p2piper
New member
The Osceolas
The day after our Killington hike Nancy and I headed up to the Whites for another glorious opportunity to be on the trail. This would be our first back-to-back hiking experience, having hiked Killington the day before. We were keeping our fingers crossed that we felt as good after hike #2 as we did after hike #1. On the drive up to the Lincoln area, we checked in with each other and decided to do the Osceolas instead of the Tripyramids or Kinsmans and Cannon -- we needed a shorter, less intimidating hike after running up Killington the day before.
We hit the Osceola Trail at 8:44 a.m. under clear skies with the temperatures in the mid 60’s. Perfect start. The trailhead lot had five other cars in it – one even had a VFTT sticker – our first sighting. [How can we get one of those stickers, anyway?] After a rocky uphill start, the trail became quite wonderfully civilized – footing was excellent and the rock was pitted so that our boots didn’t slip, even on the wet, mossy spots. It was great to be hiking together, reclaiming our own pace after the sprint of the day before, and enjoying the beauty of the day. We reached the summit of Mt. Osceola at 10:53 a.m., temperature 68.3 degrees. Just as we summited, we heard some hikers congratulating others on their 40th peak. This 4,000 footers club is quite a phenomena -- a challenge that brings like-minded people together in the spirit of hiking, opens up the natural beauty of the mountains throughout the state, pushes people past the familiar and encourages many to discover the joy of climbing. Wowsers!
We met a family of hikers and the Dad took pictures of us, taking extra time to ensure the picture was artistic and captured the splendor around us. We reciprocated the favor before heading off toward East Osceola. We liked this family -- a mom, dad and daughter -- but that was not a surprise to us because we've learned climbing our first 15 peaks that hikers are great human beings. Like the guy on the summit of Whiteface said, "You don't find many assholes above 3,000 feet." That is confirmed for us on each and every hike.
I had read about the section of the trail called the Chimney and was looking forward to climbing it. We hit a pretty steep section (a section that went STRAIGHT DOWN) as we headed down off Osceola, then started back up. I kept waiting for the Chimney and was startled to suddenly come upon the cairn at the East Osceola summit (12:27pm). We met up with a nice older couple, good looking and in great shape. He was probably in his 70s or 80s and she was probably in her 60s or 70s. They seemed so happy with each other and with their hiking experience. They told us this was number 6 of the NH 4,000 footers, smiling with the joy of accomplishment. Again -- great people and what inspiration! We hope we are in shape, happy and still hiking when we are that age. And, being in our 50s -- it's not far off! We all took pictures of each other and headed back to Osceola for lunch. On the walk back I realized that the description I had read about the Chimney had been written by folks who had climbed East Osceola first and then Osceola – that steep section we had gone down was the Chimney. Feeling a little foolish, I nonetheless enjoyed climbing it (STRAIGHT UP!) and was very happy to reach the Osceola summit at 12:24 p.m.
Lots of folks on top – we found a warm rock ledge to sit on facing east and enjoyed our lunch, boots and socks off, feeling the breeze, watching Juncos search for crumbs and looking at the amazing world at our feet. It’s hard not to feel like the luckiest people in the world when we are up there. We were trying to figure out which mountains we were looking at and a man very kindly handed us his map of the Whites so we could orient ourselves. We were gazing at the Tripyramids. After lunch, the older couple we had met on top of East Osceola arrived and generously offered to take our picture on the summit of Osceola before we started the trek back to civilization.
A little after 1:42 p.m., we headed down. I got out my poles since I could feel some fatigue settling into my knees after two days of hiking. The trip down was relatively uneventful, although I was given special status in the Peak Poopers Club for having to take a crap half way down the mountain. Two days in a row! Blech! The temperature began climbing and high clouds came in from the west. We knew the parking lot was near a small stream, so when we crossed a rivulet of water -- we knew we were close. Oh whoops -- maybe not so close, we realized, as we hit another stream. Maybe it was this stream that was close to the parking lot. Hope so, because we were ready. No parking lot -- just another stream. Perhaps it was this one that was close to the parking lot. Nope -- one more rivulet of water across the trail. Ah -- it was this one. You know what we're saying, right? You don't want the hike to end, but you're ready for it to end? We were definitely glad to see the parking lot when it finally came into view. We tagged another two peaks, bringing our total to 17 out of 67 4,000 footers in New England. We hit the parking lot at 3:41 p.m. (9.91 miles, 29, 110 steps, 830 calories), thankful for our cold drinks awaiting us in the cooler, the 4,000 footer challenge and the opportunity to enjoy fabulous fellow hikers. Perhaps that was part of the magic of this hike -- not only did we delight in the natural beauty of the incredible panoramas and the gorgeous trail, but we also experienced the beauty in those we passed by on the trail, who offered to take pictures, lent us a map so we could get our bearings, wished us a safe hike. Thank you!
Next up – Katahdin.
The day after our Killington hike Nancy and I headed up to the Whites for another glorious opportunity to be on the trail. This would be our first back-to-back hiking experience, having hiked Killington the day before. We were keeping our fingers crossed that we felt as good after hike #2 as we did after hike #1. On the drive up to the Lincoln area, we checked in with each other and decided to do the Osceolas instead of the Tripyramids or Kinsmans and Cannon -- we needed a shorter, less intimidating hike after running up Killington the day before.
We hit the Osceola Trail at 8:44 a.m. under clear skies with the temperatures in the mid 60’s. Perfect start. The trailhead lot had five other cars in it – one even had a VFTT sticker – our first sighting. [How can we get one of those stickers, anyway?] After a rocky uphill start, the trail became quite wonderfully civilized – footing was excellent and the rock was pitted so that our boots didn’t slip, even on the wet, mossy spots. It was great to be hiking together, reclaiming our own pace after the sprint of the day before, and enjoying the beauty of the day. We reached the summit of Mt. Osceola at 10:53 a.m., temperature 68.3 degrees. Just as we summited, we heard some hikers congratulating others on their 40th peak. This 4,000 footers club is quite a phenomena -- a challenge that brings like-minded people together in the spirit of hiking, opens up the natural beauty of the mountains throughout the state, pushes people past the familiar and encourages many to discover the joy of climbing. Wowsers!
We met a family of hikers and the Dad took pictures of us, taking extra time to ensure the picture was artistic and captured the splendor around us. We reciprocated the favor before heading off toward East Osceola. We liked this family -- a mom, dad and daughter -- but that was not a surprise to us because we've learned climbing our first 15 peaks that hikers are great human beings. Like the guy on the summit of Whiteface said, "You don't find many assholes above 3,000 feet." That is confirmed for us on each and every hike.
I had read about the section of the trail called the Chimney and was looking forward to climbing it. We hit a pretty steep section (a section that went STRAIGHT DOWN) as we headed down off Osceola, then started back up. I kept waiting for the Chimney and was startled to suddenly come upon the cairn at the East Osceola summit (12:27pm). We met up with a nice older couple, good looking and in great shape. He was probably in his 70s or 80s and she was probably in her 60s or 70s. They seemed so happy with each other and with their hiking experience. They told us this was number 6 of the NH 4,000 footers, smiling with the joy of accomplishment. Again -- great people and what inspiration! We hope we are in shape, happy and still hiking when we are that age. And, being in our 50s -- it's not far off! We all took pictures of each other and headed back to Osceola for lunch. On the walk back I realized that the description I had read about the Chimney had been written by folks who had climbed East Osceola first and then Osceola – that steep section we had gone down was the Chimney. Feeling a little foolish, I nonetheless enjoyed climbing it (STRAIGHT UP!) and was very happy to reach the Osceola summit at 12:24 p.m.
Lots of folks on top – we found a warm rock ledge to sit on facing east and enjoyed our lunch, boots and socks off, feeling the breeze, watching Juncos search for crumbs and looking at the amazing world at our feet. It’s hard not to feel like the luckiest people in the world when we are up there. We were trying to figure out which mountains we were looking at and a man very kindly handed us his map of the Whites so we could orient ourselves. We were gazing at the Tripyramids. After lunch, the older couple we had met on top of East Osceola arrived and generously offered to take our picture on the summit of Osceola before we started the trek back to civilization.
A little after 1:42 p.m., we headed down. I got out my poles since I could feel some fatigue settling into my knees after two days of hiking. The trip down was relatively uneventful, although I was given special status in the Peak Poopers Club for having to take a crap half way down the mountain. Two days in a row! Blech! The temperature began climbing and high clouds came in from the west. We knew the parking lot was near a small stream, so when we crossed a rivulet of water -- we knew we were close. Oh whoops -- maybe not so close, we realized, as we hit another stream. Maybe it was this stream that was close to the parking lot. Hope so, because we were ready. No parking lot -- just another stream. Perhaps it was this one that was close to the parking lot. Nope -- one more rivulet of water across the trail. Ah -- it was this one. You know what we're saying, right? You don't want the hike to end, but you're ready for it to end? We were definitely glad to see the parking lot when it finally came into view. We tagged another two peaks, bringing our total to 17 out of 67 4,000 footers in New England. We hit the parking lot at 3:41 p.m. (9.91 miles, 29, 110 steps, 830 calories), thankful for our cold drinks awaiting us in the cooler, the 4,000 footer challenge and the opportunity to enjoy fabulous fellow hikers. Perhaps that was part of the magic of this hike -- not only did we delight in the natural beauty of the incredible panoramas and the gorgeous trail, but we also experienced the beauty in those we passed by on the trail, who offered to take pictures, lent us a map so we could get our bearings, wished us a safe hike. Thank you!
Next up – Katahdin.
