Old Rag with New Friends

A couple of weekends ago, we joined a few friends to hike one of my favorites, Old Rag Mountain. It's a great hike, about nine miles total with a 1-mile rock scramble at the peak. It's a challenging and fun hike that took us about 4 hours. 

And we had perfect weather. It was about 60 degrees and sunny. When we reached the top, we spread out in the sunshine and ate our lunches before taking the nice, more relaxing stroll down the other side of the mountain. 

Group selfie!

After the hike, all six of us went to Blue Mountain Brewery for some delicious beer and much needed food. In fact, during the hike, a couple of the guys were so spurred on by the thought of beer and Thai burgers that it became the basis of a hiking chant for a brief moment. 

Mark and Dan after conquering the top of the rock scramble.

Richard and the pack, hiking through and around some of the rock scramble. 

Can you just imagine the colors in fall? The views were breathtaking even without much foliage.

Kicking back and relaxing after lunch

Richard and I hiked Old Rag about three years ago, back when we were dating. We enjoyed the hike that time, too, but this time we were definitely more prepared for it. 

It's probably the most strenuous hike that I've done, but it's certainly one of my favorites and definitely worth visiting. 

The beautiful remnants of the sunset and gorgeous full moon on our way home