Friday, December 22
Summits: Isolation, Engine Hill
Start/Finish: Rocky Branch North TH
Miles: 12.70
Elevation gain/loss: 3701′
I headed out from Rocky Branch as the 3rd car in the lot, with Phil Carcia and his FKT partner’s cars already there. I followed their footsteps off and on all day, even though we didn’t overlap. Rocky Branch was a mix of black ice and bare leaves and dirt. Higher up on the flat section, there was a lot of moving water and hard-to-see black ice. At the Engine Hill bushwhack, I decided to try it out, since it was cold enough everything was frozen. While most of the bog was solid, there weren’t any tracks to follow so I had to keep pulling out my phone to figure out where I needed to go.
I made it to the crossing over to Iso Express bushwhack and it was a manageable rock hop with minimal ice on the rocks. Iso Express was hard to follow but a bit easier than Engine Hill had been. I made the Iso summit just after sunset and decided that I’d rather descend the trails in the dark. I was mostly happy with that choice, though the ice higher on the trail kept breaking underneath me. At the trail’s water crossing, the rocks were submerged and partially iced over. I tried to cross too quickly and broke through; I ended up in calf-deep water and got my boots soggy. But my feet warmed up the water and my toes were fairly warm in my 200g boots. The trails back to Engine Hill were annoying and a little hard to follow for portions, but it worked out fine. I made it back to my car and headed over to Pinkham Notch for a shower.
