BIGEarl
Well-known member
February 23, 2011: Osceolas
Trails: Greeley Ponds Trail, Mt. Osceola Trail
Summits: Osceola East Peak, Mt. Osceola
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
Instant Replay! It’s another terrific hike to The Osceolas. We arrived to the trailhead for a later than usual start to find the place empty. While we were preparing to get started another vehicle pulled in. It was Jerry Horne and a couple of his closest friends (I learned they have been hiking together for ~35 years). Their objective for the day was a hike to Greeley Ponds. Jerry and the crew actually got moving a few minutes before us.
The trail was solid and smooth. We left the trailhead on MicroSpikes and found no problem at all with postholing. We were able to move along Greeley Ponds Trail at a fairly steady pace and by the time we reached the junction with the Mt. Osceola Trail met up with Jerry and the others. We again briefly visited there and again at the trail junction and then wished each other a good hike and said our goodbyes for the day.
From the trail junction, Sue and I continued on MicroSpikes. We were able to comfortable stay with them until starting into the steep climb along the East Osceola Slide. There, it was time for a little more. We changed to snowshoes. With both of us on MSRs we lifted the Televators and climbed to the ridge. The trail is still about the same as our last time through; very limited postholes from bare booters or folks on crampons, and very little ice. We had no trouble at all in climbing with the snowshoes - but MSRs are a lot like crampons with flotation.
We hit the ridge and found some wind coming from the west-northwest. To stay comfortable we pulled out the face masks. Along the ridge we encountered some drifting but nothing significant. There were a number of places where the trail was completely hidden but the drifts were not deep and easy to move past.
At the viewpoint near the East Osceola summit we found a string of banners of some sort strung in the trees. I couldn’t read the writing on them since it was a language I am unfamiliar with (perhaps middle-eastern, or Asian). I wonder about the thought process that led to this display.
We hit East Osceola, stopped for a few pictures, and were on our way to Mt. Osceola. Even though she was wearing her mask, I knew Sue was smiling. We were headed for The Chimney. The trail was a pretty easy cruise. In no time we were at the bottom of The Chimney looking up. We both got a couple pictures and continued toward Mt. Osceola; via The Chimney – of course. (We don’t need no stinking bypass.) Still on our MSRs we started in on climbing The Chimney. I gave Sue a little extra space on this one. The ice bulge that develops roughly a third of the way up wasn’t as large as I have seen it but I still wanted to make sure we had some distance between us in case of a problem. It didn’t take long before we were standing on top, looking back down, and catching our breath.
The Chimney is about it for excitement between the peaks. We finished the walk to Mt. Osceola and stopped for an extended visit to enjoy the terrific views under great conditions. While we were there a couple other hikers came up behind us. It was Silverfox and Cynthia. Just like our last time to The Osceolas, we enjoyed a quiet day on the trails under great conditions and enjoyed meeting a couple new faces on the summit (last time it was Adventurous and Hui Yeng).
After a brief visit it was time to go. Still on the MSRs we took off for our exit hike to the trailhead. This time through, we took the bypass instead of attempting to descend The Chimney (mainly because neither of us wanted to go with crampons, yet). We continued from the base of The Chimney, back over East Osceola, and on to the top of the steeps. There, we stopped to make the change from our snowshoes to crampons. With plenty of traction we started the descent – but not before visiting again with Cynthia and Silverfox – they caught up with us again.
The descent went well. The complete traction provided by crampons allowed us to comfortably walk down the steeps. As the trail moderated at the bottom we made our final change for the day and went back to MicroSpikes for the remainder of the walk out.
The remaining exit hike went smoothly with no trouble at all. We were walking along and I realized the sun was still shining, on us. I asked Sue if she could recall ever hiking the area at the end of the day still enjoying the sun. It’s usually later for us.
We hit the trailhead to find a number of additional vehicles there. Soon Cynthia and Silverfox came through. We all quickly packed and were off.
Thanks Sue for another fun hike to The Osceolas. I’m still wondering about the string of banners in the trees.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Greeley Ponds Trail, Mt. Osceola Trail
Summits: Osceola East Peak, Mt. Osceola
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
Instant Replay! It’s another terrific hike to The Osceolas. We arrived to the trailhead for a later than usual start to find the place empty. While we were preparing to get started another vehicle pulled in. It was Jerry Horne and a couple of his closest friends (I learned they have been hiking together for ~35 years). Their objective for the day was a hike to Greeley Ponds. Jerry and the crew actually got moving a few minutes before us.
The trail was solid and smooth. We left the trailhead on MicroSpikes and found no problem at all with postholing. We were able to move along Greeley Ponds Trail at a fairly steady pace and by the time we reached the junction with the Mt. Osceola Trail met up with Jerry and the others. We again briefly visited there and again at the trail junction and then wished each other a good hike and said our goodbyes for the day.
From the trail junction, Sue and I continued on MicroSpikes. We were able to comfortable stay with them until starting into the steep climb along the East Osceola Slide. There, it was time for a little more. We changed to snowshoes. With both of us on MSRs we lifted the Televators and climbed to the ridge. The trail is still about the same as our last time through; very limited postholes from bare booters or folks on crampons, and very little ice. We had no trouble at all in climbing with the snowshoes - but MSRs are a lot like crampons with flotation.
We hit the ridge and found some wind coming from the west-northwest. To stay comfortable we pulled out the face masks. Along the ridge we encountered some drifting but nothing significant. There were a number of places where the trail was completely hidden but the drifts were not deep and easy to move past.
At the viewpoint near the East Osceola summit we found a string of banners of some sort strung in the trees. I couldn’t read the writing on them since it was a language I am unfamiliar with (perhaps middle-eastern, or Asian). I wonder about the thought process that led to this display.
We hit East Osceola, stopped for a few pictures, and were on our way to Mt. Osceola. Even though she was wearing her mask, I knew Sue was smiling. We were headed for The Chimney. The trail was a pretty easy cruise. In no time we were at the bottom of The Chimney looking up. We both got a couple pictures and continued toward Mt. Osceola; via The Chimney – of course. (We don’t need no stinking bypass.) Still on our MSRs we started in on climbing The Chimney. I gave Sue a little extra space on this one. The ice bulge that develops roughly a third of the way up wasn’t as large as I have seen it but I still wanted to make sure we had some distance between us in case of a problem. It didn’t take long before we were standing on top, looking back down, and catching our breath.
The Chimney is about it for excitement between the peaks. We finished the walk to Mt. Osceola and stopped for an extended visit to enjoy the terrific views under great conditions. While we were there a couple other hikers came up behind us. It was Silverfox and Cynthia. Just like our last time to The Osceolas, we enjoyed a quiet day on the trails under great conditions and enjoyed meeting a couple new faces on the summit (last time it was Adventurous and Hui Yeng).
After a brief visit it was time to go. Still on the MSRs we took off for our exit hike to the trailhead. This time through, we took the bypass instead of attempting to descend The Chimney (mainly because neither of us wanted to go with crampons, yet). We continued from the base of The Chimney, back over East Osceola, and on to the top of the steeps. There, we stopped to make the change from our snowshoes to crampons. With plenty of traction we started the descent – but not before visiting again with Cynthia and Silverfox – they caught up with us again.
The descent went well. The complete traction provided by crampons allowed us to comfortably walk down the steeps. As the trail moderated at the bottom we made our final change for the day and went back to MicroSpikes for the remainder of the walk out.
The remaining exit hike went smoothly with no trouble at all. We were walking along and I realized the sun was still shining, on us. I asked Sue if she could recall ever hiking the area at the end of the day still enjoying the sun. It’s usually later for us.
We hit the trailhead to find a number of additional vehicles there. Soon Cynthia and Silverfox came through. We all quickly packed and were off.
Thanks Sue for another fun hike to The Osceolas. I’m still wondering about the string of banners in the trees.
Pictures will follow.
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