However, the weather forecast for the White Mountains in New Hampshire was for clear skies on Thursday and cloudy but not rainy for Friday. So after work on Wednesday evening I made the three hour drive to my happy place. When I got to the mountains I found a campsite while it was still light. It was chilly though. After I set up camp I was huddled in my sleeping bag watching the stars by 7:30.
The temperature didn't exactly warm up over night. When I finally forced myself out of bed at 7 am,
it was 39 degrees. However, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I made the hour long drive to the Rocky Branch trailhead for the fourteen mile roundtrip hike up Mt. Isolation. Isolation is just over four thousand feet (4003). It has a great view of the southern Presidentials. The one thing it does not have in its favor, is the trail is long. It is 7.2 miles from car to summit, and obviously, the same distance back. I wanted to be hiking by 7:30, but since I stayed in my bag too long, I started at 8:30.
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| Left to Right Monroe, Washington, Boot Spur from Isolation |
Isolation is a rare mountain where you get most of the climbing done in the beginning of the hike. In the first two miles you climb 1700 feet. After that, you can't even notice you are climbing. However, after the initial climb you have to cross the Rocky Branch River five times. The main reason I chose to do this hike this week instead of next year is the drought he have experienced. It made more sense to do these river crossing now then next June and deal with snow melt and high rivers. This was a good call. Every crossing was very easy.
The other thing that made the hike a little difficult was the constant rock hopping. For miles, the trail is wet and puddles. You have to tediously hop from rock to rock to keep your boots dry. This would be kind of fun except it really goes on for miles slowing you down adding hours to an already long hike.
None the less, I found the hike pretty enjoyable. Because of the rock hopping I did not make good time. Also I crossed the river in a spot that looked like a trail but wasn't. I kept trying to find the trail on the other side. This cost me quite a bit of time.
When I finally reached the summit, I really only had an hour to hang out. Even still, this only gave me three and a half hours to hike down before dark. The view was awesome. The weather was perfect. There wasn't any wind. There weren't any clouds or humidity. I could see for a hundred miles. The view was absolutely grand. It is almost 360 degrees but the highlight is by far the view of the Presidentials.
Just as I was packing up and ready to leave a family of grey jays came by begging for a snack. I got some more pictures of them eating out of my hand like they did on Star King. It was getting late so I couldn't hang out with the jays too long. I went down as quickly as I could but only made it down ten minutes before total darkness. Because I was pressed for time, I only took two pictures on the trails. I drove back to camp and huddled in my sleeping bag for the night.
Friday-
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| Cherry Pond |
I knew after doing fourteen miles I'd be a bit sore. I also knew the forecast called for clouds. So I wasn't doing any four thousand footers. When I woke the sky was red (Red sky in the morning, sailor's take warning" So even though there wasn't any clouds yet, I figured it was going to become overcast throughout the day.
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| There is an observation deck at Cherry Pond. On the right you can see the northern Presidentials |
I figured since it was still clear I'd hike out to a pond with a view. I hiked to the Cherry Ponds off of Rt. 115. The area is known as Pondicherry. The trail to Cherry Pond is an extremely flat dirt road. Just perfect for someone sore from a big hike the day before.The area is known for being a good place to go birding.I've never actually birded in New Hampshire so I brought my binoculars. (I had been to Cherry Pond before many years ago).
I wasn't disappointed. I saw a baby Cedar Waxwing, some wood ducks, confusing fall warblers, and a pied billed grebe (FOY).I took a walk to little Cherry Pond also. There were some more wood ducks on the pond. On my way out I had a Ruffed Grouse walk right in front of me, and I had my camera around my neck.
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| Ruffed Grouse |
After the hike I went to Lincoln. I got a cheat meal and devoured some McDonalds food. I also visited the Mountain Wanderer Bookstore and asked the owner/author/ hiker Steve Smith a bunch of question about future hikes I want to do. Then I went out to another lake.
My next destination was Peaked Hill Pond. It is off of Rt 3 between Exits 29 and 30 on I-93. The trail is 3.4 miles. There is about 550 feet of elevation gain. Almost the whole trail is on a wide dirt road type path. It is almost all uphill to the pond but the footing is smooth and not at all steep. I was there in less than an hour. The pond has a backdrop of a pointy mountain known as Peaked Hill. There were frogs and newts in the water. Since I was a half hour closer to home and I didn't want to hit Boston traffic, I lollygagged on the sitting rocks for almost two hours. It was pure joy.
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| Peaked Hill and Peaked Hill Pond |
The hike back was less than 45 minutes. Then I had a two and a half hour drive home after drive home after a couple fantastic days in the Granite State. The weather once I got into Massachusetts was nasty raw rain. Wish I could have stayed in the woods.
Trail miles exactly 22.0 miles
Animals seen- a dozen wild turkeys on road sides, frogs, newt, ruffed grouse, grey jays eating out of my hand, heard barred owl, cedar waxwings, many white throated sparrows, red breasted nuthatch, wood ducks, red breasted mergansers, many warblers.
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