When I was researching various trails in Shenandoah, the one that came up most frequently was Old Rag.
It’s definitely got a reputation as being an incredible trail (Outside magazine lists it as one of the best 25 hikes in the world.) Not just in the US, in the world.
We had an afternoon flight to catch, but an hour and a half drive from Luray back to Dulles. My goal was to get to the airport around 11:30 AM, so we still work up a bit early… and decided to take one last drive through Shenandoah, going in at Thornton Gap and exiting up north, at Front Royal.
I’m not great with heights, but I was mostly ok the whole time were on the summit. As I was looking out, I saw all this green… and it registered like a wide swath of rolling meadows and fields.
After staring a bit, it would slowly dawn on me that the green I was seeing was not grass… but in fact the actual tops of trees. And on suddenly realizing how high up we were, my knees then immediately turned to jelly.
The Dark Hollow Falls. Though there were a few other folks here also enjoying the view… Liz nad I were able to scramble up some rocks, and found ourselves a nice little nook alongside the waterfall.
We were close enough to enjoy things directly, but also enough out of the way that we didn’t feel like we were blocking others from photos, or from enjoying the view of the falls. It was as ideal spot.