Date if Hike: 2/7/21
Rocky Branch Trail: 2.7 miles / Engine Hill Bushwhack: 1.2 miles / Isolation East: 1.4 miles / Davis Path: 1.8 miles / Isolation East: 1.4 miles / Engine Hill Bushwhack: 1.2 miles / Rocky Branch Trail: 2.7 miles
Total Miles: 12.4 miles / 3,514' elevation gained
Trip Report:
- After Saturday's Sargeless hike of the Carter's with Todd where my winter goal of avoiding breaking trail had been foiled, Sarge and I headed to the other side of the notch for a morning hike to Isolation over superb broken out trails.
- We arrived to an almost empty lot, with one of the cars there belonging to Todd. Sarge must have recognized his scent because he was going way out in front of me and looked like a dog possessed, that or he was picking up the scent of a moose, anyway I huffed and puffed after him and was relieved when we finally caught up to Todd soon after the Wilderness Boundary around two miles in.
- From here we followed the tracks of a lone barebooter of the day through the Birch glades, which is the bushwhack portion and the highlight of the hike. The whack had been well traveled, it did miss two glades the normal route passes through and dropped down to the trail a little early but I could care less as it was broken out and made for easy snowshoeing.
- Once back on the trails we made quick time to the summit catching up with the barebooter we had been following, he was up there feeding three very hungry Gray Jays as we tagged the summit and took a few pics.
- We had good views up there as all the higher summits were below the cloud deck. A small snowstorm was coming through in the morning we beat it by a few hours so we never saw a flake during our whole hike and compared to Saturday's outing this was a breeze of a hike. It's also a breeze compared to non snow conditions as Davis Path and Isolation East have plenty of mud, rotted bog bridges, and erosion.
- We made quick time down the mountain making it to the Jeep and getting home by noon. I told Sarge he could stay up past his bedtime to watch the Super Bowl so he took a nap while I had lunch. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday :)
Heading into the Birch glades
Todd and Sarge lead the way through the Engine Hill Bushwhack
Mount Isolation summit
Clouds overtaking the sun as a small snow storm slowly makes its way over the mountains
Monroe, Washington, and Boott Spur behind Sarge
The one water crossing we had was solidly bridged
Sarge charging through the glades
Super Bowl Sarge!
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