Spend too much time behind the wheel of a car and you go stir-crazy. While on the road I am constantly in and out of my car but I may be driving about for 13 or 14 hours before my car and I separate for the night. Especially when I’m covering lots of ground or navigating slow terrain, I can go a bit nuts.
Four weeks into my last trip, I started to think about Old Rag. Hiking to its peak and down is probably my favorite few hours ever spent in boots. Elsewhere on my blog you can learn more about Old Rag but suffice to say, I started looking forward to hiking it again from about Billings, Montana. That’s over a week and a half before I actually got home, before I could head out and climb it.
Today I hiked Old Rag. It was a perfect day to climb because it was cool enough to make the ascent without getting terribly overheated. The climb just takes more effort when it’s hot; so too it’s a challenge when it’s too cold. Today was a Goldilocks hike day and I enjoyed the heck out of it.
It’s good to be home.
UPDATE:
Three weeks later we received an unforeseen weather gift of a warm day. Not only was this day warm, it was sunny and the air was clear. This was not the day to ignore the call of Old Rag so off I went!
Seems that many people felt the itch to climb as I arrived to find the upper parking lot full at a time of the morning when I’ve always been able to park. Such is life. To start from the lower lot adds an extra mile and a half to the hike but the day was glorious so I didn’t mind too much.
Fair weather makes a huge difference in climbing speed. Today I matched my best time for hiking the full loop: upper lot to upper lot in three hours.
Such a great day!
by 
