BIGEarl
Well-known member
November 23, 2012: Isolation
Trails: Rocky Branch Trail, Isolation Trail, Davis Path, Isolation Spur
Summits: Isolation
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We’re going into the final weekend of November with two hike-days, and we need both of them to complete our plans. First up is Isolation. A couple weeks earlier we had planned to hike it but swapped in Garfield in favor of an early day. Now we can let it take as long as it takes to complete the hike. We haven’t hiked a round trip from Rocky Branch trailhead on the trails in quite a long time. All of the recent hikes from this trailhead have included the Engine Hill Bushwhack, at least in one direction. This time through we planned to do it the old fashioned way, we’ll follow the trails.
The forecast for the day was pretty nice and we were expecting a very pleasant hike to Isolation. A few minutes later than planned we were on-trail making our way to the height of land on Engine Hill (south end of Rocky Branch Ridge). We had a clear hike all of the way up. Most of the wet and muddy places were fairly solid or frozen, and there was very little on-trail ice. Across the top of the ridge most of the usual muddy places were muddy, as usual. We worked on the rocks and other high spots and were able to make it to the starting point for the Engine Hill Bushwhack with clean boots.
From there to the 4th crossing of Rocky Branch (near the junction with Isolation Trail) we found a large amount of mud, water, and on-trail ice. We also found a nice assortment of high rocks that turned this section into a long rock-hop. We reached Rocky Branch and made the crossing. This crossing is often difficult but we had no trouble at all in either direction on this hike. Across the river we picked up Isolation Trail and headed for Davis Path.
Isolation Trail is usually an easy, relatively mild hike to Davis Path. This time through was more interesting than usual. We started north on Isolation Trail working our way through multiple stream crossings (all of them were easy) and managed to stay clean and dry even though there was plenty of water and mud on the trail, as usual. A little over half-way from the upper crossing to the junction with Davis Path we started seeing blow-downs. Lots of blow-downs. At one point I stopped and got a couple pictures of one cluster of trees on the trail that had been opened up for hiker passage. I thought to myself this was a particularly bad mess, but we hadn’t really seen anything yet.
As we continued on, the destruction got worse and worse. Sue and I have maintained our normal weekly hiking schedule since the bad weather associated with Sandy moved through and we never have seen any real damage. We’re seeing it now. The closer we got to the area of the tent sites south of Davis Path the more significant the damage became. The blow-downs were everywhere. A significant effort has been made to just open a way through the trees. The trail now required us to go over, under (on hands and knees), or around downed trees in order to move ahead. Eventually we made our way to Davis Path.
For a brief period I thought we were through it but around the first corner we were back on our hands and knees crawling through the trees. There were hundreds of trees lost to the storm in this area (I’m sure “hundreds” is not an overstatement). The destruction is impressive. There was evidence of clean-up work having been done all of the way to Isolation Spur.
We made it to the spur, and climbed to the summit. From the open area we could look over the surrounding forest and see trees that were snapped off everywhere. Last year it was TS Irene and lots of rain damage, this year it’s weather associated with Sandy and mainly wind damage. We stayed at the summit for a while to get the usual pictures and enjoy some cookies that made the trip in Sue’s pack. Soon, we u-turned and started our exit hike knowing it was going to take longer than planned, just like our hike in.
The hike out went as expected; slow but without any real problems. We made our way back through the very large area of blow-downs and on to the open section of Isolation Trail. The hike back to Rocky Branch Trail went well and we made it through all crossings again without any problems. We skipped the second and third crossings on Isolation Trail and simply stayed on the east side of Rocky Branch. We made the lower crossing on Isolation Trail and then the 4th crossing on Rocky Branch.
From there to the trailhead we had clear sailing up and over Engine Hill and down to the waiting truck. Somewhere as we approached the height of land we stopped to pull out our headlights and completed the final ~3 miles to the trailhead. A little later than planned we were standing in the trailhead lot packing to leave after a full day hiking Isolation.
That was easy.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Rocky Branch Trail, Isolation Trail, Davis Path, Isolation Spur
Summits: Isolation
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We’re going into the final weekend of November with two hike-days, and we need both of them to complete our plans. First up is Isolation. A couple weeks earlier we had planned to hike it but swapped in Garfield in favor of an early day. Now we can let it take as long as it takes to complete the hike. We haven’t hiked a round trip from Rocky Branch trailhead on the trails in quite a long time. All of the recent hikes from this trailhead have included the Engine Hill Bushwhack, at least in one direction. This time through we planned to do it the old fashioned way, we’ll follow the trails.
The forecast for the day was pretty nice and we were expecting a very pleasant hike to Isolation. A few minutes later than planned we were on-trail making our way to the height of land on Engine Hill (south end of Rocky Branch Ridge). We had a clear hike all of the way up. Most of the wet and muddy places were fairly solid or frozen, and there was very little on-trail ice. Across the top of the ridge most of the usual muddy places were muddy, as usual. We worked on the rocks and other high spots and were able to make it to the starting point for the Engine Hill Bushwhack with clean boots.
From there to the 4th crossing of Rocky Branch (near the junction with Isolation Trail) we found a large amount of mud, water, and on-trail ice. We also found a nice assortment of high rocks that turned this section into a long rock-hop. We reached Rocky Branch and made the crossing. This crossing is often difficult but we had no trouble at all in either direction on this hike. Across the river we picked up Isolation Trail and headed for Davis Path.
Isolation Trail is usually an easy, relatively mild hike to Davis Path. This time through was more interesting than usual. We started north on Isolation Trail working our way through multiple stream crossings (all of them were easy) and managed to stay clean and dry even though there was plenty of water and mud on the trail, as usual. A little over half-way from the upper crossing to the junction with Davis Path we started seeing blow-downs. Lots of blow-downs. At one point I stopped and got a couple pictures of one cluster of trees on the trail that had been opened up for hiker passage. I thought to myself this was a particularly bad mess, but we hadn’t really seen anything yet.
As we continued on, the destruction got worse and worse. Sue and I have maintained our normal weekly hiking schedule since the bad weather associated with Sandy moved through and we never have seen any real damage. We’re seeing it now. The closer we got to the area of the tent sites south of Davis Path the more significant the damage became. The blow-downs were everywhere. A significant effort has been made to just open a way through the trees. The trail now required us to go over, under (on hands and knees), or around downed trees in order to move ahead. Eventually we made our way to Davis Path.
For a brief period I thought we were through it but around the first corner we were back on our hands and knees crawling through the trees. There were hundreds of trees lost to the storm in this area (I’m sure “hundreds” is not an overstatement). The destruction is impressive. There was evidence of clean-up work having been done all of the way to Isolation Spur.
We made it to the spur, and climbed to the summit. From the open area we could look over the surrounding forest and see trees that were snapped off everywhere. Last year it was TS Irene and lots of rain damage, this year it’s weather associated with Sandy and mainly wind damage. We stayed at the summit for a while to get the usual pictures and enjoy some cookies that made the trip in Sue’s pack. Soon, we u-turned and started our exit hike knowing it was going to take longer than planned, just like our hike in.
The hike out went as expected; slow but without any real problems. We made our way back through the very large area of blow-downs and on to the open section of Isolation Trail. The hike back to Rocky Branch Trail went well and we made it through all crossings again without any problems. We skipped the second and third crossings on Isolation Trail and simply stayed on the east side of Rocky Branch. We made the lower crossing on Isolation Trail and then the 4th crossing on Rocky Branch.
From there to the trailhead we had clear sailing up and over Engine Hill and down to the waiting truck. Somewhere as we approached the height of land we stopped to pull out our headlights and completed the final ~3 miles to the trailhead. A little later than planned we were standing in the trailhead lot packing to leave after a full day hiking Isolation.
That was easy.
Pictures will follow.
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