bintrepidhiker
New member
Talk about a polar opposite weather forecast. Me and my friend Corey left Manchester Saturday evening around 8 PM with the forecast of 70's and sunny skies with a chance of thuderstorms Sunday afternoon. At the rate we hike we'd be avoiding that rain easily so we drove up 93 to the Kank then up 16 to the parking lot for Rocky Branch Trail arriving at 10:30 and setup for bed in the car. Sometime around 3 or 3:30 AM we each woke up to the sound of rain hitting the car. Hoping it would be a quick shower that would pass quickly, we thought nothing of it and continued sleeping for another hour. After waking up again around 4:30 with rain still falling we debated over oatmeal and blueberry bagels whether or not to chance it. Having already driven up here we decided to go for it, just not at the pace we were looking for. So around 5:30, we threw on the raincoats, laced up the shoes and we were off.
The Rocky Branch Trail starts off with some climbing the first 2.5 miles or so but after that its fairly level with some very gradual incline up. Even the climbs in the beginning aren't what I'd call steep but its good for a quick warm up. The trail itself is fairly narrow most of the way, barely wide enough for my skinny frame. Had it not been raining it would be easy footing enough to trail-run but the rocks were slippery and it was plenty wet with the overhanging leaves. We met one couple that looked like they had camped out for the night and were heading back to the parking lot.
We arrived about 2 hrs later at Isolation Trail the beginning of some careful water crossings. The water wasn't that high but with slippery rocks in your path, you don't want to slip out there. Fortunatly each of the 4 crossings were passed over safely although I dipped one foot at the last one but by this point my shoes were soaked through enough it didn't matter anymore. Only problem I had was my hands. Keeping them dry was not happening so with temps in the 50's and rain it feld cold and they got plenty cold at that. Otherwise i was comfy in my raincoat, shorts and t-shirt. Isolation trail, like the second half of Rocky Branch was fairly level with very gradual going up. A lot of it was muddy but that was to be expected with the rain and all that still continued coming down.
About an hour later we arrived at Davis Path where another couple was heading to the peak. We chatted for a minute or 2 then proceeded ahead of them. Here the trail decended for a short bit then again gradually headed uphill with maybe one or 2 brief climbs. Wasn't too long before we reached the spur path and began our final push up. Here was the steepest part of the whole trip but it was over before I knew it. Couldn't have been longer than 5-10 minutes up. The summit as expected was clouded over and cold. We tagged the summit at about 8:45 then headed just below tree-line for a brief snack. Here was #35 for me. Was interesting trying to open containers and wrappers with near numb fingers. The couple that was behind us arrived a few minutes later and also did a quick tag and headed back down to Davis Path. We decided to try on the flat sections to get a little running in on the way down to get out of the miserable weather. At 9, we began our descent.
Most of the way down, we did a half run, half walk depending on the terrain in front of us. Running was prohibited on the wet rocky sections but the muddy, dirt and grassy sections were no problem. It helped warm us up some too so that in itself was worth it. Most of my issues believe it or not came in the "walking" sections and rooled my ankle probably a dozen or more times. At least the rain itself seemed to stop but you'd never know it with the rain falling from the trees instead. Wet, muddy and tired we didn't try being careful on the stream crossings and just forded them. Rocky Branch moved fast especially as we started really going downhill. Corey raced ahead of me a few times as i took my time. It didn't seem like it was going to end but when i finally head the sounds of cars, i knew we were close and gave it all i had to scream out of the woods to the parking lot, that occured around 11:30. Not bad at all concidering the conditions. We did the whole trip of 14.4 miles in 6 hours. Thats cranking! Driving back down 16 we debated where to stop and passed a place that had an all you can eat breakfast buffet for $8. That solved that in a hurry and chowed down multiple plates and a full pot of coffee before the long drive back home.
Might have been raining, cool and miserable, but we had a great time and enjoyed our little adventure. Lets hope for a more accurite forecast for the next one!
The Rocky Branch Trail starts off with some climbing the first 2.5 miles or so but after that its fairly level with some very gradual incline up. Even the climbs in the beginning aren't what I'd call steep but its good for a quick warm up. The trail itself is fairly narrow most of the way, barely wide enough for my skinny frame. Had it not been raining it would be easy footing enough to trail-run but the rocks were slippery and it was plenty wet with the overhanging leaves. We met one couple that looked like they had camped out for the night and were heading back to the parking lot.
We arrived about 2 hrs later at Isolation Trail the beginning of some careful water crossings. The water wasn't that high but with slippery rocks in your path, you don't want to slip out there. Fortunatly each of the 4 crossings were passed over safely although I dipped one foot at the last one but by this point my shoes were soaked through enough it didn't matter anymore. Only problem I had was my hands. Keeping them dry was not happening so with temps in the 50's and rain it feld cold and they got plenty cold at that. Otherwise i was comfy in my raincoat, shorts and t-shirt. Isolation trail, like the second half of Rocky Branch was fairly level with very gradual going up. A lot of it was muddy but that was to be expected with the rain and all that still continued coming down.
About an hour later we arrived at Davis Path where another couple was heading to the peak. We chatted for a minute or 2 then proceeded ahead of them. Here the trail decended for a short bit then again gradually headed uphill with maybe one or 2 brief climbs. Wasn't too long before we reached the spur path and began our final push up. Here was the steepest part of the whole trip but it was over before I knew it. Couldn't have been longer than 5-10 minutes up. The summit as expected was clouded over and cold. We tagged the summit at about 8:45 then headed just below tree-line for a brief snack. Here was #35 for me. Was interesting trying to open containers and wrappers with near numb fingers. The couple that was behind us arrived a few minutes later and also did a quick tag and headed back down to Davis Path. We decided to try on the flat sections to get a little running in on the way down to get out of the miserable weather. At 9, we began our descent.
Most of the way down, we did a half run, half walk depending on the terrain in front of us. Running was prohibited on the wet rocky sections but the muddy, dirt and grassy sections were no problem. It helped warm us up some too so that in itself was worth it. Most of my issues believe it or not came in the "walking" sections and rooled my ankle probably a dozen or more times. At least the rain itself seemed to stop but you'd never know it with the rain falling from the trees instead. Wet, muddy and tired we didn't try being careful on the stream crossings and just forded them. Rocky Branch moved fast especially as we started really going downhill. Corey raced ahead of me a few times as i took my time. It didn't seem like it was going to end but when i finally head the sounds of cars, i knew we were close and gave it all i had to scream out of the woods to the parking lot, that occured around 11:30. Not bad at all concidering the conditions. We did the whole trip of 14.4 miles in 6 hours. Thats cranking! Driving back down 16 we debated where to stop and passed a place that had an all you can eat breakfast buffet for $8. That solved that in a hurry and chowed down multiple plates and a full pot of coffee before the long drive back home.
Might have been raining, cool and miserable, but we had a great time and enjoyed our little adventure. Lets hope for a more accurite forecast for the next one!
