The route: Mt. Osceola Trail from Rte. 112 + side out and back to Greeley Ponds
Total hike time: 5:50, plus probably 20 minutes of hanging out and taking pics at the summit
Summit beer: Dogfish Head Seaquench
Andrew and I have pretty much been craving the mountains since April, and after our plans to hike the weekend of 5/13 were thwarted by weather, we decided that a day trip to NH the weekend of 5/21 was 100% necessary. After doing some digging to determine which peaks might be doable without spikes (spring comes late in the Whites!) I found some trip reports saying that the Osceolas were mostly clear of snow. Better yet? The trailhead was off the Kancamagus, one of the closer peaks to Boston. Done and done. We left around 7 on Sunday morning for the drive up 93 which I am quickly becoming intimately familiar with. I was practically too excited to sleep the night before - after months of waiting, we were finally back in the mountains!
YAY
From what I had gathered, the route up to the Osceolas from 112 was significantly harder than the route from Tripoli. Both because we weren't sure if Tripoli was open yet (turns out it was) and because we tend to make an effort to try to find the most challenging way up any mountain (and by we I mean Andrew, because I just don't think Huntington Ravine is in my future) this sounded like an excellent plan. The trail starts out relatively calm but soon begins to climb. Pretty much the last mile to the summit of East Osceola from this route is VERY steep - like, as I was climbing it, I was contemplating what a challenge it was going to be to climb down it later, steep. But there were plenty of good hand and footholds and the steepness was fun in a challenging way...tiring for sure, but most definitely fun!
I had never seen a trillium in the wild before today and it was VERY exciting
We crossed an interesting slide which I was too scared to fully climb up and get the views - Andrew, per usual, was out there like a mountain goat as I clung in the trees. My fear of heights tends to hit the hardest the first time I find myself above treeline and realize just HOW high I am, and then once I'm up there for awhile I acclimate. For this reason, I sort of like out and back trails since I'm often able to do things and appreciate views that I couldn't on the way up because my fear reaction has chilled out. A little ways from the summit there's a little side path on the right that leads to a stunning lookout ledge. I'm terrible at identifying what I'm looking at when taking in a view, but suffice it to day on a perfect weather day with blue skies, it was simply stunning.
Happiness on the lookout ledge
We snacked on some cherries before continuing on to the very *exciting* summit of East Osceola. At 4000 footer #7 for me and #5 for Andrew, this was our first viewless summit. It delivered the lack of views, hah! We were glad we had done this hike from this direction, though, because it meant the less exciting of the two came first and we got the views at the end. Still, I appreciate all peaks (and the views on the way up didn't hurt) so we had a little thumbs up moment for East Osceola before moving on.
It's a pile of rocks in the woods! I promise we're on a mountain!
We headed into the col between the mountains where nothing too hugely notable happened...until we a came up upon the looming rock wall that I knew could only be the Chimney. I have a habit of extensively researching mountains and finding any aspect of trails that could POSSIBLY freak me out, and then watching about a million videos and reading blogs about it to try to determine just how scary it is. As a result, I felt infinitely familiar with what the Chimney would be like. What I did not realize was that climbing it was one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life! I felt like a kid on a playground, hunting for footholds and handholds, completely oblivious to the fact that I was basically scaling a 5 story rock wall. It was utterly fantastic.
Andrew in the chimney - my turn next!
Riding the adrenaline high of the Chimney, we continued on towards the summit, and oh, what a summit it was. On an absolute bluebird day for our first hike of the year, popping out into the sun under blue skies with what felt like the whole world at our feet, it was hard to feel anything other than joy.
I don't think most people would peg me as an outdoorsy person. Athletic, sure, but I think I continue to surprise my family and friends when they find out about the increasing amounts of time I've been spending in the mountains. But ever since the first time I got out on a summit and took in the view - terrified as I was at the time - I knew that I wanted more. More and more and more. How could you possibly live in a world where there are such extraordinary things and NOT want to be a part of them? To see things that can only be seen if you have the drive and the guts and the heart to reach them on foot? To me it feels like nothing short of discovering magic. And it's a wonderful thing to be able to push myself physically and mentally but without the competitive aspect of running, where I'm always thinking about my pace, my time, what does this mean for the next race, etc. With hiking, it's just all right there in the moment. As cheesy as it sounds, I never feel more present than I do when I'm climbing a mountain.
We hung out at the summit for awhile enjoying our lunch of turkey and cheese sandwiches and trail mix, then wandered around the various lookout ledges taking in the view. The weather simply couldn't have been more perfect, and there were quite a few people enjoying the sun on the summit with us - based on who we had seen on the trail, we assumed many had come up via Tripoli. But we were pleased with our choice to take the less trodden path! After awhile we reluctantly realized that we should make our way back to the car and began the trek back through the col. Descending the Chimney was interesting - Andrew doesn't love descents and he certainly did not enjoy this one. As for myself, while I didn't find it quite as exciting as ascending, I didn't mind climbing down at all! Just demonstrates how ridiculous and situational my fear of heights is. Speaking of which, on the way down I drummed up the confidence to go out on the ledgy section of slide that we crossed to take in the view...and I was rewarded for my bravery. I could have sat there all afternoon.
Incredible. One of the Greeley Ponds, which we hiked to later, is on the R.
The next section of descent was VERY steep and tough - there was lots of using hands and butts as additional points of contact to slowly maneuver the descent. It was slow going, and led to a SHOCKING amount of DOMS for the 2 days after the hike! Finally the descent became more gradual. We decided to make a little side jaunt on the flat and relaxed path over to Greeley Ponds, adding just under a mile to the hike - a nice way to stretch out the legs after the descent, and the pond was just lovely! We made our way back to the parking lot with #7 and 8 checked off the list (5 and 6 for Andrew, I've really got to catch him up so I can just use the same numbers for us both!)
All in all, this was just a fantastic hike. On the way down I said that it may have been one of my favorite hikes I've ever done, and while pretty much EVERY hike I've done so far has been my favorite (the mountains I've chosen so far have all been pretty high on the views/excitement meter), having a perfect day and a gorgeous challenging hike that hit 2 summits for the first time out of the season really made for a wonderful day. A great start to the season and hopefully the first of many more peaks bagged this year!
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