Hiking Old Rag will now require a ticket

[joppaj]

SNP announces permanent ticketing system at Old Rag Mountain - Shenandoah National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

The crowds there have made it impossible to enjoy. I can't say I'm shocked. I wonder then the same thing will happen to Billy Goat Trail "A".

 

[BurtonRW]

They already made Billy Goat A “one-way”. Sure it’s only recommended (but strongly encouraged), but at the same time, I’ve seen lines at the wall looking like the folks that get stuck in the line to summit Everest each year.

We were just out in Utah in October, where you need reservations to hike Angels Landing in Zion and a reservation to even enter Arches between 0700-1600.

-Rob

 

[Bertfish]

So you have to pay to get in the park? That doesn't seem abnormal. I don't know this park though

 

[BurtonRW]

So you have to pay to get in the park? That doesn't seem abnormal. I don't know this park though

Yes. But this isn’t that. It’s like an entrance reservation. You still need to pay the entrance fee or have a pass (interagency or otherwise).

I do think it’s BS that they’re charging for the reservation. The other NPS facilities I’m aware of with reservation systems in place don’t charge for them.

-Rob

 

[joppaj]

I do think it’s BS that they’re charging for the reservation. The other NPS facilities I’m aware of with reservation systems in place don’t charge for them.

-Rob

That is surprising, but I don't have experience with the big Western Parks to know if it's unusual.

 

[mpollan1]

I went for a nice 6.5 mile walk (hike?) in Northwest Branch today. Out my back gate, down the hill, took a right on the trail, went under Randolph and continued to the ICC and back. Saw nothing but deer, birds, squirrels and one fox. Never stepped foot on pavement. Not Shenandoah but much closer.

 

[BurtonRW]

I went for a nice 6.5 mile walk (hike?) in Northwest Branch today. Out my back gate, down the hill, took a right and went under Randolph and continued to the ICC and back. Saw nothing but deer, birds, squirrels and one fox.

I like turtles?

-Rob

 

[eruby]

I went for a nice 6.5 mile walk (hike?)

12 minutes of jocularity

Hiking part @ 5 minute mark +/-

 

[mpollan1]

Lol thanks, the kayak bit was good.

 

[Triggerfinger]

Any chance to make a buck, next they'll charge for leaving carbon dioxide on the trail.

 

[44man]

SNP announces permanent ticketing system at Old Rag Mountain - Shenandoah National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

The crowds there have made it impossible to enjoy. I can't say I'm shocked. I wonder then the same thing will happen to Billy Goat Trail "A".

I agre that the crowds are rediculous

I can’t get around very well anymore but I could once upon a time and we used to go to old rag and very often never saw a soul. Now it’s crazy up there. Heck sometimes if you get in a jam on a crowded day you can’t find a spot to turn your truck around for the cars and azzhole people

I often wonder what changed to have so many people there now

 

[Jim12]

If I hike it without a ticket, will I get a ticket?

 

[mpollan1]

I often wonder what changed to have so many people there now

China virus in my opinion. Working remote, people moved further out and with so much shut down, folks "found" the outdoors.

 

[joppaj]

I often wonder what changed to have so many people there now

Internet. The Instagram era has sent a whole new generation into the National Parks looking for pictures of their SUVs at the trailhead. Parks all over the country are seeing record numbers. mpollan hits the other big point. COVID sent people outdoors looking for something to do.

 

[Jim12]

China virus in my opinion. Working remote, people moved further out and with so much shut down, folks "found" the outdoors.

Magic mushrooms.

Path to the alien landing/departure craft.

If we're lucky.

Internet. The Instagram era has sent a whole new generation into the National Parks looking for pictures of their SUVs at the trailhead. Parks all over the country are seeing record numbers. mpollan hits the other big point. COVID sent people outdoors looking for something to do.

If true, don't these city slickers bother to spend an iota of their trip to discover how these parks were made by nature over millions of years of tectonic drift, global temperature changes, ice flows and glaciers, seas rising and falling by hundreds and thousands of feet? Can they even conceptualize that, or are they too indoctrinated?

Anybody who really explores the United States and its archeological makeup should be able to see instantly that global climate change is an ongoing force that dwarfs mankind's pittance of impact. Ever been to the Badlands? Grand Canyon? Painted Desert? Black Hills?

How does on explain how these things came to be, over millions of years? Climate change.

We have an entire multi-national, multi-generational civilization of self-absorbed egoists, who have made an industry of opposing nature -- based upon a possible fractional impact on the climate by mankind, and whose self-importance is EXTREMELY over-rated and will become a footnote in history, if even that is deserved.

 

[44man]

yall are probably correct. We use to go there and Crabtree falls and 95% of the time we would never see anyone now it’s not worth going imo

 

[Solman]

SNP announces permanent ticketing system at Old Rag Mountain - Shenandoah National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

The crowds there have made it impossible to enjoy. I can't say I'm shocked. I wonder then the same thing will happen to Billy Goat Trail "A".

I believe you need 2 tickets. One for parking and one for park access. I think on some weekends the parking lot was filled, so this is an attempt to manage that situation. I was there in the fall. There are no parking signs everywhere and a new lot with a new trail leading to the old trail. No more walking on the road. Unless you want to.

 

[FN509Fan]

12 minutes of jocularity

Hiking part @ 5 minute mark +/-

I laughed my a$$ off watching this. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. THANKS!

Old Rag, Great Falls and Sugarloaf are the most popular outdoor hiking destinations in the area. My trail club maintains trails at all these destinations. I lead a crew that moved a log cabin from western MD to PATC property next to the parking lot at the base of Old Rag. The project took almost 3 years and burnt me out of any interest in returning to the area. Except there is a restaurant on the way there that has the best hamburger I have ever had. If you want to hike it, go during the week and not on a holiday. Also there is a peak (Robertson's?) right next to Old Rag that is just as high but you don't have the crowd or the rock scrambling. We hiked both a couple of times, but we mostly worked on the cabin till we were exhausted and didn't have the energy for hiking.

 

[DZ]

I hope people go back inside soon.

 

[tdt91]

Free Entrance to National Parks for Current Military, Veterans, and Gold Star Families (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov