ascent.  The return along Brokenback Run was especially nice as the stream bed was quite full.  Old Rag is still one of our favourites, so we were happy to climb it before winter sets in.

submitted by Marit Anderson