| Isolation Peak - Avoidable Adventures Trip Report |
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| Isolation Peak - Avoidable Adventures   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Date Climbed/Hiked: Aug 29, 2007 Season: Summer | Page By: MarkDidier Created/Edited: Nov 30, 2008 / Nov 30, 2008 Object ID: 467401 Hits: 303 Loading... Page Score: 86.65% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Avoidable AdventuresI wrote the “Reader’s Digest” version of this story in my Trip Report Knowing When to Say When - RMNP 2007. This is the unabridged version. To have included all the details in that Trip Report wasn’t necessary, as the specifics of our hike to Isolation Peak didn’t fit into the scope of that original report. I have read several Trip Reports on SP that focus on the theme of “what went wrong”. This TR falls into that category as well. FWIW – I have included almost all of the pictures from the original Trip Report, and have only added a few new ones. I suppose I could have skipped repeating the pictures and just included the report, but I find that Trip Reports are much more enjoyable when they include some beautiful photos.
That great explorer...was fond of arguing that adventure was alwasys a mistake...adventure was what happened when you screwed up. from Points Unknown
Isolation Peak Day! Every time Rob and I start to talk about this hike, we chuckle and shake our heads at the same time, and affectionately refer to it as Isolation Peak Day.
Isolation Peak off in the distance, as seen from The Ledges on Longs Keyhole Route |
I summited Isolation Peak in RMNP on August 29, 2007 with my very good friend Rob Wood, and this climb is the highlight of the hiking adventures we have had together. The idea for this hike started on our drive home at the end of our 2006 trip to RMNP. During that four day trip, we went on two long hikes where Rob took me off the standard trails and we made it up to Boulder-Grand Pass in Wild Basin and out to Green and Italy Lakes in Glacier Gorge. And while Rob had a fair amount of experience getting off the beaten path, it was my first time, but it made us realize how much further into RMNP we could go. We purchased a topo map of the park along with The Falcon Guide to Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park. On the drive home we studied that map and book thoroughly and found quite a few hikes that we wanted to do and we started planning a week long trip for 2007.
Rob loves loop hikes as opposed to just going out and back and this led to our plan for Isolation Peak. Our plan was to climb Isolation Peak and Mt. Alice on back to back days and in both cases as loop hikes. Due to the long approaches on both of these climbs we decided we would backpack in and camp overnight in Wild Basin. This would knock off about three miles of hiking each day. This decision required a big commitment from me. While Rob had been on numerous backpacking trips, I had never spent a night in the backcountry. I always have just camped on all of my hiking trips, preferring to grill steaks over charcoal, drink cold beer while sitting around a big fire, and sleep in a big tent on a thick air mattress. Subjecting myself to the lack of amenities in the backcountry had never interested me. But in this case, with what we wanted to accomplish, it seemed like a good idea. And I did commit. I purchased a backpack and a one man backpacking tent shortly after getting home from our trip. Rob knew I was serious.
The year flew by and before we knew it August 2007 arrived. We got to the park late on a Saturday morning and pretty much jumped right into hiking! We planned to hike Isolation Peak on Wednesday, so we warmed up with hikes to Sky Pond, The Saddle (Fairchild Mountain), Andrews Glacier and Hallet Peak. We were camping in Glacier Basin and we spent Tuesday night getting our packs ready and organizing things for our planned two day marathon adventure.Isolation Peak DayWe woke up early and were at the Wild Basin Trailhead before 4 AM. Our plan was to hike straight to our campsite Tahosa, drop off our backcountry gear (tent, sleeping bag, etc.) so other than for the hike in and out of Tahosa we could keep our pack weights low, and essentially be dayhiking versus backpacking. It was still dark when we reached Tahosa and we had a hard time finding the actual site. My intuition told me that the odds were good that it was going to rain sometime in the afternoon. As I had purchased a rain cover for my backpack, I used that to cover all the gear we were leaving behind. I didn’t want to spend my first night in the backcountry in a wet sleeping bag! My intuition was right, as it rained all afternoon. Now if I only would have followed my intuition all day long things may have gone a little better.
We continued up the unimproved trail to make it back to Bluebird Lake Trail. The sun was coming up as we headed up the ridge towards Ouzel Lake. At this point I was able to stand in the same spot and take a picture of the moon setting over Wild Basin, turn 180 degrees and take a picture of the sun rising over Wild Basin. Rob said at that point that this one event made the day, and anything else would just be gravy. 
Sunrise over Wild Basin |
The moon setting over Wild Basin |
We continued on and headed towards Ouzel Lake. Considering how long a day we had in front of us I suppose we should have bypassed this short side trip. But I had been to Ouzel Lake two years before and knew how great the view was. Besides, I also knew that we could do a short scramble through a marshy area and climb over some downed trees and get right back on Bluebird Lake Trail. While Rob really liked Ouzel Lake, he wasn’t real thrilled with the soggy offroad hiking back to the trail.
Ouzel Lake |
Adventures at Bluebird LakeWe reached Bluebird Lake, stopped for some lunch, and this is about the time the day became adventurous. And all the troubles we encountered at Bluebird Lake could have been avoided if I would have been less passive, and taken a more active role in our route finding. During our entire week long trip, Rob took the lead on reading the topo map and doing any necessary route finding. He thoroughly enjoys this and is much more experienced at it than I am. And as long as I didn’t see any obvious problems, I was content to follow his lead. It doesn’t help that I don’t particularly enjoy confrontation. I’m a peacemaker at heart, so I typically had to have a big problem with one of Rob’s choices before the decibel level got very high in our conversations.
Bluebird Lake |
As we stood on the shore of Bluebird, looking across towards Ouzel Peak, Rob and I began to disagree on the best approach. I pointed out the route we needed to follow on the right side of the lake that would take us to Lark Pond. I had read the guide book so many times on this, I knew I was right. Rob looked at me like I was crazy saying that the route was too steep, and besides we couldn’t cross Bluebird’s outlet stream which was necessary in order to go that way. While I was eating some lunch he had gone over and scouted out how to cross the stream and said he hadn’t found an easy route.
So I reluctantly followed Rob towards the left side of Bluebird as he looked for a way around the lake. I argued that this was wrong. The guide book said to go right. There was nothing in it that said anything about going left. And at this point a few expletives started to fly in Rob’s direction.
Going left did seem possible but it required wading through the lake for about 15 feet. Rob took off his boots and started across. When the water was well above his knees I knew this was wrong. The guide book didn’t say anything about wading through the lake. But I had taken off my boots by this time and was ready to wade through myself. At this point Rob cut his foot, but he was able to make it to dry ground. His cut was pretty deep but he said he was able to continue on. The chance of cutting my feet put me over my limit, I told him that before I tried wading through, I was going to go over the to the outlet stream to see if I could find a better route.
If I would have been less passive when we first arrived all this trouble could have been avoided. I finally went over to the outlet stream and found how we were supposed to cross. Just a little rock hopping and a short scramble up a narrow ledge! When Rob and I started our initial disagreement I knew I should have gone and looked at the outlet stream, but I didn’t. I just took his opinion and this caused us a lot of grief. And to top it off, the guide book – which we had with us and referenced several times during the day - explicitly describes crossing the outlet stream. I could have just grabbed the book and showed Rob, but I didn’t.
After finding the correct way to go, but before crossing, I went back to the other side of the lake to talk to Rob. I told him I was going across the outlet stream, and we agreed on a place to meet on the other side of the lake.Lark Pond and The Saddle
When we met on the other side of the lake Rob took a closer look at his cut. I got out the first aid kit and he bandaged it up. I told him that we could turn around now as I was more concerned about his foot than summiting Isolation Peak. But Rob said he was fine so we proceeded on to Lark Pond. Again, we didn’t take the route I thought we should have. Rob’s route would take us up the outlet stream of Lark Pond. While the route was obvious, it required too much bushwhacking, but it did end up being a lot of fun, with a short scramble at the end.
Lark Pond |
Pipit Lake |
We continued on to Pipit Lake and then we started making our approach to the saddle between Ouzel Peak and Isolation Peak. At this point Rob started to get nervous about climbing up to the saddle, as from a distance the climb looked pretty steep. And at this point our roles changed. I took over the route finding, as I enjoy scrambling while Rob isn’t particularly fond of it. 
Looking down at Isolation Lake near the saddle |
To coax Rob into continuing on, I picked out what looked like a green bush on the low end of the slope. I asked him if he felt he could safely make it to that point. He agreed that he could, so we continued on. Once we got to this “green bush” I found another point of reference and asked Rob if he could make it there. He said he could. We proceeded on this way through several more “points of reference” until we neared the summit of the saddle. The last 50 vertical feet were a little more challenging and a little steeper than Rob likes, but we finally made it.
Rob, happy to be up to the saddle |
Isolation Peak Summit
Climbing along the saddle was incredible. For a short stretch the ridge line was fairly narrow, but easy to walk and boulder hop across. From there it was a long climb past several false summits until we reached the final approach to Isolation Peak. 
One of many false summits |
Before proceeding up the final climb we consulted on whether or not we should continue due to weather that was coming in. With the side trip to Ouzel Lake and the delays getting around Bluebird Lake it was now approaching noon, and the afternoon thunderstorms were inevitable. It didn’t look like it would take us too much time to summit so we headed up. 
The final approach to Isolation Peak |
I climbed on ahead of Rob and reached the summit first. Once there I was shocked at the exposure as there was a straight drop on the other side of the peak. I warned Rob – apparently using several expletives - as I knew he would be nervous with the exposure. Several minutes later he made his way to the top. While I chose to sit on the summit rock, Rob chose to just slap his hand on it and call it good. The views from the summit were spectacular. Unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy our summit experience for very long. Thunderheads were rolling in! So after spending many hours getting there, we spent a total of about 10 minutes on the summit, and started making our way down.
From the summit, looking towards Mt. Alice, Chiefs Head and Longs Peak |
From the summit, 5th Lake |
Thunderheads over Longs Peak |
We were attempting a loop hike and would be descending via Thunder Lake Trail so we made the long descent down loose rock to the saddle between Isolation and Mahana. Once on the saddle, the afternoon thunderheads rolled in and we had a great view of a direct lightning strike near Longs summit.
Rob starts the descent towards the Isolation/Mahana saddle |
On the descent, looking back at Isolation Peak's ridgeline |
Route Finding Below Eagle Lake
Looking down at Eagle Lake in the middle, and Box Lake to the far left |
The descent to Eagle Lake seemed to take forever. It was fairly steep and involved climbing down a lot or rocks, and we used feet and hands for a good portion of the way down. The long drop down to the Mahana saddle and then to Eagle Lake made me aware of how far up we climbed in order to get to Isolation Peak. 
The rock laden descent to Eagle Lake |
Eagle Lake |
We unfortunately descended to the wrong end of Eagle Lake which made the descent to Box Lake much more difficult. We tried following the outlet stream of Eagle Lake but this just led us through marsh, krummholz and thick pines. I suppose we could have hiked back around to the other end of the lake, but at this point we were very frustrated. Rob took the lead on route finding, and in these conditions this was good as his sense of direction and skills at map reading were much better than mine. But after a while I started to question if we would every find a safe descent to Box Lake. Eventually we found a very steep ledge that once we descended would allow us to safely get there. The key was getting safely down this 20 foot ledge. It was very steep and down climbing involved using the trees that were growing out of the ledge for hand and foot holds. It was definitely not the standard route, but it worked! 
A beautiful waterfall we stumbled across while bushwhacking |
Box Lake |
Lost in the WoodsEven after making it to Box Lake I was still worried about how to get back to Thunder Lake Trail, Fortunately we found the cairns that would lead us back via the fisherman’s trail.
We followed the trail and the cairns for quite a while but then Rob decided to cross the creek. Along with the decisions we made at Bluebird Lake, this would be the one of defining moments of the day. I stopped Rob and questioned the decision. The trail did appear to end and crossing seemed to make some sense but I wanted to take a closer look at the trail we had been on and verify that it actually ended. Rob disagreed, having looked at the map and stated that we had to cross the creek sooner or later AND we were doing it now.
I should have argued more and slowed Rob down, but I didn’t want to risk getting separated at this point. In the moods we were in I felt that the discussion could have blown up pretty easily resulting in each of us taking our own separate paths, and I didn’t feel that getting separated while not being on a standard trail was a good option. So I bit my tongue and followed Rob into the woods. I knew we were heading in the right general direction so I was willing to go along. So we headed into the woods following the stream downhill. From where we were, I knew Thunder Lake Trail was to our left and Bluebird Lake Trail was to our right. I knew that if we continued on in this direction eventually we would come to one of those trails, which gave me some comfort. Rob did most of the leading and there wasn’t a whole lot of talking between us. We were both stressed so any talk was usually short and snippy. I convinced Rob that we needed to head left uphill because that would take us to Thunder Lake Trail. Rob let me lead in that direction for a short while, but eventually we went back to following the creek downhill.
To make things worse it had started raining about the time we headed into the woods, and the thunderstorms also rolled in. I was grateful to be below treeline! I’m sure the rain didn’t help matters in regards to stopping, pulling out the map and getting a better perspective on things. Fortunately we were dry in our rain gear.
I can’t remember how long we were in the woods, but it ended up being several hours. We didn’t discuss it amongst ourselves but we were both worried about getting out of the woods before dark. Our pace slowed since we were bushwhacking so we weren’t making very good time and I kept looking at my watch calculating how much daylight we had left. Finally we saw a small narrow ledge to our left. We headed towards the ledge and fortunately it was Thunder Lake Trail. To say we were happy to find the trail would be an understatement. We stopped and gave each other a big hug. I realized at this moment that Rob had been as concerned with our situation as I was.
Of course there was still the issue of camping at Tahosa and climbing Mt. Alice the next day. After the day’s adventures, I was now cold and my feet were wet from the steady rain and all the stream crossings in the past few hours. It would be dark by the time we made it to the backcountry campsite and I had no interest in setting up my tent in the dark, and in the rain. My warm dry sleeping bag and air mattress back at camp were what I wanted. Besides I was too tired now to even think about climbing Mt. Alice the next day. Fortunately this was not a topic we had to argue about. Rob was thinking the same thing. So we stopped at Tahosa, picked up our gear and continued on in our soggy boots to the car at the Wild Basin Trailhead.
Those last few miles were very difficult. When we were “lost” in the woods, the adrenaline was flowing. I didn’t think about being tired. Only about getting back to the trail. Now that we were safe, the adrenaline rush ended and the exhaustion of an 18 mile day and nearly 5,000 feet of elevation gain set in. It was a long 3 miles back to the car.
After the stress of the day we stopped at Mary’s Lake Lodge for a few beers and supper to help us unwind. We needed the break, to say the least. Afterwards we headed back to camp and slept long and hard and took the next day “off”, only attempting an afternoon hike to Spectacle Lakes.RetrospectRob and I have spent a lot of hours discussing the specifics of Isolation Peak Day, analyzing where we went wrong and the what we could have done differently. We have both taken our fair share of the blame for the mistakes we made. The problems at Bluebird Lake were completely controllable. If I would have taken more of a leadership role once we arrived things would have went better. But I was passive and created unnecessary drama. The long delays we had route finding below Eagle Lake were just due to a simple mistake. We haven’t beaten ourselves up too badly for that one. As for getting lost in the woods when we left Box Lake, Rob has taken most of the responsibility for that error. Of course, if I wouldn’t have been so passive all day long and given so much of the leadership role to Rob, maybe the walk through the woods would have went differently.
But not everything went poorly. Rob easily could have bailed on climbing up the saddle on the way to Isolation Peak. But we worked well together in a situation where he was less than comfortable and my calming approach to the situation got Rob up the saddle and allowed him to summit Isolation Peak.
It was a long day, but a great day. The most memorable day of hiking I have ever had. And it’s called Isolation Peak for a good reason. After 15 hours on the trail, we literally saw no one the entire day. I suppose starting in the dark, and ending in the dark keeps the crowds away. Images
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Rocky Mountain National Park
