Sarah Howell

For an impromptu weekend adventure, two friends of mine and I decided to go hiking early Sunday morning in Shenandoah. We were to hike Old Rag Mountain. A pretty popular mountain, we thought that Super Bowl Sunday would be a pretty good day to go check out the sights, early in the day, to beat any possible traffic or crowd and still drive back to DC in time for the Big Game. 

While I had hiked Old Rag before, somehow I had erased from my memory some of the strenuous and/or stressful parts of the hike. As a fairly casual hiker, this mountain was pretty tough. However, the three of us did not hesitate to drive over 2 hours south/south west to the spot. Even though the weather forecast was very promising and warm, we forgot the fact that in early February, the trails and paths would possibly still contain snow or ice. 

What could have been a 4 hour hike thus transpired over the course of 6 hours. Granted we walked at a quick but relaxed pace, and also enjoyed a few photo ops and snack breaks, Old Rag was a challenging, muddy and fun adventure with plenty of laughs, some scrapes and bruises, and a most satisfying meal in an English pub in Flint Hill, VA.  

It was a most glorious day, and I could not think of a better way to spend it with such beautiful weather and great company.

Check out more photos on my instagram page too.