onrhodes
New member
First of all, thanks for the information on my post about doing this loop.
3 of us headed up to Glen Boulder Trail arriving about 9:30. I knew from the weather reports that it was going to be a cooler and breezy day back in my hometown of Concord, NH. So I knew that the potential for cooler and "breezier" existed up north.
We hit the trail about 9:45 and quickly set a nice pace. Passed a few people coming down and caught and passed several groups heading up. One group of teens/early 20's coming down told us it was windy and one kid was a little awed when we told him we were heading to Isolation via this route.
As we neared treeline we could hear the wind. It was blowing fairly well and we paused to put on gloves and hats.
As we popped up that last rocky slope into the open it was like getting pushed around in a mosh pit. I'm a small guy at 5'4" and 140lbs. The wind was just grabbing my backpack and tossing me around with every step I took. I felt like a drunk sailor trying to walk a straight line.
We made it as quickly as we could to Glen Boulder and took shelter next to the rock. My buddy Bernie (AKA Butthead) was a little nervous at this point. He wasn't sure he wanted to hike some indeterminate amount of time in this weather. My other friend Scott (AKA Gomer) and I convinced Bernie that him turning back by himself was not going to happen and that once we got to the other side of the ridge things would be much better.
We were kind of guessing on that last part. Judging from the direction of the wind and the ridgeline I knew we would get some shelter, I just was not sure how much.
It took the 3 of us about 30 minutes to do the next 1/4 mile or so and finally get into some trees again. Here the wind was cut down to just a whistle and the rocks and trees sheltered us nicely. Bernie seemed to feel much better at this point and regained his confidence now that he wasn't being buffeted by the winds.
We ran into 2 older gentlemen headed down to Glen Boulder. We told them what to expect and they told us the next ridge was bad too. After the 3 of us reached this next ridge and found the winds to be at least 20-30 MPH less, we were kind of worrying about those 2 guys in all that open exposed area and the few steep sections of rock. Didn't see anything on the news that night, so we assume they made it okay
At this point we decided that we were not going back down Glen Boulder which had been the original plan on this Isolation Trip. We took the loop option and where going to head out Rocky Branch and walk the road home. I was like "ahh, it's only got to be like 2 miles back up Pinkham Notch to get there"...........
Surprised to see a small brown bunny at one point and even a snake slithering down the trail (it had to only be about 40 degrees, shouldn't he have been under a rock waiting for the warm sunshine?). Got to the intersection of Glen and Davis and headed down down down to Isolation. At this point the winds were greatly diminished and even a slight tail wind. It was nice to get back into treeline again though and the pace picked up once more.
We stopped for lunch at the intersection of Rocky Branch and I whipped out the jetboil for some hot soup. Had a bagel with PB&J while cooking and then walked to rest of the way to Isolation while my soup rehydrated. Some of the forest at this point reminded me of what I always figured Fangor Forest in the "Lord of The Rings" looked like. Spooky trees and old man's beard coating everything. At one point a swaying tree's roots where opening up a fissure in the ground and it made the Earth look like it was breathing. Gomer took some video of this and I am waiting to see how it came out.
The Last .9 miles to Isolation went well. It was a little swampy in places and a lot of the log "bridges" are almost completely decomposed at this point.
Hit the peak, took some more pics, ate my soup and psyched ourselves up for the trek out.
There are some good points and bad points to doing and out and back. You can bench mark your progress since you have been that way before, but you also know about how far you have to go or not. Since none of us had been up RB before we had no idea what to expect other then it was a bit longer then the way we took to get in.
I had been told RB was boggy and muddy. Little did we know that at time we were basically walking down stream beds (at least that is how it felt to me). We made good time though. About 3 hours to get out. The last 30 minutes felt like they took forever though because we could see that we were close to the notch and were passing people headed into the campsites who said kept saying not much further.
We finally popped out at the parking lot and began the "2 mile" trek back to the car. It took us an hour to get back and on the drive back to Bear Notch Road we clocked the distance between RB and Glen Boulder to be only 3.2 miles. So I was a little off, no big deal.
Total hike time was about 9 hours, walking time was about 8 and mileage we estimated was close to 18 when all was said and done.
It was #46 for me. An awesome day and quite the adventure for bagging only 1 peak. The views at time were spectacular, the weather was challenging and the fun was off the charts.
Hit Elvios in Lincoln on the way home for a Peppers, Onions, and Bacon, holy cow did that hit the spot after this long day.
I left the house at 7AM that morning and got home about 9:30 PM. it was a long fun day.
Recommend this hike to anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding hike.
-Pete
3 of us headed up to Glen Boulder Trail arriving about 9:30. I knew from the weather reports that it was going to be a cooler and breezy day back in my hometown of Concord, NH. So I knew that the potential for cooler and "breezier" existed up north.
We hit the trail about 9:45 and quickly set a nice pace. Passed a few people coming down and caught and passed several groups heading up. One group of teens/early 20's coming down told us it was windy and one kid was a little awed when we told him we were heading to Isolation via this route.
As we neared treeline we could hear the wind. It was blowing fairly well and we paused to put on gloves and hats.
As we popped up that last rocky slope into the open it was like getting pushed around in a mosh pit. I'm a small guy at 5'4" and 140lbs. The wind was just grabbing my backpack and tossing me around with every step I took. I felt like a drunk sailor trying to walk a straight line.
We made it as quickly as we could to Glen Boulder and took shelter next to the rock. My buddy Bernie (AKA Butthead) was a little nervous at this point. He wasn't sure he wanted to hike some indeterminate amount of time in this weather. My other friend Scott (AKA Gomer) and I convinced Bernie that him turning back by himself was not going to happen and that once we got to the other side of the ridge things would be much better.
We were kind of guessing on that last part. Judging from the direction of the wind and the ridgeline I knew we would get some shelter, I just was not sure how much.
It took the 3 of us about 30 minutes to do the next 1/4 mile or so and finally get into some trees again. Here the wind was cut down to just a whistle and the rocks and trees sheltered us nicely. Bernie seemed to feel much better at this point and regained his confidence now that he wasn't being buffeted by the winds.
We ran into 2 older gentlemen headed down to Glen Boulder. We told them what to expect and they told us the next ridge was bad too. After the 3 of us reached this next ridge and found the winds to be at least 20-30 MPH less, we were kind of worrying about those 2 guys in all that open exposed area and the few steep sections of rock. Didn't see anything on the news that night, so we assume they made it okay
At this point we decided that we were not going back down Glen Boulder which had been the original plan on this Isolation Trip. We took the loop option and where going to head out Rocky Branch and walk the road home. I was like "ahh, it's only got to be like 2 miles back up Pinkham Notch to get there"...........
Surprised to see a small brown bunny at one point and even a snake slithering down the trail (it had to only be about 40 degrees, shouldn't he have been under a rock waiting for the warm sunshine?). Got to the intersection of Glen and Davis and headed down down down to Isolation. At this point the winds were greatly diminished and even a slight tail wind. It was nice to get back into treeline again though and the pace picked up once more.
We stopped for lunch at the intersection of Rocky Branch and I whipped out the jetboil for some hot soup. Had a bagel with PB&J while cooking and then walked to rest of the way to Isolation while my soup rehydrated. Some of the forest at this point reminded me of what I always figured Fangor Forest in the "Lord of The Rings" looked like. Spooky trees and old man's beard coating everything. At one point a swaying tree's roots where opening up a fissure in the ground and it made the Earth look like it was breathing. Gomer took some video of this and I am waiting to see how it came out.
The Last .9 miles to Isolation went well. It was a little swampy in places and a lot of the log "bridges" are almost completely decomposed at this point.
Hit the peak, took some more pics, ate my soup and psyched ourselves up for the trek out.
There are some good points and bad points to doing and out and back. You can bench mark your progress since you have been that way before, but you also know about how far you have to go or not. Since none of us had been up RB before we had no idea what to expect other then it was a bit longer then the way we took to get in.
I had been told RB was boggy and muddy. Little did we know that at time we were basically walking down stream beds (at least that is how it felt to me). We made good time though. About 3 hours to get out. The last 30 minutes felt like they took forever though because we could see that we were close to the notch and were passing people headed into the campsites who said kept saying not much further.
We finally popped out at the parking lot and began the "2 mile" trek back to the car. It took us an hour to get back and on the drive back to Bear Notch Road we clocked the distance between RB and Glen Boulder to be only 3.2 miles. So I was a little off, no big deal.
Total hike time was about 9 hours, walking time was about 8 and mileage we estimated was close to 18 when all was said and done.
It was #46 for me. An awesome day and quite the adventure for bagging only 1 peak. The views at time were spectacular, the weather was challenging and the fun was off the charts.
Hit Elvios in Lincoln on the way home for a Peppers, Onions, and Bacon, holy cow did that hit the spot after this long day.
I left the house at 7AM that morning and got home about 9:30 PM. it was a long fun day.
Recommend this hike to anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding hike.
-Pete
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