September 14, 2024

Start/End: Pinkham Notch Visitor Center

Peaks: "Boott Spur" (5,492'), "North Isolation" (4,293'), Isolation (4,004'), "Slide" (4,760')

Elevation Gain: 5,475 ft

RT Mileage: 13.18 mi

Duration: 10 hours, 24 minutes

Rock Difficulty: Class 1+

After a washout last weekend, I was back in the Whites on the 14th. Now that I've finished the 48, I've decided it's time to get my sister her 48 too. Taking advantage of the nice September days, we went with Isolation today, a peak I had previously only hiked in winter. Since the Glen Ellis parking lot is closed, our route of choice was a loop over Boott Spur and Glen Boulder from Pinkham Notch.

Waking up at 4:00 AM, we left the house at 4:30, and arrived at Pinkham at 7:15. The parking lot was much more crowded than I had expected even for a mid-September Saturday, likely because today was Flags on the 48. In any case, we found a parking spot and started out from the trailhead just after 7:25. A half-mile in, we left the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and turned onto the more primitive Boott Spur Trail. This is one of my favorite trails in the Whites, but it starts off fairly normal.

Soon after traversing a short wooden ladder, the trail entered the coniferous forest at 2,700 ft, and ascended steadily through it. Occasional openings in the trees offered glimpses of the landscape higher up, but the first photoworthy viewpoint of the hike came at 4,000 ft. I had last seen this view two months ago, and the difference fall foliage made above treeline was striking.

From the viewpoint, it was another 200 vertical feet to treeline, which is where the real fun began. The next 1,200-vertical-foot section to the summit of Boott Spur is already my favorite section of trail in the Whites, and with foliage peaking in the alpine tundra it was even better. I again took far too many photos on this section to insert individually, so I'll make use of an image carousel again.

After a leisurely hour, we summited Boott Spur just before 11:00. From Boott Spur, it was 3.2 miles on the Davis Path to the summit of Isolation, 1,400 ft lower. The descent to treeline was similar to the ascent, although treeline is 600 vertical feet higher on the south side of Boott Spur than the east side. We took our first break of the day at treeline on the Davis Path.

From here, the trail descended more steeply to the col between Boott Spur and North Isolation, before flattening out on approach to the summit of North Isolation, which is really just a little bump in the ridge. The remaining 1.4 miles to Isolation were much gentler, first descending to 3,800 ft then gradually ascending to Isolation's 4,004-foot summit. We summited just before 1:00 PM.

We hadn't seen too many other hikers on the way to Isolation, so we were surpised to see around a dozen of them on the summit. Along with the dozen hikers was an American flag; as mentioned before today was Flags on the 48. We must never forget. One of the hikers we met on the summit was a 48 finisher, unsurprising since Isolation is one of the most popular summits to finish the 48 on. This was the first 48 finisher I've met since finishing the 48 myself, which felt pretty cool.

We didn't linger on the summit as long as most of the other hikers did, and began making our way back up to 5,100 ft on Boott Spur, from where we were to take the Glen Boulder Trail the rest of the way back to Pinkham. The first 1.4 miles of the Davis Path back to North Isolation weren't too bad, but the remaining 1.4 miles were. It seemed like forever just to get to treeline, and from there it was another brutal 300 vertical feet back to the junction with the Glen Boulder Trail. It was a big relief when we finally made it.

From the junction, the Glen Boulder Trail descended gently to the summit, plateau really, that bears the name Slide Peak. We gained this summit, our last of the day, just after 3:30.

Just below Slide Peak, the trail entered the coniferous forest, but re-emerged above treeline a little later, as it approached the steepest section of the trail. The subsequent descent reminded me of several brutal descents in the northern Presidentials, despite being over 1,000 feet lower in elevation. Glen Boulder marked the end of the steep descent, as well as the location of my last photos of the day.

The trail finally re-entered the coniferous forest at 3,400 ft, nearly 1,000 ft lower than the usual treeline elevation in the Whites. The remaining descent to the start of The Direttissima, which were to take the final 1.1 (flat) miles back to Pinkham, was fairly standard for the Whites. The Direttissima wasn't as easy as I had imagined looking at the route on a topographic map, but still far better than Glen Boulder. We made it back to the trailhead at around 6:20, concluding an overall great mid-September day in the mountains.