Summary

Location: Etlan, VA

Duration: 3 hours 20 minutes to reach the summit (1.5 hours to return from saddle trail).  GPX data to summit available for download below!

Length: 4.82 miles to the summit

Gear: water, pre-cooked food (hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter sandwiches)

Highlights: Hiking through the moonlit darkness to watch an hour-long sunrise from the summit.

Stats:

A Cautionary Note

If this is your first night hike or your first attempt at Old Rag, I recommend you save this for later.  Old Rag is a technical hike that takes its toll even when there is plenty of light.  The darkness accompanied by a sunrise hike presents additional challenges that make the trail more difficult.  For this reason, it is best to do the sunrise hike after you have familiarity with the hike, the terrain, and your comfort levels both with the elevation gain and the rock scramble.  If you are ready for the sunrise hike, then it’s just a matter of tweaking your pre-hike prepwork.

Getting There

In order for this to be a successful sunrise hike, we needed to arrive at the summit before sunrise.  It’s always good to be conservative with time estimates, so we recommend giving yourself 3 hours and 30 minutes to reach the top.  If you are new to night hiking and want to take it nice and slow or have a break midway through, 4 hours and 30 minutes should do the trick.  This means that to enjoy a 6:30 AM sunrise, we need to leave the parking lot and start hiking at 3 AM.

Preparing for the Hike

Aside from food and water, my daypack is always ready to go at any moment.  The components are pretty standard: food, water, and essential tools such as lighting equipment and a multi-tool.  For the sunrise hike though, my headlamp is absolutely mandatory.  A flashlight won’t cut it because for the last mile or so, I really need the dexterity of my fingertips to complete the rock scramble.  My gear list, including headlamp, can be viewed here.

Hiking at Night

There is a certain allure to hiking at night.  The trails are less crowded, which is a huge plus for the more popular trails like Old Rag.  The moonlight is inviting, but perhaps the most enjoyable element of the night  hike is your company: Fear.

You are probably familiar with the fear associated with going into your own backyard in the dark.  Now, magnify that by x10,000 and you will get an idea of what it is like to hike in a remote area in the darkness of nightfall.  Character-building, in my opinion.

In addition to this fear, Old Rag is not necessarily an easy hike.  Even in the daytime, it presents challenges such as a tough climb as well as a rock scramble that will turn even the brawny to skittish (see elevation plot above).

Nevertheless, many enjoy hiking Old Rag in the dark.  In fact, I discovered the sunrise hike while I was hiking Old Rag for the very first time.  It was early enough in the morning to leave me surprised at the fact that anyone else would be finishing the hike while I was midway through it.  As I was climbing up the rocks at 8 AM, there were folks climbing back down.  I have to admit that my fitness ego took a hit before I learned that they had begun their hike several hours earlier.

“We came up early in the morning and hung out for a while to enjoy the sunrise.  I drove from Pennsylvania to do this so if you’re local you must try it!”

And so I did.  And so you must.

Old Rag Sunrise Hike, Moonlit Darkness

Old Rag Sunrise Hike, Reaching the Summit!

Old Rag Sunrise Hike, Watching the Sunrise from Above

Old Rag Sunrise Hike, Watching the Sun Shine on the Foliage Below

Old Rag Sunrise Hike, Post-Hike Pre-Cooked Victory Brunch!