Wolfgang
New member
Date of Hike: Wed 2-18-09
Knowing that by tomorrow, due to the expected storm, any evidence of a trail to Mt. Isolation, would be gone and who knows when we'll see it again, so I decided to go over and check it out. My plan was to hike up to the ski trail and Rocky Branch Jct. to see what the trail looked like. If it looked as if it hadn't been trodden on, then I was going to go and do my backup hike (Moriah). At the jct. the trail was nice and hard and well packed. So, I said to myself, lets do it. I already had one aborted attempt to Iso. so far this winter. So on went my microspikes and up I went. The steep section has no indentation in the trail. It's level with the snow on both sides, so after the new snow, it will be hard to find. Especially, since there are no blazes. At the top of the climb, where is levels out, on went my snowshoes. The snow was soft and between the post holeing moose and a few snowshoers, a little rough and unconsolidated. But, the trail was broken and that's all that mattered. After the height of land, I started to look for the bushwhack and to my surprise it was much further down the trail than I expected. The trail was broken going down to the shelter, but I opted for the whack. Before long, I was on the Iso and headed up the valley. At one place just before the last stream crossing, someone had written something in the snow about turning back. I thought, yea this is great, now I'm going to have to bust trail again. But, tracks continued. This time the one, wonderful, mystery hiker who continued to break trail all the way to the summit. And also whack around the tent sites to the col. The stream crossings were well bridged and solid. The worst section was the Davis Path. The snow was so high that it was very difficult to get through the branches. Finally, after beating my way across the ridge I came to the spur and scrambled to the top. What a day. Bright sun and no wind. Tagged the cairn with my pole for #48 winter, said thank you Lord, and headed back. The return trip was mostly uneventful. Just the long slog back. Back at the parking lot there was about half a dozen vehicles but I saw nobody on the trail all day. They must have been skiing or snowshoeing.
Wolfgang
[email protected]
Knowing that by tomorrow, due to the expected storm, any evidence of a trail to Mt. Isolation, would be gone and who knows when we'll see it again, so I decided to go over and check it out. My plan was to hike up to the ski trail and Rocky Branch Jct. to see what the trail looked like. If it looked as if it hadn't been trodden on, then I was going to go and do my backup hike (Moriah). At the jct. the trail was nice and hard and well packed. So, I said to myself, lets do it. I already had one aborted attempt to Iso. so far this winter. So on went my microspikes and up I went. The steep section has no indentation in the trail. It's level with the snow on both sides, so after the new snow, it will be hard to find. Especially, since there are no blazes. At the top of the climb, where is levels out, on went my snowshoes. The snow was soft and between the post holeing moose and a few snowshoers, a little rough and unconsolidated. But, the trail was broken and that's all that mattered. After the height of land, I started to look for the bushwhack and to my surprise it was much further down the trail than I expected. The trail was broken going down to the shelter, but I opted for the whack. Before long, I was on the Iso and headed up the valley. At one place just before the last stream crossing, someone had written something in the snow about turning back. I thought, yea this is great, now I'm going to have to bust trail again. But, tracks continued. This time the one, wonderful, mystery hiker who continued to break trail all the way to the summit. And also whack around the tent sites to the col. The stream crossings were well bridged and solid. The worst section was the Davis Path. The snow was so high that it was very difficult to get through the branches. Finally, after beating my way across the ridge I came to the spur and scrambled to the top. What a day. Bright sun and no wind. Tagged the cairn with my pole for #48 winter, said thank you Lord, and headed back. The return trip was mostly uneventful. Just the long slog back. Back at the parking lot there was about half a dozen vehicles but I saw nobody on the trail all day. They must have been skiing or snowshoeing.
Wolfgang
[email protected]
