Mt. Isolation and Boott Spur - 9/27/25 and 9/28/25
Mt. Isolation: 4003 ft.
My first hike of the year (unfortunately) was also first backpacking trip of sorts. My friend and occasional hiking buddy Dan had proposed a weekend trip to hike Mt. Isolation, one fo the 4k-ers that we both had not yet done. We planned to hike up Glen Boulder trail, summit Boot Spur (about 5400 ft tall, though lacking the prominence to make the 48 list), and then summit Mt. Isolation before making camp at Rocky Branch Shelter #2. The next morning we planned to walk out via Rocky Branch trail. This meant we'd start and end at different trailheads, and we didn't really have a concrete plan for getting back to our car. We knew there are hiker shuttles in the Whites, mainly catering to AT thru-hikers, and we figured we could sort something out with one of them. More on that later.
We got our usual early start and arrived at the trailhead around 7:30am and were quickly on trail. We were cruising along, probably about 2 miles in, when I made a joke about the trail going down more than I expected. Then Dan made a comment about the trail being less worn than he expected. Then I realized we were going a bit too close to due south for my taste and we decided to stop and pull out the map. A keen-eyed reader will notice a trail connecting the Glen Boulder trail near our starting point to the Rocky Branch trail near the end. This is the Avalanche Brook XC Trail and it is what we were walking on. We had gone at least 1 mile off our intended course, so we turned around. When we crossed Avalanche Brook again and rejoined the Glen Boulder trail, we noticed a very obvious sign we'd missed the first time around. Oops.
Here's where we made the second mistake of our hike: not filling up on some water at the brook we just crossed. I was going through my water much faster than I expected but had not realized yet that i wasn't going to make it to the next water source we knew about, which was Rocky Branch, the river, rather far into our hike. But we didn't fill up and instead continued up the mountain. The Glen Boulder trail is steep, but a fun climb and not difficult except for one sketchy spot just as you come out of the trees and see the eponymous boulder. It was also right around this spot where I realized my water was going to be a problem. We discussed the issue and changed our plans, deciding to make for our campsite where we knew there was water and planned to summit the next day. I also half-filled my empty water bottle with some nasty puddle water, just in case. I had a filter but it still didn't look very appetizing.
We stopped for some lunch a bit above the boulder before continuing on. I was starting to feel a bit dehydrated and eyeing up that dirt water when we noticed a little sign nailed to a tree.
A spring was just what we needed, and fortunately we noticed the sign this time. Neither of us were aware of this water source, and we'd been having a historic drought so we had some doubts about whether or not there'd be water. But we trekked down the side trail and found a little spring with enough flowing water to fill up. This caused us to change our plans again. With enough water for the rest of the day, we decided to summit Boott Spur and then head to our campsite; we'd hit Isolation early the next morning.
The hike from there to Boott Spur was great, a bit under a mile and very moderate. Above tree line for the vast majority of it and the terrain was reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings movies. From the peak of Boott Spur Mt. Washington was imposing, and temptingly close, but we headed down in the direction of Mt. Isolation as planned.
After hiking down the ridge an back below tree line, we had an odd encounter with another hiker. He was shouting "Yo!", trying to get our attention, and when he saw us he said he thought maybe we were his 3 friends who he'd separated from. He said he'd been planning to hike out a different way than them, but then "the trail was blocked" and so he'd turned bac, around and started trying to find them. We told him we'd keep an eye out and let his friends know we'd seen him if we ran into them, and parted ways. As soon as he was out of earshot we started to discuss. We weren't aware of any trail closures, or what could make a trail so "blocked" that someone wouldn't be able to bypass it. And the direction he was coming from was the Davis Path, coming from the south, and he would presumably have done some serious miles that day if he'd been trying to walk out that way only to turn around and make it back north past Isolation. And he'd asked us "What's up that way?", indicating back up the way we'd came, and the answer was of course basically Mt. Washington. He was clearly equipped to spend a night in the woods so we weren't worried for his safety, but he seemed like he had no clue where he was. In a strange coincidence, we ran into 3 guys who, when asked, told us they'd separated from a friend earlier in the day, but when we decribed the person we met they said it sounded nothing like their guy.
Around this point we reached the turn off the ridge and down towards Rocky Branch and the location we planned to camp for the night. The trail quickly meets up with the beginnings of the stream, which grows into a real mountain river as the trail crosses it a few times. We were on the lookout for Rocky Branch Shelter #2, and we starting to get worried we'd missed it somehow when we ran into a photographer. We chatted with him for a bit, and then asked if he'd seen any shelters or campsites. He said "Well Rocky Branch Shelter is a few miles down the trail, but there's a sign for a campsite right behind you." Sure enough, we turned around and there was a little wooden sign with a tent symbol on it that we'd missed. We hiked up the hill a bit and found a great little site, all to ourselves. The sun was starting to set at that point so we set up the tent, made some dinner, and settled down for the night. I accidentally spilled water all over myself in a blunder trying to set up a gravity-feed water filter system, so I swapped my t-shirt for a long sleeved spare, which was fine as the weather was getting colder. I hung my t-shirt on a tree to dry, and just before turning in, I noticed it was covered in moths which was strange.
It got pretty cold at night but we slept alright. Dan told me he has a tendency to lurk in his sleeping bag, but that he'd get up if I started moving around. Lucky for him I'm an early riser, and I got up at the first hint of sunlight. I made myself some tea, ate some poptarts that got completely pulverized in my bag, and then we broke down our camp.
We walked back down to the river and I convinced Dan to give me 15 minutes to try to catch a fish. I had brought 10 feet of fishing line wrapped around a popsicle stick and 2 little trout flies. While he filtered water for both of us, I clambered out onto a rock at the edge of a deep pool in the stream, and starting casting my makeshift handline. It took me less than 5 minutes to yoink a fish out of the stream. I screeched with glee, and Dan looked shocked. He's not really a fisherman, and had many doubts about both my rig and whether or not there were even any fish that high up the mountain. I at least was pretty convinced there'd be fish. If I'd gone fishing the night before I might have tried to cook my catch, but I let this one go since we were ready to start hiking.
We set off back up the trail towards the summit of Mt. Isolation. Once we got back up to the ridge, the trail was smooth and mostly flat and we made great time. We quickly reached the little spur trail that leads to the summit of Isolation, one last very steep 100 feet or so to reach the summit. We scambled up and were treated to great views of the Dry River valley, the southern face of the Presidential ridge, and east over Rt. 16 towards the Wildcats. I feel like Isolation is not really known for it's views, but I was impressed. We didn't spend long up there, just enough for a few pictures, and I ate a bag of gummy worms. Then we headed back down.
The first person we saw all day was a woman trail running with her dog, just after we turned off the ridge and back down towards Rocky Branch. She stopped briefly and told us about a dying moose, stuck in the mud near the junction with the Rocky Branch trail. We kept moving and eventually made it back to the stream crossing near where we'd camped the night before. We stopped to fill up on water one last time, and then headed downhill again. At this point we thought we might see the Rocky Branch Shelter #2 that we'd never found the night before, but it never turned up. We were pretty confused but it hardly mattered at this point. We ran into a couple more people who all warned us about a dead/dying moose stuck in the mud farther down the trail. Eventually we encountered that too. It wasn't stuck in the mud the way I'd imagined, and was definitely dead by the time we got there.
Shortly thereafter, we reached the intersection with the Rocky Branch Trail. I was tempted to do a little more fishing as we had to cross the river, but we were both pretty beat by that point after a day and a half of hiking and a brisk pace so far that day, so we just kept pushing.
The trail crosses the river heading east, and actually ascends for a while as it gets out of the valley the river is in, before heading back downhill towards the trailhead. This part of the hike is pretty uninteresting, just rocks and mud, and made worse by the fact that we were tiring out. At this point, we started to discuss the problem that had been looming over the second half of our journey: how we were going to get back to our car. I attempted to investigate the possibility of a hiker shuttle, but I had no service. That precluded an Uber as well, so it was looking like our options would be to connect back to Avalanche Brook XC trail, or head to Rt. 16 and either road walk or try to hitch. Dan did not like that idea and seemed to think a hitch there would be very difficult and the road walk very dangerous, and leaned towards the XC trail. As it happened, the trail provided.
We stopped for 1 last break about a mile before the trailhead, and just as we were about to get moving again, who should appear but the trail runner and her dog we'd met earlier in the day. She paused once again to chat, and we very cleverly asked her for a ride. We told her we didn't want to slow her down as it was clear she was absolutely cooking, but she told us it was no problem, and then started running again. So we set off running too. I think it was probably oe of the toughest miles I've ever ran. It was not particularly fast, probably 15 minutes or so, but with heavy pack and tired legs I was absolutely gassed at the end. I did get to sit in the backseat with her dog though, who was very friendly and put his head in my lap.
She dropped us back at the trailhead, we thanked her profusely, and then we went and got barbecue in North Conway for an early dinner.