Epic Day on Robertson Mountain and Stony Man

Epic.  That is the only word that can describe what transpired yesterday.  We planned to hike Old Rag and Robertson Mountain in a figure eight, which would have been a long hike (~14 miles) with quite a bit of climbing and, of course, the Old Rag rock scramble.  We ended up hiking almost 21 miles with more than 4500 feet of climbing.  Michael and I broke our personal distance records by 4 and 3 miles, respectively.  And we never did hike Old Rag.  

We were late meeting Horizontal Tread and another friend due to a traffic hangup on the beltway, so we didn’t get to the parking lot until 8:30.  By that time, it was already half full. We all agreed that, rather than starting with Old Rag, we should end the day there so we would still avoid the inevitable lines.  Then there was a suggestion to add Stony Man Mountain to the mix, making what promised to be a challenging day into a truly epic day.  

We spread the map out and picked a long route that would take us over Robertson Mountain, down into Nicholson Hollow, up to Stony Man, and back down with a side trip over Old Rag (the full route is below the pictures for anyone who is interested).  Phew!  I’m worn out just typing that.  What I failed to do in the parking lot, was a quick tally of the mileage.  In the long run, that was probably good, because, had I realized what we had just planned, I likely would have pushed for something shorter.

Anyway, the flowers were blooming along the Weakley Hollow Road and we were grateful for overcast skies on the climb up to Robertson.  We took a break for lunch at the summit of Robertson. The hike up the Old Rag Fire Road and to the saddle on Indian Run Trail went by quickly.  Indian Run Trail is just as steep as I remembered it, but going down wasn’t as bad as climbing it and the Nicholson Hollow Trail up to Skyline Drive was a pretty easy climb. In contrast to the crowds on Old Rag, by the time we reached Skyline Drive, at the top of the Nicholson Hollow Trail, we had seen a grand total of 8 people.  

By this time it was sunny and probably around 80 degrees.  Since it has been cool for the last couple of weeks, the heat was bothering me a little.  The trees high on the ridge haven’t really begun to leaf out, so there is little shade.  I stopped at one point to pour some water over my head, which did help. In July, I would be grateful for 80 degrees, but it is April. We took a break in the Stony Man Overlook parking area before heading south to Little Stony Man and then on to Stony Man Mountain.  

By the time we reached Skyland resort, it was after 4 pm and we still had a lot of hiking left to do.  We took stock of where we were and how far we had to go and realized we just didn’t have enough time, on a Sunday evening to do Old Rag.  Even without it, we still had 8 miles to hike.  We also decided to get dinner at Skyland, which would give us a longer break and the chance to rehydrate.  Sitting there, waiting for a menu, I finally did that quick tally of how far we had come:  12.5 miles.  That was kind of a startling moment.  Dinner was good and we drained more than a pitcher of iced tea.  

Refreshed, we made good time down the long, quiet fire roads back to the car, catching glimpses of Old Rag in the sunset along the way.  We made it back to the car just after dark.  It took us 11 1/2 hours, but that also included almost 1 1/2 hours at Skyland, so we made reasonably good time.  The amazing thing is that I feel pretty good today: just a little stiff and a little footsore.

Pictures (click to enlarge):

Uvularia perfoliata (Perfoliate Bellwort) on the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

 Orobranche uniflora (One-Flower Cancerroot)

 Galearis spectabilis (Showy Orchis)

 Mitella diphylla (Miterwort) on the Indian Run Trail.

 Michael and the Stony Man Overlook parking area with Stony Man in the background.

 Viola pedata (Birds Foot Violet)

 Green creeping up the valleys from the top of Stony Man.

 Phlox subulata (Moss Phlox)

 The sign on Skyline Drive at Skyland Resort. 

 Shadows growing long on the Old Rag Fire Road.

Old Rag at sunset from the Old Rag Fire Road.

The full route that we actually hiked:  1) Weakley Hollow Fire Road to Robertson Mountain; 2) Up and over Robertson Mountain and then up the Old Rag Fire Road to the Corbin Mountain Trail; 3) Corbin Mountain Trail to Indian Run Trail; 4) Indian Run Trail to Nicholson Hollow Trail, following that up to Skyline Drive; 5) a short walk south on Skyline Drive to pick up the Appalachian Trail south 6) Appalachian Trail across Little Stony Man to Stony Man Mountain, where we took the Stony Man Summit Trail to the top; 7) Skyland Horse Trail to Skyland Resort; 8) the Skyland Big Meadows Horse Trail to Old Rag Fire Road to Post Office Junction; and (finally) 9) back to the car via the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

Corbin Mountain and Robertson Mountain: A Sunset Hike

We got a rather late start on Saturday.  We had to pick up our weekly vegetable box from the local farmers' market before we left town and our friend was a few minutes late.  We did not start hiking until after 11:30 a.m.  This hike, like the one we did two weeks ago, starts at the Old Rag Fee Station.  The station was predictably busy, but we left the crowd when we turned off on the trail to Nicholson Hollow.  We hiked the mile to the junction with the Corbin Mountain Trail, which is one of the few trails we had not hiked in the area.  We took a left on Corbin Mountain, crossed the Hughes River, and took a quick break for lunch. 

Less than a mile up the trail, we spotted a small waterfall on a tributary of the Hughes River, just off the trail.   There was an old footpath leading to the top of it, but getting below it involved a scramble down the ravine.  Below the first waterfall was a second, smaller cascade, shown above, so I scrambled down to it, and managed to grab some greenbriar in the process.

Once back on trail, we began the serious climbing.  Hannah Run and Robertson Mountain Trails get all the attention for being difficult climbs, but the Corbin Mountain Trail (below) is no slouch.  Although not quite as steep as either of those, it is plenty steep in places and the climbing is sustained over a longer distance.  The trail wound around, through a pretty little valley with the ruins of an old farm, before climbing again.  Several times, we thought we were at the top of the ridge, only to turn a corner and find the trail ascending a slope in front of us.  The trail finally leveled out and we reached the junction with the Indian Run Trail. 

Since the days are so short right now, even though it was only 3 p.m., the sun was already low in the sky.  It was apparent that we were going to be hiking out in the dark, but we wanted to finish the Robertson Mountain trail while we still had some light.  We hurried up the trail to the junction with the Old Rag Fire Road, where we turned left towards the Robertson Mountain Trail. 

The climb to the summit of Robertson Mountain from the Weakley Hollow Fire Road is one of the steepest in the park, but coming from the Old Rag Fire road, it is a quick, pretty moderate climb through mountain laurel of less than a mile.  I love Robertson Mountain.  The summit has a nice view of Old Rag and Weakley Hollow, there are a few rocks to scramble around on, and few people hike it.  We spent quite a bit of time taking pictures of the sunset.  Of course, then we had to descend that steep, leaf covered, rocky trail in the fading light.  We went as fast as we could, which wasn't that fast, and just made it to the Weakley Hollow Fire Road as it got too dark to see the trail easily.

 An old tree on the summit of Robertson.

Bootshot over Weakley Hollow.

Fork Mountain from the summit of Robertson.

Dried Hylotelephium telephioides (Wild Live-Forever) on Robertson

Looking north from Robertson towards the Hazel Mountain area.

Old Rag in the fading light on the way down the Robertson Trail.

A Wild Berry Weekend: Nicholson Hollow and Old Rag (ORMS)

A rare three-day weekend inspired us to get out of the city.  We were scheduled for Old Rag on Sunday, so we decided to do some hiking on Saturday, camp, and then meet the rest of the Old Rag Mountain Stewards on Sunday morning.  We arrived at the Old Rag parking lot at 11 a.m. to find it mostly full and a bit crazy, so we got our things together, filled out our permit and headed up the road to the Nicholson Hollow Trail.

Nicholson Hollow Trail is literally right next to Old Rag.  We pass the traihead every time we hike Old Rag, but for some reason, we had never hiked it.  The trailhead itself is about halfway between the Old Rag parking lot and the old Upper Parking lot.  The trail starts on private land, crossing Brokenback Run and the Hughes River.  After half a mile, we crossed into the park and started looking for a campsite.  The plan was to find a campsite relatively close to the road so we would have a quick, easy hike to the parking lot in the morning.  At the junction of the Nicholson Hollow Trail and the Corbin Mountain Trail, we found one that fit the bill:  shady, flat, near the water.  It even had a small waterfall nearby. 

We ate lunch and set up camp before continuing up the Nicholson Hollow Trail.  The trail follows the Hughes River slowly uphill.  We passed Hot Short Mountain and Hannah Run Trails, also ones we have yet to do.  We passed a few trail runners, but few other people.  Evidence of the pre-park establishment settlements was everywhere:  stone walls, a hearth, house foundations, and piles of rocks.  After a couple of miles, we came to Corbin Cabin, which was restored and is maintained by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.  We took a short break before continuing on the Indian Run Trail.  The trail dwindled to a rocky path and climbed steeply over the next mile to the saddle between Stony Man and Thorofare Mountain.  Each time we thought we might be at the top of the saddle, we would turn a corner to find it climbing even more steeply in front of us.  It wasn't the most difficult climb I've ever done, but it was a good workout. 

At the junction with the Corbin Mountain Trail, we turned right towards the Old Rag Fire Road.  The trail appeared to get even less use than the Indian Run Trail.  In places, the trail is just a grassy path through the trees.  After a few minutes, we found an old spring right next to the trail.  The ice cold water felt fantastic splashed on my face and hair.  At the Old Rag Fire Road, we turned downhill for a half a mile to the Corbin Hollow Trail.  We pass the bottom of the Corbin Hollow Trail every time we hike Old Rag, but it is another one that we've never set foot on.  From the Old Rag Fire Road, the trail descends steeply to Brokenback Run and then follows it, through quiet, beautiful woods to the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

We had not seen anyone since we left Corbin Cabin, on the Nicholson Hollow Trail.  The moment we stepped out onto the Weakley Hollow Fire Road, we see a family, coming down from Old Rag who was out of water.  They had a few small, empty water bottles on a 90 degree day and the kids were complaining of being thirsty.  We gave them chlorine tablets so they could get water out of the stream and continued on our way.  We arrived back in camp at dinnertime.  We had wineberries that we had picked along the way for dessert (we had plenty of them while we were hiking, too.  And black raspberries.  And blueberries).  While we drank tea, a Great Blue Heron flew low over our campsite.  As the sun went down, fireflies lit up the forest and whippoorwills called across the valley.

We awoke around 4 a.m. on Sunday morning to a raging thunderstorm working its way down the valley.  At one point, I was laying awake, counting the seconds between flashes of lightning and thunderclaps, there was no delay, meaning the storm was right on top of us.  In the morning, after breakfast (with wineberries in our oatmeal!), we packed up and returned to the Old Rag parking lot.  While we were waiting for other stewards to arrive, we were able to dry out tent out by draping it over the car.

The day promised to be a quiet one, based on the number of cars in the parking lot.  We hiked up the Ridge Trail with another Steward.  The ripe blueberries along the way were a mild impediment to our hiking.  We had to take a wide sample of blueberries from many bushes to properly assess the quality of this year's crop.  It was hot.  The lower part of the Ridge Trail is back in the corner of the valley, so most of the time, very little wind reaches it.  On hot days, it can be pretty stifling.  We splashed water on our faces and heads at the spring that crosses the trail about halfway up.  Once in the rock scramble, we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  At the summit, we found a spot under the trees to take a break in the breeze.  After some training on anchors at Byrd's Nest Shelter, we made our way down the Saddle Trail to the parking lot in the early evening.  It was a perfect, quiet day on the mountain.

Pictures (click to enlarge):

 The Hughes River at our campsite.

 Our campsite

 The Hughes River.

 Chimaphila maculata (Wintergreen) on the Nicholson Hollow Trail

 An old hearth from pre-park days.

 Actaea podocarpa (Black Cohosh or Black Snakeroot)

 Impatiens pallida (Pale Jewelweed)

 The Corbin Mountain Trail above Indian Run Trail.

 Lysimchia quadrifolia (Whorled Loosestrife) on the Old Rag Fire Road.

 Asclepias exaltata (Poke Milkweed) on the Old Rag Fire Road.

 Sisyrinchium atlanticum (Eastern Blue-Eyed Grass) on the Old Rag Fire Road.

 Monarda clinopodia (Basil Balm) on the Corbin Hollow Trail.

 Wineberries for dessert and breakfast.

 The S-curve on Old Rag.

 An interesting beetle on the summit of Old Rag.

Looking south from Old Rag towards Fork Mountain.