August 27, 2016: Mount Isolation

I was down to 2 peaks left on the list, Isolation and Bondcliff.  Since I was saving Bondcliff for number 48, it was a no brainer to tackle Isolation.  This would be my second attempt at this peak, my first attempt ended years ago when I came across some fresh bear poo on the trail about 5 minutes in.

Hoping for a poo-less trip this time around, I arrived at the trail head nice and early for what promised to be a long day of hiking.  The trail starts off easily enough and it wasn’t long until I reached the first real landmark besides trees, the bogs.

The bogs were basically your average swamp but luckily there were boards laid down that I could use to keep semi dry.  While traversing the bogs, I passed a couple gents who were clearly lost and was able to reassure them that there was indeed a path through this mess.

Once past the bogs, the trail begins a series of river crossings that really leaves you pondering the sanity of whoever invented this trail.  After about 5 river crossings that finally leave you on the other side of the river, the trail begins to climb in earnest.

Before long, I found myself wandering through an oddly placed camp site which my handy white mountain hiking guide(ding ding), tole me was an easy place to get lost.  I scrambled around a bit but was happy to see myself still on the trail once past the lonely camp sites.

What felt like hours later, which it probably was, I finally arrived at the turn to the summit just as another group was coming off of it.  I climbed the last few feet to find I had timed it just right to have the whole summit to myself, although it took me a good 20 minutes to realize I was at the false summit before the true summit which was a few yards away.  47 down, 1 to go!!!!!