Furlough Hikes: Old Rag and White Oak Canyon (January 2019)

January 2019 will forever be remembered as the month of government shutdown.  The month of sleeping until noon...the month of waking up to a empty calendar...for 35 days.  While we certainly had our share of sleepy mornings in Arlington, we got out to Shenandoah twice for winter hikes.  With the rare luxury of mid-week hiking, we chose two routes that get notoriously crowded on summer weekends -- Old Rag and White Oak Canyon.

This was our first time hiking Old Rag's famous rock scramble route.  Last summer, we night-hiked the much-easier horse trail, so we were stoked to see what the scramble was all about.  

"Ima climb you!"

We pulled into the Old Rag parking lot under overcast skies, with temps hovering around 40F, hoping to speed up the mountain to avoid the rain forecasted for the afternoon. After an hour of steady hiking, we began to hit the rock scramble.  We were both impressed by the scrambles, which were more technical than we had expected.

The Park Service was nice enough to leave one open potty!

Getting technical!

Halfway down, the gray skies finally gave in, and a light drizzle began to fall.  Still riding our summit high, we happily covered our packs and drew our hoods...listening to the pat-pat as we descended.

Finally a little rainy on the mountain

A week later, still furloughed, we spotted an unseasonably warm day forecasted and set out to hike White Oak Canyon.  It's easy to see why this trail is so popular.  Almost immediately, we began passing waterfall after waterfall.  The further we climbed into the canyon, the more spectacular the falls became.  This valley is home to the tallest falls in Shenandoah National Park.  Each fall came complete with a crystal clear pool, almost surely holding native brookies.

One of countless falls 

View from White Oak Canyon 

Once we'd had our fill of waterfall spotting, A strung her hammock to read, and I put together my fly-rod.  Right on schedule, the sun and springy weather was chased away by a drizzly cold front.  After sticking out the fishing long enough to remind myself how terrible I am at nymphing, we packed up and headed to Taco Tuesday in Arlington.  Happy Hour still exists for furloughed Feds! 

The cold front appears out of nowhere