November 17, 2012 Cool Crisp Clear Day

 

 November 17, 2012 Cool Crisp Clear Day

 

 

 

Ice is beginning to form.  It is easy to walk around it now but it is a harbinger that sometime this winter ice traction assistance will be required.   Best to at least put them in the car and sometimes carry them up the mountain if your in doubt as to whether they will be needed.

 

BLAZE NUMBERS
Periodically there are numbers on the blue trail blazes.  The reason they are there is so that the Park's backcountry emergency responders will know what resources they need to bring in order to effectively help a hiker in trouble.    Cell phone service will sometimes work high on the Ridge Trail.   It will be tremendously helpful to the dispatcher if you can tell them where you are located compared to a blue blaze number.    Besides the mechanism of injury, the nature of the injury, the weight of the patient will be important.    There is an emergency phone on the outside of the Ranger Contact Station in the Old Rag Parking lot.

Some of my favorite times on Old Rag are just after sunset but you need to very comfortable hiking under a headlamp if you are going to be high on the mountain after sunset which comes very early in the day for the next few months.