Saturday, August 2, 2025
Summits: Jefferson, Isolation, Monroe
Start/Finish: Caps Ridge TH
Miles: 17.8
Elevation gain/loss: 6588′
I started early, but was perhaps the 6th car in the lot on a beautiful Saturday. I climbed Caps Ridge up to Jefferson, since I’d never done that approach before. I hiked on the AT over to Westside to skirt around Washington, then on Davis Path past Bigelow Lawn to connect to Boott Spur and eventually get to the summit of Isolation. Then I hiked back up to Boott Spur and across Bigelow Lawn to get to Lake of the Clouds. I was very thankful for the hut’s icy cold potable water by that point, having no water access until then. I headed up Monroe and back down, then descending via Ammo Ravine trail. To save myself time, trouble, and energy, I managed to yogi a ride back to the Caps TH from there!
On Westside, I twisted my right ankle very hard, hard enough to hit my ankle bone firmly on the ground, and twisted the left ankle only 5 minutes before. This was very aggravating, in addition to slowing me down. The wildfire smoke was also substantially impacting my breathing and the visibility by ~12pm, with AQI somewhere around 50 even high up.
Transcending Mountains 