5. Isolation (4003')

June 12th, 2011
My oh my, how long a hike this was!! It was our longest hike so far and our favorite as well! We stopped by for our tasty bagels and then got to the trail head pretty quickly since it was only fifteen minutes away.

The first 1.8 miles were a very tedious and exhausting climb. I decided I was going to buy hiking poles after this uphill. But we eventually made it to the top and then we only had 14 more miles to go! Most of the hike was relatively flat but by no means easy. A good chunk of the hike we were going through small streams or creeks full of rocks to hop along. We quickly discovered that damp rocks are very dangerous, Joust you are so correct!! We slipped, rolled our ankles, almost face-planted hundreds of times. It was very tedious trying to stay on our feet but luckily we never got too hurt. And eventually we got through the creeks and came to a real river. We had 5 different river crossings on the way to the summit and we never fell in! Although there were a few close calls. Even if we would have slipped it wouldn't have been dangerous, just very very wet. Which at this point our boots and pants were pretty soaked so it wouldn't have mattered much. Either way it was a fun adventure having to cross the river.

Along the trail we saw at least 20 different piles of moose droppings. Although at one point we stopped and asked each other if they could possibly be bear droppings and quickly dismissed the thought. It would be neat to see a bear but a little scary at the same time. Anyway, we got to the summit in 3 hours and 44 minutes and couldn't wait to eat our bagels. I made us take a picture at the top with a sign I made saying, "Happy Birthday Mom" since it was her birthday.

As we started the descent I couldn't help think of how far out we were from civilization, and that we hadn't seen anyone on the trail, so we better not get hurt. And lucky for us we didn't. Although at the first river crossing on the way back we decided to pump some water because we both were almost out. Unfortunately our pump broke, uh oh! But we had back up Gatorade and we were fine for the hike back.

It was even more tedious going back because we were more fatigued and it started to lightly rain so the rocks were more slippery. We did get super freaked out when this type of grouse would fly through the woods, the flapping of the wings were so loud! And we felt so isolated and in our own world that it took us completely by surprise. So did this dog and two hikers we saw near the end of the trail. They were hiking in to camp at the shelter.

Well we finished the hike in 6 hours and 50 minutes. We had hiked 14.6 miles and climbed 3600 feet. It was a book time of 8 hours and 45 minutes so we were happy with the time it took us. The last mile and half were so exhausting because it was the steep downhill and our legs/ankles were shot. It seemed like the never ending trail. We were very exhausted so I begged Tony for a slice of pizza as a treat. Yup I know I'm a fool for working so hard and then ruining it with pizza, but it was so worth it!