HikerAmiga
New member
I’d heard and read about the Greeley Ponds Scenic Area and had long wanted to do this hike. Time and time again, I had forgone doing this shorter, scenic hike in the interest of doing other more ambitious ones and in the company of others.
So this past week in trying to determine how to spend my Sunday birthday, I toyed with the idea of doing a few different trips including joining some Boston/NH hiking buddies on several hiking trips. Try as I might, for some odd reason, I just couldn’t get enthused about any of my options. I even shared with someone on this forum that I felt unmotivated, which is highly uncharacteristic of me and finally surmised that possibly I might be PM’sing which I think gave them a good chuckle!
Well, it’s no wonder that when I finally did decide, I didn’t get any taker’s as who wants to hike with a PM’sing female?
The weather forecast for this area promised Sunday to be favorable for most of the day so I decided to avoid the usual rush, sleep in later and pamper myself a bit as I darned well deserved it!!
So Greeley Ponds it was and I set off from Boston all the way up 93North and marveled at the clear skies and sun! I cranked up the radio and felt so lucky to hear many of my favorite all-time tunes. I sung, hummed , snapped my fingers and moved to the music (as much as I could considering I was driving) and happily shot up North in reasonably good time. The views off the highway seemed spectacular to me even considering that the foliage had long peaked, but still the colors looked splendid to me and I grinned from ear to ear in my enjoyment as I took it all in!
Finally made it to the trailhead parking off the Kanc or scenic Rte 112. Again, I was in no big rush and moving at a very leisurely pace, I snacked a bit and put my boots on which included my long gaiters as I’d read that this trail tends to be a muddy one.
As I was getting ready, I noted the parking lot was pretty full which meant that I’d see a few people on the trail today. I also noted that some snow was falling off the trees and onto my car causing distracting thumping noises. I checked my thermometer and saw that it read 40F so I realized that snow melting would be occurring up beyond as well.
Finally I got on the trail and right away I noticed that this was such a pretty woods, a typical northern hardwood forest and though the elevation I gained was no more than 500 feet or so, the trees increasingly showed evidence of more and more snow as I climbed. Of course, I never even noticed the elevation gain as it is so very gradual! An effortless stroll indeed. Even the few brook crossings were quite manageable though the 2nd one gave me a few seconds of pause. This is where I saw a twirling object which surely has a name unknown to me, but in my view, when I saw it I just knew that I was in the right place at the right time. It looked just like a round, white birthday cake. See here:
This sight just put a big smile on my face and I just had to marvel at this snow cake object thingy or whatever it’s actually called! Surely someone on this site can help me here??
Well, at about 1.3 miles I reached the junction with the Osceola Trail. It must have been something like 12:30pm or so and I considered for about a minute to skip the ponds and head up to East Osceola. I reasoned that it would only be about 2.5 miles to that summit and I’d not done it, but then I reconsidered figuring that I’d set out on a leisurely hike to enjoy my birthday on and I had NOT let my family know that I’d be doing this side trip so I continued on for another .3 miles to the ponds.
Oh, by the way, to all that have done this trail, aren’t those puncheons really nifty?! This is one muddy trail despite its beauty! I was very thankful for these as otherwise I’d be looking down at my feet most of the time and wouldn’t have been able to take it all in. The puncheons were in very good shape as well and at one section, they looked very new so I am not sure if they were new or recently reshaved but they provided very good footing. Only one set near the lower pond had a thick sheet of icy, crunchy snow which had been trampled on quite a bit but the snow/ice was still hanging on.
When I finally reached the ponds, though I found them to be very pretty indeed, I was a bit disappointed as I think I had expected more. Not sure why exactly? Maybe because of all the hype I had gotten from researching them before going, but again, once I was there, I enjoyed them but I didn’t find them so, so spectacular. I noticed that each had a gravelly shoreline and waters looked crystal clear and peacefully serene which I thought was nice. There were nice views towards the cliffs of Mounts Kancamagus and East Osceola too. Again, I pondered and wondered what my expectations had been and why I felt this let down?
Then, after another snack along these pretty shores, I looked around and hoped I’d see some wildlife. Yes, I thought, that’s what is missing. I need to see some wildlife of some sort and take a pic to remember this day. If others can do it, I surely should be able to spot something if I look really carefully and hard. Waited a bit longer, peered and looked everywhere and nothing.
Then I smiled to myself and thought, “you are very silly!” I walked back a few feet back to the shoreline and extended my arm up high above and shot a pic! “You are the best wildlife that you are going to encounter today on these darn ponds!” “Be happy”, I told myself! And from there, I took off back down the trail back towards the Kanc, still smiling, still pondering my good luck, (probably still PM’sing too ) on this my 40-something birthday!
All in all a great day and birthday hike, my friends!
My pics are here:
Best,
So this past week in trying to determine how to spend my Sunday birthday, I toyed with the idea of doing a few different trips including joining some Boston/NH hiking buddies on several hiking trips. Try as I might, for some odd reason, I just couldn’t get enthused about any of my options. I even shared with someone on this forum that I felt unmotivated, which is highly uncharacteristic of me and finally surmised that possibly I might be PM’sing which I think gave them a good chuckle!
Well, it’s no wonder that when I finally did decide, I didn’t get any taker’s as who wants to hike with a PM’sing female? The weather forecast for this area promised Sunday to be favorable for most of the day so I decided to avoid the usual rush, sleep in later and pamper myself a bit as I darned well deserved it!!
So Greeley Ponds it was and I set off from Boston all the way up 93North and marveled at the clear skies and sun! I cranked up the radio and felt so lucky to hear many of my favorite all-time tunes. I sung, hummed , snapped my fingers and moved to the music (as much as I could considering I was driving) and happily shot up North in reasonably good time. The views off the highway seemed spectacular to me even considering that the foliage had long peaked, but still the colors looked splendid to me and I grinned from ear to ear in my enjoyment as I took it all in!
Finally made it to the trailhead parking off the Kanc or scenic Rte 112. Again, I was in no big rush and moving at a very leisurely pace, I snacked a bit and put my boots on which included my long gaiters as I’d read that this trail tends to be a muddy one.
As I was getting ready, I noted the parking lot was pretty full which meant that I’d see a few people on the trail today. I also noted that some snow was falling off the trees and onto my car causing distracting thumping noises. I checked my thermometer and saw that it read 40F so I realized that snow melting would be occurring up beyond as well.
Finally I got on the trail and right away I noticed that this was such a pretty woods, a typical northern hardwood forest and though the elevation I gained was no more than 500 feet or so, the trees increasingly showed evidence of more and more snow as I climbed. Of course, I never even noticed the elevation gain as it is so very gradual! An effortless stroll indeed. Even the few brook crossings were quite manageable though the 2nd one gave me a few seconds of pause. This is where I saw a twirling object which surely has a name unknown to me, but in my view, when I saw it I just knew that I was in the right place at the right time. It looked just like a round, white birthday cake. See here:
This sight just put a big smile on my face and I just had to marvel at this snow cake object thingy or whatever it’s actually called! Surely someone on this site can help me here??
Well, at about 1.3 miles I reached the junction with the Osceola Trail. It must have been something like 12:30pm or so and I considered for about a minute to skip the ponds and head up to East Osceola. I reasoned that it would only be about 2.5 miles to that summit and I’d not done it, but then I reconsidered figuring that I’d set out on a leisurely hike to enjoy my birthday on and I had NOT let my family know that I’d be doing this side trip so I continued on for another .3 miles to the ponds.
Oh, by the way, to all that have done this trail, aren’t those puncheons really nifty?! This is one muddy trail despite its beauty! I was very thankful for these as otherwise I’d be looking down at my feet most of the time and wouldn’t have been able to take it all in. The puncheons were in very good shape as well and at one section, they looked very new so I am not sure if they were new or recently reshaved but they provided very good footing. Only one set near the lower pond had a thick sheet of icy, crunchy snow which had been trampled on quite a bit but the snow/ice was still hanging on.
When I finally reached the ponds, though I found them to be very pretty indeed, I was a bit disappointed as I think I had expected more. Not sure why exactly? Maybe because of all the hype I had gotten from researching them before going, but again, once I was there, I enjoyed them but I didn’t find them so, so spectacular. I noticed that each had a gravelly shoreline and waters looked crystal clear and peacefully serene which I thought was nice. There were nice views towards the cliffs of Mounts Kancamagus and East Osceola too. Again, I pondered and wondered what my expectations had been and why I felt this let down?
Then, after another snack along these pretty shores, I looked around and hoped I’d see some wildlife. Yes, I thought, that’s what is missing. I need to see some wildlife of some sort and take a pic to remember this day. If others can do it, I surely should be able to spot something if I look really carefully and hard. Waited a bit longer, peered and looked everywhere and nothing.
Then I smiled to myself and thought, “you are very silly!” I walked back a few feet back to the shoreline and extended my arm up high above and shot a pic! “You are the best wildlife that you are going to encounter today on these darn ponds!” “Be happy”, I told myself! And from there, I took off back down the trail back towards the Kanc, still smiling, still pondering my good luck, (probably still PM’sing too
) on this my 40-something birthday! All in all a great day and birthday hike, my friends!
My pics are here:
Best,
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