Mt. Isolation - 4004' (31/48)

Rocky Branch Trailhead

The time had come for Paloma and I to stop putting off hiking Mt. Isolation.  I'll admit, I have always been a bit intimidated to do this hike just due to the sheer length of it.  I had heard it isn't overly difficult but with a name like Mt. Isolation one has to have a little fear in them of hiking it.  We set off early on Saturday morning, an after a relatively uneventful yet slow ride up Rt. 16, we arrived at the Rocky Branch parking lot at quarter of ten.  The weather at the base was a bit cloudy and warm, and the lot was relatively empty except for about four or five other cars.  Knowing that we had a long hike ahead of us and it was already later than we had hoped, we threw on our gear and officially started our hike at 10:00AM.

Sweaty Animals!

Our route for the day was a 14.6 mile hike out and back up the Rocky Branch, Isolation, and Davis Path trails to the summit of Isolation.  We started on the Rocky Branch trail which began gaining elevation nearly the minute we left the parking lot.  The weather in the woods felt like a hot blanket over us, extremely humid with little to no breeze.  Oh boy, this was going to be a long day.  About fifteen minutes into the hike and I was already sweating like an animal - the humidity made it extremely difficult to breathe in any sort of rhythm.  After we passed a place where a ski trail veers off the right, the climbing continued and steepened.  Paloma and I were praying that it would eventually even out.

We encountered our first human shortly thereafter.  Before we got even within ten feet of this individual he proclaimed "I read your blog!  You are Tom and Paloma!"  Awesome, I thought to myself, this was the most proud I have been since beginning this blog.  Someone actually read it and recognized me!  We spoke with the man, named Doug, for a few minutes and discussed some other hikes we had done.  He was on his way down at this point after spending a night at the Rocky Branch shelter.  Doug - if you are reading this post hope the rest of your hike went well and I hope to see you on the trails again!  After our brief chat with Doug, Paloma and I continued on our way.

River Crossing

After a few more minutes we final hit level land, and the hike remained this way all the way to the junction with the Mt. Isolation trail and the Rocky Branch river.  What a relief!  Paloma and I both felt a renewed sense of energy and suddenly the completion of this hike didn't seem like such a difficult task after all.  After crossing over the Rocky Branch river we reached the junction with the Mt. Isolation trail at 11:55AM.  We contemplated checking out the shelter which was a few hundred yards in the opposite direction, but decided against it since we still had over ten miles to go - maybe someday we will hike to the shelter and actually spend the night - it seems like it is in a beautiful location!

Paloma Navigating the River

The Mt. Isolation trail follows along the river for a few miles, crossing it back and forth approximately five times.  The river crossings were not too difficult but I can imagine after a lot of rain or melting snow that they could be tough.  There were a couple of points where we couldn't exactly tell if the trail crossed the river or not, but thankfully there were some makeshift cairns that helped guide the way.  We were cruising pretty good at this point, trying to get as many miles behind us as possible.  After the river section we came into some muddy and wet sections of the trail, and both of us were slowly becoming covered in mud.  

What happened here?

We finally began to catch our first "views" off to the left as we emerged onto some sort of ridge.  This was a very interesting section of the trail.  I couldn't exactly figure out what happened but it looked like one of those micro-bursts or some sort of significant wind activity bent down (but didn't break) hundreds of pine trees.  I attempted to capture this in the photo here but I don't think it does it justice.  You will have to hike there to see just how interesting it looks!  We cruised through this section and shortly thereafter reached the junction with the Davis Path trail.

The Jerk!

The Davis Path trail, though easy, had plenty of PUDs to get your heart rate going.  PUDS = pointless up and downs.  Regardless, the excitement we had that the summit was less than a mile away took our minds off of how worn out we were and before we knew it we reached the Mt. Isolation spur - a steep but short climb to the summit.  There we encountered perhaps our biggest challenge.  In the middle of the trail, perched on a rock, was a little plastic toy soldier guarding the trail, protecting the summit of Mt. Isolation.  After being nearly denied passage, I finally reached into my wallet and gave him all of its contents for the right to pass.  He obliged.  Thank God!  Would have sucked climbing all that way only to have to turn back a hundred feet from the summit!

Summit of Mt. Isolation

We finally emerged from the trees to the summit of Mt. Isolation at 1:48PM and were treated with beautiful views of the Presidential Range and surrounding mountains.  There was another couple at the top and their beautiful dog, Ginger, who just completed her (the dog) 48th 4k.  Impressive!  Ginger took a liking to Paloma and I was worried that Paloma was going to hike down with Ginger and leave me by my lonesome.  We chatted for a bit with the other couple and then sat down for a well deserved lunch of PB&Js, chips, and Gatorade.  I could have fallen asleep at the top but since we had over seven miles to get back to the car, we wolfed down our food, took a couple photos, and began the long descent back to the car.

Paloma and I at the top!

We were cruising, and at some points lightly jogging, down the Davis Path, reaching the junction in about half the amount of time it took us on the way up.  By the time we arrived back at the portion of the trail that zigzags across the Rocky Branch river, a light rain began.  It actually felt quite refreshing and I joked with Paloma that it was good that it was raining because it meant we wouldn't be as stinky and muddy at dinner after the hike.  Maybe I should have held that thought to myself, as minutes later we were stuck in a full on downpour.  It still felt refreshing so I forewent putting on a rain jacket, rather Paloma tied it over my backpack to protect its contents.  Normally rain would annoy me but in this case I welcomed it.  That is, for the first ten minutes.  When it didn't stop for the next hour it got a bit old.

The last three miles of the hike took FOREVER, or at least it seemed that way.  I think I guessed that we were just about at the car over fifteen times.  Nope, more to go.  The rain made things a bit tricky as now everything was wet and slippery - this prevented us from being able to move too fast.  Just when I was about at the point where I contemplated laying down and giving up, I spotted our car through the trees.  At last, we were at the end!  We reached the car 5:38PM and immediately shed our boots.  Relief!  

Caught in the Rain

We both changed and agreed that we were going to stop at the first restaurant we came to.  That happened to be the Red Fox Bar & Grille in Jackson, NH.  I wolfed down some meat, potatoes, and a beer, Paloma a brick-oven pizza.  After-all we deserved it!  We must have looked like two goons as we hobbled in and out of the restaurant!  The ride home was uneventful, and I immediately hit the hay after a hot shower.  What a day!

Overall this was a long but not technically difficult hike.  The trails were in decent condition and the crossings weren't difficult though the hike up doesn't offer many views.  The views at the top, however, are great.  I think we saw more toads than people so this would be a great hike for people looking to avoid the crowds.  It is called, after all, Mt. Isolation...

Hike Stats

Trails: Rocky Branch, Isolation, Davis Path

Total Time (Including Breaks): 7:40

Distance: 14.6 Miles

Elevation Gain: 3,400'