Not so isolated on Isolation (a good thing in this case)

Mt. Isolation (4,003')
- Rocky Branch trail from Route 16 to the Rocky Branch river and Isolation Trail junction
- Isolation Trail to Davis Path
- Davis Path to Isolation summit via spur path
- returned same way, except took the short Davis Path -> Isolation Trail bushwhack, and some version of the Engine Hill bushwhack

Total distance: 7.3mi to summit, 3,950' elevation gain in the ascent, slightly less on the descent; Strava measured 13.2 total miles
Total time: 9hrs 15min

Photo Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152830694914567.1073741858.570654566&type=1&l=af0db7ba0e

Strava / GPS track: https://www.strava.com/activities/476802877

With many weekends busy with home/family needs and volleyball tournaments this winter, I cherished the opportunity to take a midweek day off for some hiking. I had originally planned to take a Wednesday off to hike Mt. Jefferson with co-workers, but we had to scrap those plans due to extreme weather conditions (-50 wind chills, 80-90mph sustained winds with 110+mph gusts). It is these conditions that claimed the life of a hiker a year earlier, on neighboring peak Mt. Adams.

Fast forward just a couple days to Friday, and conditions were much more favorable. Still, the rest of the group decided on North Kinsman since most any Presidential peak, with their prolonged above-treeline exposure, would likely not be ideal.

As I had already hiked the Kinsmans in winter and have so little opportunity to hike up north, I decided to hike one of the 15 I have left in winter: nearby Mt. Isolation. Only its summit is exposed, so I could stay down below treeline and "pop up" in case winds were too fierce.

So I headed out from the Rocky Branch trailhead a bit after 7:00am. The summit forecast was calling for temps in the low single digits with some wind, so I was prepared with appropriate gear, and even packed my sleeping bag since this was a longer hike, and I expected I might be alone on the mountain. Isolation isn't that simple a peak in winter given it's distance (almost 15 miles round-trip), and it was a weekday after all.

But, one other hiker was starting up just as I pulled in, so this was a bit comforting. I felt confident in my abilities, but it had been a couple years since I hiked Isolation, and that was in the middle of the summer.

I started up and quickly switched to snowshoes, as the trail hadn't been broken out (the hiker ahead of me was graciously taking care of this for me). Snow wasn't deep, but there was a "crust" of about 1-2" of snow on top of a few to several inches of soft snow, so there was definite work involved.

About 2 miles in, halfway up the Rocky Branch trail, I encountered the hiker. We were both heading for the Isolation summit and talked of the lack of markings on the trail. It can be tougher to follow trails without tree blazes in winter when breaking trail, so we were both more alert because of it.

I offered to continue on, returning the favor by breaking trail ahead. The initial climb from the parking lot was moderate, so it was nice to level out for a distance while having to break trail. My plan was to stay on-trail the whole way, though there were a few options to bushwhack to save on distance. I just wasn't confident enough to bushwhack on my own yet.

I soon came upon some wet areas on the trail. Stream/river crossings were ahead for sure, but there were longer stretches where you could hear water flowing underneath the crusted snow, and in a few places I would step down through the snow near or even into the water. My boots were very effective in insulating my feet and keeping water out, thankfully, but this made the going very rough for a little while, as I would have to step off-trail and around brush and trees to avoid these areas.

It was around this time I realized I really could have prepared better for this hike. I had read a bit about the bushwhack options, but really didn't read anything about the trails themselves, nor brought any trail maps with distances. I did have two different offline topo maps with GPS capability so I could monitor my location at any time, but without specific intel on the trails themselves, I was left to wonder what challenges lie ahead. A hike like Tecumseh, Pierce, or any of several other more straightforward hikes was one thing; this was entirely another. But regardless, with any hike you need to have ample info about the trails you're hiking, and maps that give you all the info you need to make appropriate decisions along the way (including distances). This is something I would do better next time, for sure.

Approaching the Rocky Branch river, where I'd cross and hit the junction with the Isolation Trail, I saw numerous fresh tracks from moose and what had to be a very large bear. I would stop once in a while to listen intently to make sure I wasn't too close. I never did see either, though I did hear what seemed like unnatural cracks or other sounds. Being alone, miles into the wilderness, built up some courage for me, to say the least.

I reached the Rocky Branch river and crossed without issue, though had to step carefully as I could see water rushing below through natural holes in the ice. Thankfully the frigid temperatures of the past few weeks ensured that the crossings would be relatively secure.

The going along the Isolation Trail was difficult, as I continued to break trail. And as I was now in the Dry River Wilderness (a nationally-protected wilderness area, where trail markings of any kind are not allowed), I had to stay very focused on keeping the right trail. This was perhaps the "darkest" stretch of the day for me, since the going was tough, and I knew there would be quite a bit more of this left. To have to break trail alone for another 3-4 miles would be very difficult. But I soldiered on, starting to think of a realistic turnaround time. Of course, I had a headlamp (two, actually) so I wouldn't mind hiking out in dark; but I needed to take into consideration the physical aspects of the effort, and might need to make a judgment call at some point.

continued below...

...continued from above...

Soon I came upon a crossing that would take me back over the Rocky Branch river. I took a water and food break here, and as I was preparing to cross, the hiker I encountered earlier came into view ahead of me, on the opposite side of the river. I was pretty astounded as I thought he would be behind me; made me think of the tortoise and the hare for a moment there!

It turns out he had taken the Engine Hill bushwhack, which heads off the Rocky Branch trail and cuts along the side of Engine Hill, to intersect the Isolation Trail. This bushwhack avoids as much as a mile of hiking as well as the two river crossings I had now done.

We more formally introduced ourselves. He was Jamie, a police officer and middle/high school resource officer. He had taken the bushwhack and came out on the Isolation Trail, but wasn't sure if he was on the right trail or not. So he walked ahead, then backtracked to see if he could find me.

Knowing how the day had gone for both of us, we decided to join forces the rest of the way. This was greatly comforting to me, mostly because we'd each be able to take turns breaking trail, providing more sustained energy for what lie ahead. I was very confident in our location as GPS and my maps told us we were on the right track. So we continued along.

As we each took turns leading, we'd stop relatively frequently for very quick breaks (under one minute). The terrain was mostly flat or gently ascending, which helped, but we each remarked how disconcerting it was to not be gaining elevation over much of the past 2-3 miles. We finally reached the Davis Path, where we turned left for the final stretch before the summit.

Along the Davis Path, deeper snow and snow drifts were more prevalent. The whole way from the parking lot, you could see evidence of the very strong winds of the past few days: branches of all sizes and little evergreen shoots were sprinkled everywhere. Many of the drifts were nearly solid, though, seemingly due to the extreme cold and perhaps the strength of the wind. Lots of snow lay crusted against the side of trees and branches, too, giving you the feeling that any of them could come alive as the Abominable snow monster.

We continued on and finally reached the summit spur, a very short but steep climb to the summit itself. Just under the open summit, I encountered what was essentially a cornice (blown snow that formed a vertical "wall"). It took a minute or two to break it down enough to be able to climb up and over it, but we were soon on the summit.

Conditions that day turned out to be quite perfect for a winter day: cold, but pure blue skies, and next to no wind at all, even on the summit. We had wide open views of Mount Washington, Boott Spur to its right, and the entire southern Presidential range: Monroe, Eisenhower, Pierce, and Jackson. Low clouds lay against and over the latter few peaks, but Monroe and Washington remained in the open, their completely white peaks laying in stark contrast to the deep blue sky behind. It was spectacular. We could also see the Wildcat range and a couple of peaks in the Carter range as well, off to the right.



We lingered perhaps 10-15 minutes, but headed back down as the temperatures were low enough to warrant keeping moving. We had a bite, then returned in the direction we came. The going was much easier of course, as we were following the trail we had broken earlier.

It wasn't long before we came across hikers coming in the opposite direction, heading toward the summit spur. First, two women, then another two (who were barebooting - not advisable!), then two men. Jamie and I were pretty astounded to find this many people on a Friday in winter, on a mountain such as this. Surely the weather must have been a draw, though; it certainly was for me.

On the way back, we found that a couple of the hikers had taken what must have been the short bushwhack that connected the Davis Path and Isolation Trail. It would cut off perhaps a quarter of a mile, and a bit of up/down, so we went for it. It turns out we had blazed a bood portion of the Isolation Trail end of this bushwhack earlier without knowing it. When ascending, the bushwhack starts in the direction a tentsite sign points to, and the trail ascends only very gradually; definitely worth taking.

The going from here down was really quite easy, as six people with snowshoes (the bare-booters didn't posthole, thankfully) had broken out the trail enough for us to walk with longer strides.

We decided to take the Engine Hill bushwhack, since Jamie had attempted it but seemed to come out at a point sooner than someone or a group several days earlier did. We headed in where that group seemed to come out and attempted to follow their track. It fizzled out pretty quickly, so we ended up staying pretty much along the 3,200' contour line.

With largely sparse trees and vegetation, we found it pretty easy to travel along this bushwhack, even if we were breaking trail much of the way. The bushwhack also features a few beautiful, open birch glades. One of these is somewhat wet underneath, but didn't present an issue. Just avoid any extended depressions in the snow, as these may very well be waterways.

We eventually encountered Jamie's earlier bushwhack path, which took us back to the formal entry of the bushwhack. It's marked by a thick "T" carved into a tree at the entrance (there's also a pink ribbon tied to a tree a bit further in).

Our hike out from here was easy and quick. A day of slight uncertainty for a time -- including the possible gloom/doom of having to turn around -- turned out real good. Lessons learned for sure, but I'm thrilled to be able to check off number 34 of the winter 48. It's one I won't soon forget!