| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Isolation, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Rocky Branch Trail, bushwhacks, Isolation Trail, Davis Path, Isolation Spur |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Only one or two vehicles at the trailhead on 16 in the morning, maybe a couple more late day. That's a large parking area, and this was a post-Labor Day, midweek hike. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Only real crossing on this route was the fifth on Isolation Trail, and that was a rock hop, needing care. Poles are a real help on this, and even then two of us got wet feet on the way back out. See notes under "Comments." |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The trail is in good shape up to a little past the height-of-land. West of there is where everyone notes the usual very wet stretch going down (westward), nearly a small stream running down the trail, which makes for slow going and a lot of rock-hopping. In a couple of places there are huge mud pits, and the herd paths around them are obvious. Above the fifth crossing of the river, the IT passes over the very wet area always up there, too, but this also is just a lot of rock hopping. The flat stretches of the Davis Path over to the climb up to the Isolation spur also has a few mud pits, but most of these places have logs thrown into them long ago, and overall passage wasn't a great problem. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
There was one, quiet and well behaved, and which would be in need of a bath later. |
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 | Bugs: |
None. It's October. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
We found two water shoes, not together, but matching. We encountered the owner as we passed by on Davis, and I told him as best as I remembered where we left the one I had found, but it was there on our way out. We also found a nice lime-green water bottle at the east side of crossing number 2, we left it there, and it's very visible. |
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 | Comments: |
There are five river crossings that really are crossings after Rocky Branch ends at the Isolation Trail. The first two may be bypassed with a 0.2 mile bushwhack from RB to IT; this also cuts off perhaps a half mile of trail each way. This appears as a short dashed line on many maps of this route into Isolation, but it is not an established trail. It starts at the end of the very wet, rock-hop stretch of the RB trail about 0.3 mile short of crossing 1, at a point maybe 100' before (east) of where the steady down-slope over wet terrain is seen to end suddenly and turn a bit uphill. At this point there is an obvious herd path heading north from the RB trail. The first and last parts of this short bushwhack seem to follow a herd path, but there is a short stretch in the middle where the path is less obvious. One could just keep going in the same general direction, but it certainly is a good idea to have a phone app with offline map to provide guidance. The bushwhack ends right where crossing 2 brings the IT back to the east side of the river.
There is a long stretch of trail between crossings 2 and 3. At crossing 3, where the IT goes back over to the west side of the river, there is an obvious herd path that stays on the east side, coming back onto the IT where crossing 4 comes back to the east side. These two crossings are only a few hundred feet apart, making one wonder why the IT crossed the river twice so close together in the first place. |
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 | Name: |
Pappy |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-10-04 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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