The view from atop Old Rag Mountain, Shenandoah National Park / NPS-Katy Cain

Visitors to Shenandoah National Park will now have closer access to Old Rag area trails thanks to a new parking lot at Old Rag Mountain. Constructed to provide improved National Park Service access to the Old Rag area hiking trails, this new lot allows visitors to remain in the park without the necessity of hiking on Route 600 to get to existing park trails. The new parking lot will be the primary lot, with the old leased lot serving the dual purpose of overflow parking and emergency operations staging. Though not intended for increased public use at Old Rag, the new lot will still "secure public access to Old Rag on park service property and guarantees access into perpetuity." 

A number of new trails have been built to afford access to existing Old Rag area trails. The Old Rag Access Trail connects the old parking lot with the new one, thanks to a local landowner's permission for the park to build the trail across private property. The Ridge Trail trailhead is now located in the new parking lot and a portion of the trail has been renamed the Ridge Access Trail, providing entry to the Ridge Trail from the Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

Old Rag area trails, Shenandoah National Park / National Park Service

Located at the new parking area is a fee station building where all visitors will check in. During those times when this building may be closed, visitors will pay the park entry fee at a self-pay station. Next to the fee station is a vault toilet and an emergency phone will be available outside of the building.

Generous contributions by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and the Shenandoah National Park Trust helped make the new parking lot and trail access possible.