LRiz
New member
I just realized that I misspelled the date in the title... it should be 2009. I'm not sure how to fix it, though. This "New Year" thing is too confusing 
!
80+ MPH winds. Extreme wind chill advisory in the Mt. Washington Observatory forecast... and I was climbing Isolation!
Eight Crazy Participants: Cath, Eric, Drew, Karen, Mary Ellen, Rachel, Steve, and I
The (Non) Coloradian: Mo
Date: January 3rd, 2008
The winds were roaring as Cath, Drew, and I pulled into the Rocky Branch trailhead, where the rest of our group were waiting patiently for us. It was bitterly cold outside, and I found it necessary to put on my hard shell and mittens on immediately. Nevertheless, I was in good spirits, feeling very energetic (after two Red Bulls + copious amounts of coffee) and eager to start the hike. Approaching the the trail, we were pleased to see that it was broken out. However, just as we were about to set off, another vehicle pulled into the parking lot. Colorado plates... and more than a little sketchy, to say the least (especially given the many break-ins that have occured at this specific trailhead). Ah well - We were set on bagging the peak, and not about to let this car get in our way! After trying to memorize the plate number (in case of an incident), we headed off up the trail.
Almost instantaneously, the mountain started kicking my butt... which was inexcusable considering that I'd had a full day off from my nine-day hiking extravaganza. What was a well-packed, lovely trail quickly turned into a drifted (though aesthetically lovely) piece of work. Rachel was remarkably strong and quickly took the lead, barely breaking the sweat as she carved a path through the snow. As exhausted as I was, I made every effort I could to maintain a steady pace behind her... and once we reached the height of land I was more than ready to take a break. After downing a Clif shot, a Luna bar, and a half-nalgene of G2, I felt a little stronger. The flattish terrain certainly helped as well, and I made my way towards the front of the group to assist with trail breaking. The fact that we were hiking on such a pretty trail made things all the more easier:
We continued on our way, heading downhill for a short stretch, until we finally entered the wilderness... where the trails are rough, primitive, and "may be difficult to follow" (per the trail sign), but nothing we couldn't handle:
At this point I became particularly excited, knowing that we'd soon be starting our bushwhack! I'd never used a compass before. Setting our bearing to 330 degrees, we were soon on our way. Drew took the lead at first, but then allowed me to practice charting a route with the compass. It was a little tough initially, but Drew, Cath, and Eric were kind enough to instruct me, and I believe I became better at it with time (excluding the fact that the compass was constantly blown from my mitten by the strong winds!). The bushwhack brought us through a beautiful stretch of birch glades, scattered with many lines of moose tracks. Fortunately, we were able to float on top of the snow for the most part, which made things considerably easier for all of us... and upon reaching the Isolation trail junction, I was simply ecstatic. Amazingly, I'd managed not to get us all completely lost.
Drew created a stick structure in the snow to mark the beginning of our bushwhack (in case the trail drifted in during our ascent). After stopping for a snack break, we continued up the trail, at which point we were passed by a hiker named Mo, who thanked us for breaking out a short cut for him to follow. The snow was much deeper on this stretch of trail... and I managed to fall into my first spruce trap. What fun. Ah well, at least we were able to rock all three of the remaining water crossings:
More snacks.
More tiresome trail breaking.
And... another bushwhack! Rachel had been breaking trail extensively by that time, so I took the lead once again and headed up in the direction that Drew pointed out to me. Although I was tired, I was determined not to show it and plodded along at a slow (yet hopefully constant) pace until we reached the Davis Path junction. Cath informed us that we were less than a mile away from the summit. Even though the winds were blowing angrily down upon us, the fact that we were so close to our destination was enough to keep me upbeat and moving.
The Davis Path itself had multiple blowdowns to contend with, including a particularly thick set of downed trees that must have taken me about 2-3 minutes to (ungracefully) push through. We continued on our way, fighting the winds with every step, until we reached the Isolation Spur trail. Dropping our packs, we put on our face protection and prepared for what was going to be one heck of a crazy summit push!
Rachel and Steve ascended first, followed by Eric, Karen, and Drew. Reaching the exposed ledges, I was blown right to the ground almost instantly. Shuffling on my knees and grasping branches on occasion, I crawled towards the summit cairn. Bracing myself against the rocks, I let out my customary summit shout of joy and then attempted to snap a few mediocre pictures (very difficult, I assure you, when the winds are blowing at 80+ MPH!):
Whilst I was sitting by the cairn, the rest of the group made the summit, took a few photos, and then headed down. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I decided to stay up top for a little while longer. After an additional 5 minutes of being battered about by the winds, I once again crawled my way over the ledges and butt-slided down to the Davis Path. Mary Ellen gave me a peanut butter ball... and, although cold, I was very much content.
The trip out was smooth and enjoyable. I was worried that our fantastic, packed-out trail would be entirely blown in by the winds, but the majority of it remained (amazingly) intact:
Steve and Rachel were speed demons, running down the trail so rapidly that they needed to stop and wait for the rest of us every few minutes or so. We adapted the "red light, green light" game to make our descent more exciting. It's amazing how simple things like that can completely make my day.
Heading down engine hill, the sky erupted into brilliant shades of pink and orange. Time seemed to fly by (at least for me), and we reached the trailhead in no time... and found the following lovely note on Mary Ellen's car:
As it turns out, MO was the guy with the Colorado plates! Now how random is that?!
To our dear friend (not) from Colorado - You were a super guy, and I'm glad that we were able to help you out.
What a wonderful day to be out in the mountains. Thank you to all for making the trip a blast... and CONGRATULATIONS to Steph's Isolation group for a successful summit today!
!80+ MPH winds. Extreme wind chill advisory in the Mt. Washington Observatory forecast... and I was climbing Isolation!
Eight Crazy Participants: Cath, Eric, Drew, Karen, Mary Ellen, Rachel, Steve, and I
The (Non) Coloradian: Mo
Date: January 3rd, 2008
The winds were roaring as Cath, Drew, and I pulled into the Rocky Branch trailhead, where the rest of our group were waiting patiently for us. It was bitterly cold outside, and I found it necessary to put on my hard shell and mittens on immediately. Nevertheless, I was in good spirits, feeling very energetic (after two Red Bulls + copious amounts of coffee
) and eager to start the hike. Approaching the the trail, we were pleased to see that it was broken out. However, just as we were about to set off, another vehicle pulled into the parking lot. Colorado plates... and more than a little sketchy, to say the least (especially given the many break-ins that have occured at this specific trailhead). Ah well - We were set on bagging the peak, and not about to let this car get in our way! After trying to memorize the plate number (in case of an incident), we headed off up the trail.Almost instantaneously, the mountain started kicking my butt... which was inexcusable considering that I'd had a full day off from my nine-day hiking extravaganza. What was a well-packed, lovely trail quickly turned into a drifted (though aesthetically lovely) piece of work. Rachel was remarkably strong and quickly took the lead, barely breaking the sweat as she carved a path through the snow. As exhausted as I was, I made every effort I could to maintain a steady pace behind her... and once we reached the height of land I was more than ready to take a break. After downing a Clif shot, a Luna bar, and a half-nalgene of G2, I felt a little stronger. The flattish terrain certainly helped as well, and I made my way towards the front of the group to assist with trail breaking. The fact that we were hiking on such a pretty trail made things all the more easier:
We continued on our way, heading downhill for a short stretch, until we finally entered the wilderness... where the trails are rough, primitive, and "may be difficult to follow" (per the trail sign), but nothing we couldn't handle
:
At this point I became particularly excited, knowing that we'd soon be starting our bushwhack! I'd never used a compass before. Setting our bearing to 330 degrees, we were soon on our way. Drew took the lead at first, but then allowed me to practice charting a route with the compass. It was a little tough initially, but Drew, Cath, and Eric were kind enough to instruct me, and I believe I became better at it with time (excluding the fact that the compass was constantly blown from my mitten by the strong winds!). The bushwhack brought us through a beautiful stretch of birch glades, scattered with many lines of moose tracks. Fortunately, we were able to float on top of the snow for the most part, which made things considerably easier for all of us... and upon reaching the Isolation trail junction, I was simply ecstatic. Amazingly, I'd managed not to get us all completely lost.
Drew created a stick structure in the snow to mark the beginning of our bushwhack (in case the trail drifted in during our ascent). After stopping for a snack break, we continued up the trail, at which point we were passed by a hiker named Mo, who thanked us for breaking out a short cut for him to follow. The snow was much deeper on this stretch of trail... and I managed to fall into my first spruce trap
. What fun. Ah well, at least we were able to rock all three of the remaining water crossings:
More snacks.
More tiresome trail breaking.
And... another bushwhack! Rachel had been breaking trail extensively by that time, so I took the lead once again and headed up in the direction that Drew pointed out to me. Although I was tired, I was determined not to show it and plodded along at a slow (yet hopefully constant) pace until we reached the Davis Path junction. Cath informed us that we were less than a mile away from the summit. Even though the winds were blowing angrily down upon us, the fact that we were so close to our destination was enough to keep me upbeat and moving.
The Davis Path itself had multiple blowdowns to contend with, including a particularly thick set of downed trees that must have taken me about 2-3 minutes to (ungracefully) push through. We continued on our way, fighting the winds with every step, until we reached the Isolation Spur trail. Dropping our packs, we put on our face protection and prepared for what was going to be one heck of a crazy summit push!
Rachel and Steve ascended first, followed by Eric, Karen, and Drew. Reaching the exposed ledges, I was blown right to the ground almost instantly. Shuffling on my knees and grasping branches on occasion, I crawled towards the summit cairn. Bracing myself against the rocks, I let out my customary summit shout of joy and then attempted to snap a few mediocre pictures (very difficult, I assure you, when the winds are blowing at 80+ MPH!):
Whilst I was sitting by the cairn, the rest of the group made the summit, took a few photos, and then headed down. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I decided to stay up top for a little while longer. After an additional 5 minutes of being battered about by the winds, I once again crawled my way over the ledges and butt-slided down to the Davis Path. Mary Ellen gave me a peanut butter ball... and, although cold, I was very much content.
The trip out was smooth and enjoyable. I was worried that our fantastic, packed-out trail would be entirely blown in by the winds, but the majority of it remained (amazingly) intact:
Steve and Rachel were speed demons, running down the trail so rapidly that they needed to stop and wait for the rest of us every few minutes or so. We adapted the "red light, green light" game to make our descent more exciting. It's amazing how simple things like that can completely make my day.
Heading down engine hill, the sky erupted into brilliant shades of pink and orange. Time seemed to fly by (at least for me), and we reached the trailhead in no time... and found the following lovely note on Mary Ellen's car:
As it turns out, MO was the guy with the Colorado plates! Now how random is that?!
To our dear friend (not) from Colorado - You were a super guy, and I'm glad that we were able to help you out.
What a wonderful day to be out in the mountains. Thank you to all for making the trip a blast... and CONGRATULATIONS to Steph's Isolation group for a successful summit today!
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