After waiting for an hour for Cove and Jack we took off up the Glen Boulder trail to Boott Spur and ultimately, mt. Figuring in Cove's speed, we figured that the two other hikers would follow us up later. After loading our packs, Justin and I set off up the trail, frequently getting stuck behind foolish families dragging young complaining children up to treeline on a trail much too hard for them, and reached the tree line on the boott Spur shoulder. Still far above, but in sight was Glen Boulder, a tremendous boulder positioned precariously on the step rock strewn slope to the left of the gulf of slides. The boulder was indeed really interesting, but we could not doddle long there.
Light is precious in the fall season.
It was a substantial climb to the intersection of the Glen Boulder and Davis Paths particularly because the wind was blowing steadily at 70-80 mph and threatened to cast us into the gulf of slides from our precarious perch on the lip of the ravine. After walking with a heavy lean into the wind, we began to head down the Davis Path in the direction of Mt. Isolation. The first campsite had the advantage of being a shorter distance from the road over Boott Spur. The view from the summit was magnificent encompassing the entirety of the Southern Presidentials. The sun was just setting behind Monroe and the ridge had the alpine glow about it.