sapblatt
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Yes - you are correct - it has only been 13 days since Tuco and I had hiked the main peak of Osceola - that was a hike of convenience - questionable weather day. Today was planned well in advance to traverse the Osceolas from the Kanc to Tripoli Road. In a rare alignment of the stars many people could actually make this one...this was the biggest hike I have been on since my 48 - a large VFTT crew! Me, Tuco, LittleBear, Rols, Pat and Audrey (and of course, Genie!), LarryD and Bobby. Somehow all of the logistics - meeting places, car spots, beer cooler spots (must not uspset LarryD 
) etc went off without a glitch and we were on the trail under partly cloudy skies and moderate temperatures by 7:30am.
The abuse one takes from their friends is staggering - you would think I was Noah - everyone had to comment on my rainy hike reputation - and today's forecast was iffy at best, but it seemed to be improving over the past 24 hours. I only hiked 19 of my 48 in downpours - I really do not see what they are talking about! We made it to the Greeley Junction with the Mount Osceola Trail in about 30 minutes - we stopped for our first lunch. This would be the end of the speed hiking portion of the day. At this point, Genie the wonder lab noticed a deer and took off on a little adventure - basically made a big triangle back towards the Kanc and then made it back to us just in time for our departure up one of the steeper trails around - I beleive from this junction to the summit of East Peak is about 1.5 miles and 2000 feet, and sadly it is not spread out evenly - there are a few real easy sections and a lot of really steep sections - at least it was moderately dry and snow was minimal.
We kept inching our way up - although Genie seemed to be bounding and we stopped off at the foot of the slide to take a look. Pretty sure youwould not want to slide down this and end up here - steep slabs, pretty wet - pretty hard. We continued the climb upwards to as LittleBear put it "the scene of the crime" from last February's epic adventure. The East Osceola slide. I have to say without solid ice and snow on top of it, this is pretty simple climbing. I did not remember it being as steep as it is, but we all got across with no issues - we even stopped in the middle of it to look around. After the slide - it continues up steepley again!
Finally made it to the view area just below the peak and then moved on to a clearing even closer to the actual summit and had lunch number two. Bobby and Tuco took summit shots as they had not been here before then we headed down into the col between the two peaks. This descent seemed rather pointless as we just had to climb right back up again.
The highlight of the hike (besides the post hike beverages) had to be the chimney. A particularly daunting looking obstacle that so conveniently has foot and handholds everywhere you would want one...it really is quite easy. From there a more moderate climb brought us to the summit of Osceola and you guessed it - lunch number three!
Forty degrees and a light breeze in mid November is quite nice - almost all of the eight inches of snow from two weeks ago was gone and we hung out for quite a while before making out descent to the Tripoli Road lot. The descent is quite easy - I find it always takes me two hours - the last mile or so is all rocks and is a real pain, but it is not difficult. We got back to the lot for cool beverages and then in true style we drove back over to the Kanc and had more beverages.
This was one of the best hikes I have ever had with such a great group!
PICTURES
And to see what it looked like two weeks ago buried in snow...what a difference two weeks makes.
Osceola - October 29, 2006
) etc went off without a glitch and we were on the trail under partly cloudy skies and moderate temperatures by 7:30am.The abuse one takes from their friends is staggering - you would think I was Noah - everyone had to comment on my rainy hike reputation - and today's forecast was iffy at best, but it seemed to be improving over the past 24 hours. I only hiked 19 of my 48 in downpours
- I really do not see what they are talking about! We made it to the Greeley Junction with the Mount Osceola Trail in about 30 minutes - we stopped for our first lunch. This would be the end of the speed hiking portion of the day. At this point, Genie the wonder lab noticed a deer and took off on a little adventure - basically made a big triangle back towards the Kanc and then made it back to us just in time for our departure up one of the steeper trails around - I beleive from this junction to the summit of East Peak is about 1.5 miles and 2000 feet, and sadly it is not spread out evenly - there are a few real easy sections and a lot of really steep sections - at least it was moderately dry and snow was minimal.We kept inching our way up - although Genie seemed to be bounding and we stopped off at the foot of the slide to take a look. Pretty sure youwould not want to slide down this and end up here - steep slabs, pretty wet - pretty hard. We continued the climb upwards to as LittleBear put it "the scene of the crime" from last February's epic adventure. The East Osceola slide. I have to say without solid ice and snow on top of it, this is pretty simple climbing. I did not remember it being as steep as it is, but we all got across with no issues - we even stopped in the middle of it to look around. After the slide - it continues up steepley again!
Finally made it to the view area just below the peak and then moved on to a clearing even closer to the actual summit and had lunch number two. Bobby and Tuco took summit shots as they had not been here before then we headed down into the col between the two peaks. This descent seemed rather pointless as we just had to climb right back up again.
The highlight of the hike (besides the post hike beverages) had to be the chimney. A particularly daunting looking obstacle that so conveniently has foot and handholds everywhere you would want one...it really is quite easy. From there a more moderate climb brought us to the summit of Osceola and you guessed it - lunch number three!
Forty degrees and a light breeze in mid November is quite nice - almost all of the eight inches of snow from two weeks ago was gone and we hung out for quite a while before making out descent to the Tripoli Road lot. The descent is quite easy - I find it always takes me two hours - the last mile or so is all rocks and is a real pain, but it is not difficult. We got back to the lot for cool beverages and then in true style we drove back over to the Kanc and had more beverages.
This was one of the best hikes I have ever had with such a great group!
PICTURES
And to see what it looked like two weeks ago buried in snow...what a difference two weeks makes.
Osceola - October 29, 2006
