Date: 2014-11-28
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Miles today: 0.0

Gary and I have a sort-of-tradition of going hiking on Thanksgiving Day. It's only a sort-of-tradition because we don't do it anywhere near every year, but often enough to call it a tradition. And when we do, it is always Old Rag, in Shenandoah NP. Old Rag is actually accessed near Sperryville, outside the park, and it is a very popular day hike. The rock scramble at the top is the funnest part of the hike, but with large crowds it can cause annoying bottle necks. Think Hillary Steps on Mt. Everest, but with more oxygen. However, since most people have other things to do on Thanksgiving, it is the perfect day to hike Old Rag. Instead of 200 cars in the parking lot, there were 5 when we started and 18 when we got back. The fact that it snowed the day before and the rock scramble was potentially a bit treacherous may have played a part as well.As a testament to the fact that we are both in decent hiking shape now, we found the approach to the rocks easier than we remembered. It goes pretty well uphill the whole way, but it is not very steep. So yay for conditioning! Once we got to the rocks, things were a little trickier than normal, but overall not too bad. They were definitely a lot wetter though. My hands, butt, and legs were soaked in short order. The real challenge was hiking with a full pack. I decided that it makes no sense to go hiking without making a training hike out of it, so I wore my full pack. But, a rock scramble with anything but a small daypack is a bit of a pain in the ass. This wasn't entirely unexpected, but by the 7th or 8th time taking off my pack, I was done with it. Note to self: do not hike the Mahoosuc Notch in the snow. Or by yourself. There was one spot where Gary had to give me a hand, everything else I managed, though sometimes with some difficulty. It didn't help that I had issues with calf cramps for a while. No idea where that came from and I was fine later. Odd. We saw the most people on our way down, which is supposed to be the easier way up. I am not actually sure it is, it is definitely the longer way. But you can get to the summit without the rock scramble that way. And miss all the fun, of course!My zpacks Arc Blast pack held up great and I am super happy about that. I have read lots of stuff about cuben fiber not being all that resilient to scraping and such, but I was pretty rough with my pack yesterday and had zero problems. At one point I had to lower it down a rock and it ended up upside down in a puddle (much like bread always falls buttered side down on the floor...) and all my stuff stayed perfectly dry. I do use one of zpacks dry bags inside the pack for extra insurance, but I don't think any water got inside the pack at all.I also figured out that my thinner smart wool socks work a lot better for me in my current shoes than my thicker Darn Tough socks. I have had sore pinky toes with the Darn Tough socks but yesterday my feet felt fine the whole way and beyond.It was also the inaugural use of the buff neck gaiter. Worked fine, though when it is wet, the wool smell really comes out. I felt like I was blocking a hand-knit sweater...And, I told my boss and the owner of our company I would be leaving next year, and about my hike. They are open to me returning when I'm ready. Things are coming together! Next up: make a fancy feast stove. I will report back.