What an amazing hike this was.
According to alltrails Mt Isolation has the following stats.
Length:12.1 Miles
Elevation gain: 4970ft
Route Type: Out & Back
Difficulty: HARD
Time: 7.5hrs
Description: This trail has a bit of everything. Scrambles, views, forested sections, and unique geological features like Glen Boulder. The hike is challenge with nearly constant climbing or descending, there are very few level sections of trail along this route.
Hikers Log:
Date: September 25th 2021,
Start: ~7:30am
Finish: ~7:00pm
This is a crazy story…
This is the first 4k (4000) footer I decided to do (probably not the best idea). It was also the first time I was hiking with a group of strangers…
The group I met through a facebook group called “Hiking Buddies NH 48”. This group is a group of 11,000 people that hike the 48 4000 footers in NH.
Anyway into the story, my day started ~2am because I was meeting the group at the trailhead for ~7am I had about a 3-4hr drive from my house to the trail head. I was getting sleepy on the road so I decided to pull over to stretch, eat something, kinda wake up a little. So I see this gas station right off the road so I pulled off to go the gas station. What I thought was the entrance was actually grass… OOPS. I did not realize it was not an entrance until I went over the curb into the gas station. It was at that moment I knew I needed a break from driving, this was ~5am. Once I woke up at the gas station I was fine driving the rest of the way.
I met with the people at the trailhead and we all had different hiking experiences.
Some had already completed the NH 48, others close to it, and there was me and one other guy who were newer to the NH 48.
I was the least experienced considering this was my first 4k.
This is the first look out point in the middle of the trail. We had to turn around to get this view but totally worth it.
The trail up to Glen Boulder was moderate I would say. Pretty steady incline with a few streams to cross. I remember that one of the hiking buddies fell right into one of the streams and her socks were soaked. This happened right towards the beginning of the hike (wet socks can be an increased risk of blisters and discomfort on long walks). We all stopped so she could dry her socks quickly. The biggest rule when hiking is you go up together and come back together! On the way up to Glen Boulder there is a steep rock face you need to climb up about 5+ft tall. This rock face was almost completely vertical meaning you literally had to climb up. Once you get past this vertical rock it is a steep incline of climbing rocks, with a few flat areas covered with pine trees. Glen Boulder is this very large boulder ~20ft by 20ft sitting on the edge of the cliff. Most people will stop here and take a picture “pushing” the boulder off the cliff.
It was at this point we decided to take our first break.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and it was the end of September so foliage was starting to appear, and there was still an undercast of clouds. By the time we took our first break it was 9:00am, so we had been hiking for ~1-2hrs.
The views were spectacular that day, felt like we could see on forever. This picture is taken at glenn boulder so even if you decide to turn around here for the day you will still get spectacular views.
After our first break it was a steep incline to the next ridge, so we stopped here for a quick snack and breath. I do not have a time stamp for this stop but I would say ~10am.
We stopped right on the ridge lines and you can see the other ridges on the mountain range. Just an amazing view.
Thankfully after this stop we got a break from the sun and were in a Christmas tree forest (as I call it). It was a large patch of shorter pine trees, This section was pretty flat as well. This whole section just reminded me of Christmas due to the smell, feel, and atmosphere of the pine trees. Towards the end of this section it is yet another steep incline up to where the trail splits. This is where you can go left towards Isolation or take a right up to Boot Spur.
Up on the ridges, and where the elevation is too high for trees to grow, the trail is marked by piles of rocks.
This is my favorite view on the trail. This picture was taken at the Mt Isolation and Boot Spur trail intersection
At Least from this point on to the summit it is almost all downhill. This is such a relief after all the steep inclines to get to this point. Once you get under the treeline be careful of all the MUD. There is probably a good mile of MUD on the trail (hopefully this is better when you go). There are wooden planks down to step on to avoid the mud but they are not always the best. There were certain sections where I would hug the edges and then use the trees to swing myself to the other edge or I would jump across the mud (not ideal). The last little section is a steep incline to the summit.
Hooray!!!
We reached the summit around 1300 (1:00pm). The views were incredible, you can see Mt Washington in the background.
At the summit there are Gray Jays (the seagulls of the mts). People will stick food out onto their hand and the Gray Jays will fly over and eat out of your hand. I was not one of the ones to do this but I want to do this on one of my future hikes.
What makes this hike one of the more difficult of the NH 48 is if you take the Glen Boulder route like I did, you have to do the whole trail again so where you descend you must ascend and where you ascend you must descend.
By the time we got back to the cars it was ~6-7pm. Now it was time for the long ride home. I don’t remember much about the drive except for the fact I got home around 11pm.
We all had a great time and everyone was super nice. If you are afraid of hiking alone I would recommend finding a hiking group and meeting new people that way.
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