4,000 footer #3: Mount Osceola

My plan for this summer and hiking has gone swimmingly. I'm still not exactly what you'd call "in shape" (read: fat), but I used the Belknap Range as a way to get my muscles in shape for walking up and down mountains, and as I had hoped, it did the job. I still needed a lot of rests, but I could handle more pain, conquer bigger and longer trips, and most importantly, recover faster. That was the biggest change I noticed. I may be toast when I get home that night, but I can actually move the next day. 

I've had my eyes on the Osceolas (Mount Osceola and East Osceola) for awhile, as a few friends and most of the internets said they were among the easiest of the 4,000 footers. When a friend posted this picture 6 weeks ago, my interest exploded- I had no idea views were actually that nice up there. 

(photo by Dan O'Halloran)

SO, I decided now that I had hiked 12 times for a total of 16 peaks, it was time to start my long battle with the 4,000 footers. I looked forward to taking out my first 2 and being rewarded with this view. Unfortunately, it didn't quite go that way.

For starters, I started out by not being able to find the lot. I knew it was off Tripoli Road (the road leading to Waterville Valley ski resort and Mount Tecumseh), but I didn't know how far, and since Tripoli starts to look like an abandoned road in the middle of the woods, I turned into one trailhead, later explored a campground, etc before finally just continuing on down the road. The lot is a full 3 miles past the split of Tripoli Road and the way to Waterville Valley. It's fairly small, but obvious once I got to it. It looks like this:

yea toilets!

These pictures are dark because I forgot to take pictures when I started and WEIRD it was kind of dark when I finished.

I planned to do both the regular Osceola summit as well as the East Peak, making for an 8.4 mile roundtrip- small by 4,000 footer loop standards, enormous for me. I started out feeling good, but a lot of clouds were already starting to show up. I hoped that if it was going to rain/thunderstorm (like the weather said it may), it would pass by quickly while I was deep in the woods, so I could at least enjoy the summits. 

I had read that the trail wasn't very steep but was incredibly rocky. This was about right. It started out like this:

and continued like this...

and kept going like this:

It was extremely rocky, which made for an interesting hike, but slowed down what would have been a more progressive pace. It probably kept me going at a reasonable speed and helped me to not tire out too quickly, but at times it was a bit ridiculous, since I was trying to practice the art of lazy hiking and didn't want to be climbing over all these rocks. I did like it though- rocks are better than just a boring trail of dirt.

There were a few sections of slanted rock slabs early on, but it was generally just a rocky trail at a reasonable grade.

I was surprised at how thin the trail was for such a popular mountain. I don't think I've ever been on a hike where trees were brushing against both of my arms for at least half the hike. This is probably tick hell at the right time.

Right when I first started getting tired and ran into a group of people hiking down out of fear of the rain, I asked if I was half way. They said "you're getting close." This worried me, but looking through the trees, I could see East Osceola laughing at me. I had a long way to go. 3.2 miles isn't that short. I blame the internet and my friend Jesse for making this hike out to be easier than it is. There weren't really any very steep sections, and it was absolutely gradual and moderate for most of the hike (at least by 4,000 footer standards), but this is not an easy hike, especially for someone who is not entirely in the best of shape (fat). 

While most mountains have sandy and rooty bottoms leading way to exposed rock and boulders everywhere towards the top, Osceola was the complete opposite. The higher I got up, it started to look like a friendly path through the woods, right out of the parking lot of a state park or something. 

This is like 3/4s of the way up:

The trail got much more interesting and challenging the farther up I got up, and I was happy to be able to see the ski trails of Waterville Valley (and Tecumseh's neighbor) in the distance.

Towards the top, the trail became a very "come on, I'm still not there?!" series of switchbacks, all with slanted exposed rocks and muddy root piles at their bases to try and balance on. This slowed me down a lot.

But alas, I was there, standing on top of my third 4,000 footer.

But, while I had hoped to see what Dan had seen,

this is what I saw:

You may think I just made a gray gradient in photoshop, but no- this is a picture I took. This is literally what my view was off the cliffs. As I ended the switchbacks, I could tell I was there, as the trail flattened out and I saw light ahead. Except, I also clearly saw what looked like white smoke floating over the end of the trail. I was, once again, in a cloud. The rain hadn't come, no thunderstorms hit me. Instead, I simply walked 3.2 miles and climbed 2,050 feet to stand on a rock face and look at a nothing but misty whiteness. While it's kind of neat to be in a cloud, this was horrible and absolutely defeating.

The concrete slabs (that must have at one point held a fire tower) sat alone in a misty ghost world.

The cliffs sat alone on a plain background, like an unfinished painting.

Basically, it sucked. To work this hard and not even get a view was a fairly miserable experience.

At one point, the clouds started moving with wind gusts, and I thought I was going to have a magical moment where the world below was revealed to me while beautiful music played in my ears and the sun came out and I opened my eyes to the sky and stood with arms wide open, crying at the majesty before me.

But that was about it. Very cool to see that, but I wanted views. And I didn't get them. It was also very windy, instantly freezing and wet up there. Hike #3 in a row where I was happy to have a flannel to throw on.

I explored the woods next to where the trail led to the East Peak, and decided to call it a day. If I could have taken an elevator off the top, I would have. I was tired, the hike had taken longer than I had planned, and I didn't see any point to hiking an extra 2 miles roundtrip in a cloud mist to get to another peak, even if it had no views. I didn't want to get caught in more rain, and I pretty much resigned myself to saying I will do this hike again. I want that view. 

I sat in the woods and ate a snickers and relaxed, hoping the cloud would go away. It didn't. But it did make for some cool photos. I'll give it that.

Before I hiked down (in what eventually became an hour or so of solid rain and at times a small stream of water going through the whole trail), I decided to keep the tradition of summit photos going (that I started with Hale), and I think this picture (which was hard to get with the ridiculous winds up there) sums up the feeling of this hike.

You get that rain and cloudiness out of the way Osceola, I'll be back. And I'm expecting glorious views.

Hike time: 5 hours (about 4:15 and :45 minutes of hanging out at the top and getting lost for a bit- be wary- there is a second trail leading off the summit back in the direction of the Tripoli Road parking lot (to the left) that fooled me in all the cloudiness. It leads to nothing but confusion, so make sure you go back the way you came, behind the huge boulder)

Mileage: 6.4 roundtrip

Elevation gain: 2,050 feet

Music listened to: We Came As Romans- Understanding What We've Grown To Be, Maybeshewill- B-sides, 65daysofstatic- Heavy Sky, Olafur Arnalds- ...And They Escaped The Weight Of Darkness, The Boys Of Summer- Collection, Strange Vacation- Chasm, Into it. Over It.- Koji Split

currently listening to: 65daysofstatic- RMXSCEE