Just a short (or 15 miles) walk in the woods

We took our little dog, Scout and went on my first overnight hike.  John had it all planned out that we were going to be doing Mt. Isolation up in Pinkham Notch.  Saturday dawned a picture perfect day in New Hampshire.  The sky was clear blue and the temps were in the low 80s.  I could have stood to have the temps a bit lower at our start time and the haze of black flies nearly drove me over the edge.  But we had bought an all natural bug repellent a few weeks ago at Clark's Grain Store.  This stuff was magic and it's called White Mountain Bug Repellent.  It specifically targets black flies and as all of us who live in New Hampshire can attest that these little flies are horrible in May.

me and the Presidential in the background

I won't deny that the first part of hike was grueling.  I was taking breaks every 20 to 30 steps and drained almost all of my water before we got to camp.  Our remote camp site was nestled into the side of a hill and you could hear the water rushing below.  The first stop after dropping our packs was the river and that cold icy water was just solution.  Scout did some serious swimming which was followed by a lot of shivering.  I got my feet in, but like the Atlantic this time of year,  it was brutal.

We had an early dinner of Santa Fe chicken in a bag.  Then it was lights out for Mandy.  I spent at least 10 hours in my sleeping bag last night and was quite sad that John was reading a book by his Android, but I had left my Kindle behind at home.   And that hillside campsite, well I kept sliding off of my sleeping pad and down the hill during the night.  But I had the little dog to keep me warm and she spent the entire night in my sleeping bag at the foot of it.

Sunday was a spectacular day.  We got an early start out of our camp after a breakfast of oatmeal and tea.  I finally located the toothpaste I couldn't find in the dark and was able to brush my teeth.  Talk about heaven!  The bugs were not as bad early today and we made really good time without the extra weight from our packs.  Scout made multiple river crossings and kept ahead of us about 30 feet at all times.  I swear she covers each mountain at least twice as she crosses back and forth along the trail.

From the summit of Mt. Isolation which was 3.5 miles from where we spent the night, we had clear views of Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range.  The old rock pile is so nice to see without it being surrounded by clouds.  No snow remains at the summit which must be some sort of record for this time of year.

Made it off the mountain by 230pm this afternoon and we were back home by 415pm.  Now if only I could have a weekend from my weekend!