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.

Robertson Mountain: Wildflowers Everywhere

We have hiked by the trailhead for Robertson Mountain countless times when we've been on Old Rag.  The trailhead is about a mile up the Weakley Hollow Fire Road from the old upper parking lot.  SSW Spouse hiked it last fall while I was visiting family, but I had never been up there.  We wanted a relatively low key hike yesterday.  I had heard that Robertson was pretty steep, but with lots of fire road walking, we figured this would fit the bill.

We started from the lower parking lot for Old Rag, so we had to walk the 0.8 miles to the upper lot before starting up the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.  The flowers started immediately.  We made it just past the Hughes River bridges, less than a quarter of a mile, and I had to stop to take pictures.  Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium) were everywhere.  As we climbed, we found Trillium grandiflora (Giant Trillium) and a flower I've never seen before on Old Rag or anywhere else:  Obolaria virginica (Pennywort).  The road itself was lined with redbuds and dogwoods blooming against the bright green of the new leaves on the larger trees.

At the Robertson Mountain trailhead, we left the road and began following Corbin Run steadily uphill.  Soon we left the run and began slowly switchbacking up the east side of Robertson Mountain.  Some of the switchbacks were steep, but nothing too difficult.  We caught an occasional glimpse of Old Rag, whose lower slopes were green with new leaves.  Numerous false summits dot the Robertson Mountain trail.  At least four or five times it seems that the top is just around the next corner, until you see the next rise above it.  After 1.6 miles, we reached the summit and got a nice view of Old Rag and Weakley Hollow.  I wondered where the steep part was supposed to be since it just wasn't that difficult of a climb.  On checking the map, I was surprised to learn that Robertson Mountain is actually five feet higher than Old Rag.  I had always been under the impression that it was lower.

The hike down was primarily on fire roads, once we walked the 0.8 miles down from the summit to the Old Rag Fire Road.  We enjoyed a leisurely walk, pausing to take pictures of wildflowers.  It was a really nice hike.  We saw just a couple of other people on the summit.  If one wanted to hike it with less road walking, one could connect the Corbin Hollow trail with the Robertson Mountain trail to make a loop.  We will probably try that next time since we haven't done the Corbin Hollow trail.

Lots of pictures (click to enlarge):

 Walking up the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.  Spring has arrived.

 Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium).

Podophyllum peltatum (Mayapple)

 Obolaria virginica (Pennywort).  I had never seen this flower before.  After SSW Spouse noticed it the first time, we saw it everywhere.

Spring slowly moving up the slopes of Old Rag.

 Silene caroliniana (Wild Pink)

The summit of Old Rag. 

 Bootshot over Weakley Hollow from the summit of Roberston.

 Corydalis flavula (Yellow Corydalis).  The flowers are quite small, less than 1/2" long.

 Uvularia perfoliata (Bellwort).  This is a member of the lily family.  Its species name comes from the way the leaves wrap around the stem (see the leaf above the flower). 

 Potentilla canadensis (Dwarf Cinquefoil).  These little plants look similar to strawberries, particularly once the flowers fade, but their leaves have five parts instead of three. 

 Redbuds and dogwoods blooming along the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

Anemone quinquefolia (Wood Anemone).