Hiking Old Rag Without Crowds: Do it at Night with Night Vision

[ken792]

So Old Rag became infamous for its crowds during COVID because some publication rated it as a top hike in the country. That prompted NPS to trial a $1 day use permit this year. Even before that, it was already kind of crowded, so I’ve avoided going back for years.

I finally have the solution and it is to hike it in the middle of the night with night vision. Even though all 800 day use tickets were sold out yesterday, the only people we encountered were on their way down. Not once did we have to wait in line to go through a portion, and we got the top entirely to ourselves. I would highly recommend hiking it that way.

Photos taken through an NV Devices PVS-14 with an Elbit XLSH tube.

 

[slsc98]

Pretty dang cool!

I remember doing a conditioning trek up the near-to-there Devils Staircase (with fire logs in our backpacks for dead weights!) in my pre-adolescence in the late-60’s - only to find a hippy colony of nudists air-bathing waterside, at the top! (I imagine if we‘d stayed past dark and had night vision that trek would’ve been EVEN MORE, ahem, “educational” for a troop of pre-teen Boy Scouts, haha!)

 

[MeatGrinder]

That's a neat way to make lemonade out of an undesirable situation.

 

[ken792]

Pretty dang cool!

I remember doing a conditioning trek up the near-to-there Devils Staircase (with fire logs in our backpacks for dead weights!) in my pre-adolescence in the late-60’s - only to find a hippy colony of nudists air-bathing waterside, at the top! (I imagine if we‘d stayed past dark and had night vision that trek would’ve been EVEN MORE, ahem, “educational” for a troop of pre-teen Boy Scouts, haha!)

Little Devil’s Stairs is next I think, if I can convince some friends to do it. I’ve done it numerous times in daytime.

 

[slsc98]

Little Devil’s Stairs is next I think, if I can convince some friends to do it. I’ve done it numerous times in daytime.

Curious: do copperheads and members of the pit viper genus show up nicely, using night vision?

 

[ken792]

Curious: do copperheads and members of the pit viper genus show up nicely, using night vision?

I doubt they’d stand out. I’m using the night vision without supplemental IR, but I haven’t gotten to test to see how IR reflective snakes are. Some clothing and animal fur is very reflective. If you shine an IR illuminator at people wearing polyester, they light up far brighter than the surrounding environment.

 

[Neutron]

Last time I hiked Old Rag (long time ago) ! Saw a mother black bear and two cubs. Don't think I'd like to run into her at night.

 

[welder516]

I would never do that without someone more experienced than I, but with the right hiking partner i would do that in a heartbeat.

OP a cool post, i love hiking.

 

[Johnny5k]

Last time I hiked Old Rag (long time ago) ! Saw a mother black bear and two cubs. Don't think I'd like to run into her at night.

Last time I hiked old rag, (also a long time ago) I did run into that black bear with two cubs. At night. Came right into our campsite at about 2AM. Found out about the cubs from a park ranger the next morning. A whiskey fireball (not fireball whiskey) is what scared her off. She was pretty small for a mamma bear, but at night, the huge amount of space between the eyes made her look much bigger.

 

[MaxVO2]

That's a neat way to make lemonade out of an undesirable situation.

******Just don't ask where the lemonade is made, sweet sweet lemonade, mmmhh sweet lemonade...

 

[smokey]

Old rag is a fun hike. It's like a natural playground. Mrs Smokey is not a fan though, as she's afraid of heights and we went up as it was raining and slippery. Man, I've gotta get me some legit nightvision. That sounds like an awesome time.

 

[ken792]

Old rag is a fun hike. It's like a natural playground. Mrs Smokey is not a fan though, as she's afraid of heights and we went up as it was raining and slippery. Man, I've gotta get me some legit nightvision. That sounds like an awesome time.
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There apparently are more than a few people who hike it at night with white light. That would be one way to not see how far down it goes.

I’ve been peer pressuring friends to get night vision over the past year, so I should be able to increase my night hiking groups. At least it’s far cheaper than night shooting. I have some loaner PVS-14s, which helps speed things up.

 

[Antarctica]

Cool idea!

 

[Antarctica]

Just check the price of a PVS-14. I'll be sticking to daylight hiking for the foreseeable future ;-)

 

[willtill]

You can easily get tunnel vision using night vision aids. Out there, will be things stalking you from behind, like cats and stuff.

 

[engineerbrian]

That brings back memories. When I was a boy scout we hiked Old Rag at night with hand held flash lights. We even repelled down a water fall that night along with some other dicey stuff that todays BSA probably wouldn’t allow lol

 

[ken792]

You can easily get tunnel vision using night vision aids. Out there, will be things stalking you from behind, like cats and stuff.

It really makes you appreciate how much you move your eyeballs normally versus having to constantly move your neck around with night vision.

Nice thing about a monocular is your other eye can judge ambient light conditions and you can immediately switch to white light if needed.

 

[teratos]

Curious: do copperheads and members of the pit viper genus show up nicely, using night vision?

No. They don’t show up any better. Since they are poikilotherms, I doubt thermal is any better.

 

[davsco]

very cool! OR is def a unique hike. Years and years ago we brought our puppy golden retriever along. folks helped us out chain gang style getting him up and down all the crevasses. once we got on top he threw up from all the excitement/commotion.

 

[outrider58]

Try that shnit without night vision. We used to do that in the Shenandoah hills on the blackest of nights. We would walk bare footed so we knew when we would veer off the trails. Great fun.