Double Bow
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- Apr 29, 2005
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18mi, 4,000'+ elev, & 3 peaks? A pretty safe bet that a good time would be had!
Since Gator needed Isolation toward his 48 and I had never been up Davis, though I had heard good things about it, we decided to do these two together. Then, remembering how enjoyable Stairs is, I asked Gator if he would be interested in tacking that on as well and he said "Sure".
Due to a number of factors, I got a late start (and only 4hrs sleep). We spotted one car at the Rocky branch trailhead on Rt 16 and then drove to the other trailhead on Jericho Road. There is only a sign for this road when you are coming from the west so take care not to miss it.
Starting on an easy old road, the trail soon brought us to Rocky Branch Shelter #1 which we checked out (It's HUGE!) and the Stairs Col trail which we turned onto. The hike to the Davis Path was pretty steep at times but, it offered occasional views off toward Resolution and was a pleasant looking trail. Taking comfort in the knowledge that this was the hardest part of the day, we steamed on through. We were very happy when we reached the Davis Path at the top of the ridge and we hung out for a minute while we let what looked like a scout troop pass us, going in the opposite direction. These would be the only people we would see until we were on Isolation.
Once they passed, we took the spur up Stairs (not upstairs). When we got to the branch off for the lookdown, we saw a couple of Spruce Grouse on the trail who really didn't seem to care that we were there. We went to the lookdown and looked down then went back to continue the rest of the way up and found that there were acctually four grouse. We proceeded up slowly and they just moved off the trail, still pecking around and not paying us any mind. Once at the summit, I poked around the campsites and we hung out and had a bite. I took out the binoculars, map, and compass and we identified the visable peaks. A little bit later, we headed back down and didn't see any grouse.
Continuing over to Davis, we enjoyed the uniquness of the ridge. We comented about how it felt like you were both high up and at base level at the same time. We reached one area where a fir wave had come through and really opened up the area. Some rasberries had grown in and we found some that were ripe. Yum! While looking around there, Gator discovered that his leg was bleeding a little. I told him that I had my Mini-Leatherman with me and could amputate if need be. He turned down my offer.
he clotted and then we moved on.
After a bit longer and passing through a boggy area and two more campsites, we reached the spur up Davis. It had a short, steep scramble but wasn't too bad. Up there, we were treated to amazing views! We snacked again and hung out taking in the fantastic panorama around us. The view here really is better than that on Isolation! It was amazing!
From here, it was a short trip over to Isolation, our final peak of the day. There was a group of six(?) people there and we hung out for a little while after they left. I really do like this peak and I think it gets kind of a bum rap. I will come back here many times over again. Dry River Wilderness is a very unique area and the remoteness and length of the hike to the peaks kind of keeps the crowds down.
While we were up there, the weather started changing. All day we had been treated to partly cloudy skies and warm but not hot temps. When we arrived at Isolation, the summit of Wahington was clearly visable. About 15min later, we couldn't see the top and the temp had dropped about 5 degrees. the change of weather and the time told us we ought to try to hustle on down.
The next part of the route though (on Davis Path and Isolation Trail back to Rocky Branch) brought us through the wetest part of the trip and slowed us down a little still, once we hit dry trail, we put on the gas and made it back to the car with it still being light out about 10hrs after we hit the trail. We felt really good about our time and the amount of energy that we still had left. We both said we could have kept going for a while longer! If I had know how things were going to work out, I might have suggested summiting Resolution earlier in the day.
Still, it was a fantastic day with great views. We had a lot of fun and this boot booster did his first lengthy trip in his trail runners with no issue or complaint!
Since Gator needed Isolation toward his 48 and I had never been up Davis, though I had heard good things about it, we decided to do these two together. Then, remembering how enjoyable Stairs is, I asked Gator if he would be interested in tacking that on as well and he said "Sure".
Due to a number of factors, I got a late start (and only 4hrs sleep). We spotted one car at the Rocky branch trailhead on Rt 16 and then drove to the other trailhead on Jericho Road. There is only a sign for this road when you are coming from the west so take care not to miss it.
Starting on an easy old road, the trail soon brought us to Rocky Branch Shelter #1 which we checked out (It's HUGE!) and the Stairs Col trail which we turned onto. The hike to the Davis Path was pretty steep at times but, it offered occasional views off toward Resolution and was a pleasant looking trail. Taking comfort in the knowledge that this was the hardest part of the day, we steamed on through. We were very happy when we reached the Davis Path at the top of the ridge and we hung out for a minute while we let what looked like a scout troop pass us, going in the opposite direction. These would be the only people we would see until we were on Isolation.
Once they passed, we took the spur up Stairs (not upstairs). When we got to the branch off for the lookdown, we saw a couple of Spruce Grouse on the trail who really didn't seem to care that we were there. We went to the lookdown and looked down then went back to continue the rest of the way up and found that there were acctually four grouse. We proceeded up slowly and they just moved off the trail, still pecking around and not paying us any mind. Once at the summit, I poked around the campsites and we hung out and had a bite. I took out the binoculars, map, and compass and we identified the visable peaks. A little bit later, we headed back down and didn't see any grouse.
Continuing over to Davis, we enjoyed the uniquness of the ridge. We comented about how it felt like you were both high up and at base level at the same time. We reached one area where a fir wave had come through and really opened up the area. Some rasberries had grown in and we found some that were ripe. Yum! While looking around there, Gator discovered that his leg was bleeding a little. I told him that I had my Mini-Leatherman with me and could amputate if need be. He turned down my offer.
he clotted and then we moved on.After a bit longer and passing through a boggy area and two more campsites, we reached the spur up Davis. It had a short, steep scramble but wasn't too bad. Up there, we were treated to amazing views! We snacked again and hung out taking in the fantastic panorama around us. The view here really is better than that on Isolation! It was amazing!
From here, it was a short trip over to Isolation, our final peak of the day. There was a group of six(?) people there and we hung out for a little while after they left. I really do like this peak and I think it gets kind of a bum rap. I will come back here many times over again. Dry River Wilderness is a very unique area and the remoteness and length of the hike to the peaks kind of keeps the crowds down.
While we were up there, the weather started changing. All day we had been treated to partly cloudy skies and warm but not hot temps. When we arrived at Isolation, the summit of Wahington was clearly visable. About 15min later, we couldn't see the top and the temp had dropped about 5 degrees. the change of weather and the time told us we ought to try to hustle on down.
The next part of the route though (on Davis Path and Isolation Trail back to Rocky Branch) brought us through the wetest part of the trip and slowed us down a little still, once we hit dry trail, we put on the gas and made it back to the car with it still being light out about 10hrs after we hit the trail. We felt really good about our time and the amount of energy that we still had left. We both said we could have kept going for a while longer! If I had know how things were going to work out, I might have suggested summiting Resolution earlier in the day.
Still, it was a fantastic day with great views. We had a lot of fun and this boot booster did his first lengthy trip in his trail runners with no issue or complaint!
