Mt Isolation 2007-10-06

[uphillklimber]

Date(s) Hiked: 2007-10-06, 2007-10-07

Trails(s) Hiked: Rocky Branch, Isolation, Davis

Total Distance: 17.4 miles

Difficulty: Moderate

Conditions: Dry one day, wet the next day, up high, dry at the bottom

Special Required Equipment: none

Trip Report:

This trip started out at 6 AM on a Saturday. We had expected to get going a little later, but read in the paper that lots of leaf peepers would be out, so we left earlier to assure ourselves a parking space at the trailhead. We arrived at the trailhead at 8 AM and plenty of parking was available. We parked next to the Ranger’s truck, just because it was about as close as we could get to the trailhead. And we’re off…

We get a ways up the trail, and it seems we are heading the wrong way. There is another trail from that parking lot, Popple Mountain Trail. Anyways, I walk back down to the trailhead and make sure I didn’t miss a marker. All is well, we are on the right path. On the way up, it is fairly steep for the first three miles, then the grade levels out to a much more manageable pace. On the way up, a tree falls and crashes near us. We just look at each other. Later, I spook a game bird. He startles me and flies ahead of me, his wings beating the air. Since he is front of us, I invite my wife to take the lead, so she can see him also. Same result, the bird startles her and flies off. I laugh a bit. After about 3 hours, we arrive at the shelter and meet a couple other hikers in the campsite on the other side of the stream.

We continue up the trails on both sides of the stream, remembering a trip report had told us about a camp near the stream, about an hour and fifteen minutes up stream of the shelter. We’re on the lookout for it. After about an hour, my wife is nursing a headache, backache and is basically spent, having no energy and she asks if we can take lunch right here at this stream crossing. I was hoping to make the camp for lunch, but this was a very nice spot for lunch, so lunch it was! I was expecting the camp to be a bit further up the trail, so after lunch, we load the packs on, take about 10 strides, and there is the campsite marker!!!! So we hiked way in there, as the trip report mentioned it was, and made camp. We dropped the dog’s pack, my wife’s pack, and lightened my load considerably, carrying rain gear, extra shirts, first aid and food and water.

We head out for Isolation. On the way up, we meet the Ranger, and ask her about her “job” Apparently, she gets paid to hike 5 days a week. She has been up Chocurua 13 times this year. She checks signage, breaks up illegal fire rings, checks conditions, etc….. Sounds like a fun hobby can be a lot of work.

It takes us a little over an hour to reach the peak. We figured this would be a weekend where we could camp, get away from things, and just bag a peak. We had this mountain confused with Owl’s Head, which I hear has no view. We get up there, and my goodness, what a view!! The view was 360 degrees, including the Presidentials and Washington. The clouds are closing in and we have missed the blue skies that earlier hikers enjoyed. Even a hint of rain…. We head on back down, and the rain comes upon us, ever so slowly increasing.

At the camp, we grab the water filter, and all our water containers. Two nalgenes have lemonade and Gatorade powder in them. Add some cold stream water, and enjoy after a good day of hiking! After that, we head downstream just a piece and rinse the sweat off us. The water was ankle numbing cold so it was a quick rinse. By now, it is raining, so we head up to camp and cook before it starts to pour too hard to cook dinner. After eating, there is little to do other than read the map and the trail descriptions. And it is now pouring. We call the dog under the fly of the tent. She probably would be okay in the rain with all her fur, as she swims in the ocean in the winter, but I did not want to have to try to warm up a cold wet dog in the morning. We are asleep by 6:30. We are bushed and we just sleep out there. Not quite as good as on our home mattress, but a bit longer.

At 6 AM we get up, the rain finally stopping. It must have poured a little more than an inch last night, judging from the depth of water in my square sided pot I left out. Over the hill, we can hear the stream just a running. We will need to cross it at least 3 times to get back…… We all get our fill, and break camp, making sure to clean up good.

And we’re off again. An hour later, we are at the shelter. We watch as a lone woman, with three dogs crosses the stream. Suddenly, her three dogs converge on my dog, right next to me. Then they attack her. I had no time to separate them before it happened. I immediately start stabbing at the dogs, who by know have a good bite on my dogs scruff of the neck, and are dragging her. I take a stab at one dog, and he leaves, along with another. Finally, the woman is calling at her dogs, which are ignoring her. The third dog is pretty belligerent, and I have to stab at it 4 times for it to let go of my dog, who I order to get behind me. This woman apologizes and says she has been working with this dog as it has done this before, and hopes I taught it a lesson. To which I replied, “Your dog has done this before??? He should be on leash. “ She replied I have his leash right here. To which I said he should be on leash full time so this doesn’t happen again. This is the third time my dog has been attacked by dogs this year. They all charge her, or get right up on her, then wham. I think I will get a little more proactive about protecting my dog. Total bummer.

I am finally cooling off about the dog incident, and we see three, apparently college aged, men coming down the trail. We greet each other, then I see a bird fly down behind them, and exclaim, “You have a bird following you”. We are later told that it is a grouse. Anyways, this bird lands behind them and walks up. I tell my dog to lay down. The bird walks right up to us. The cameras come out and we are snapping pictures. One of the boys says that he can not believe how well behaved our dog was, never chasing the bird. And the bird walks right up to within 2 feet of her. Then the bird goes in front of the college boys, and I get some shots of them with the bird. They have a mascot, “Phezzy”.

We continue back onto the car, and as we near it, another tree crashes to the ground near us. We look at each other again. Sheesh, trees falling everywhere….. From there, the trip home is uneventful.

[Mike P.]

Owl's head has a view from the slide, a close up of the back side of Franconia Ridge. IMO the front side is better though. nice TR, Isolation is a gem.

Both Owl's Head & isolation are on fall & winter calendar, hopefully the weather will cooperate on Isolation.

[Skier75]

Thanks, Mike, we greatly enjoyed the trip. Let's hope the weather holds out for another weekend, other than that we'll have to think about a possible day trip....not sure where yet.