Osceola, East Peak

[Amadeus]

#47128 |

Two choices immediately come to mind for this hike:

Loop #1:
Tripoli Road: Mt Oceola trail to East Peak. Backtrack to Oceola, and then down East pond trail. Up Tripoli road to car. Approximately 9 miles. East peak is very nearly in the center of this hike.

Loop #2:
Kancamagus: Greeley Ponds trail to East peak (2.5 miles). Continue on to Mt Oceola, and then the West peak, and down East pond trail. Up Kancamagus to car. Approximately 8.5 miles.

Loop 1 start time would be about 8am, loop 2 we could start at 9:30~10:00 ish.

I vote for loop 2. I hate mornings. Loop 2 is straight up East peak, with a gradual descent.

If we leave East peak at 1pm, then complete loop #2, we should arrive at the car no later than 7pm. Works for me.

If you like complicated logistics, we could hike between the Kancamagus and Tripoli Road. Cars would have to be at both trailheads, etc. etc..

Comments?

[Puck]

#51273

I hope to meet with my E Osceola neighbor.

Puck

[Amadeus]

#51274

Yay! Visitors from the next peak! I’m sure that we will see each other along the way.

The “getting up” route has been locked in:

Greeley Ponds Trail. 2.5 miles in, 1 mile an hour (slow hike rate), so we should be at the trailhead (kancamagus hwy) at 9:30 ~ 10 am. Heat will slow me down, cool weather will speed things up.

I have a flag and rigging that I used on previous 9/11 hikes. Should work out well.

Weather conditions will dictate how we get back down. To loop, or not to loop….

[SilentCal]

#51275

Nice to see a tradition building with people saving their flags, poles and rigging from year to year. Don’t worry about the weather. Mother Nature has not let us down yet!

[Amadeus]

#51276

OK. Now I am confused. Is there a “Scar Ridge” trail that I can take to East Pond Trail (from the top of Mt Osceola) or not? One map I have suggests yes, the other no. The proposed loop was going to use Scar Ridge. My offical AMC maps are currently in Franconia and I am down here in Nashua for the week (yuck).

Doooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm!!!!

I suppose I could always bushwhack over to the other trail. I have been wanting to try out a bushwhack for some time now. Could be fun. Could be nasty. Maybe I’ll bring my GPS thingy. I wonder if it still works…

[SilentCal]

#51277

Amadeus—I do not know of an offical trail that heads directly to East Pond from the Osceola Summit. There is a small herd path that meaders into the woods at the last switchback before the summit. (heading up the Mt. Osceola Trail from Tripoli Road.) MtnMagic and I followed it for about 100 yards or so. We were later informed that this was the old telephone line route to the summit for the firetower. There was much wire strewn about in the woods as I remember. I believe you can bushwhack to East Pond from here but I’m not certain. Check those maps out.

[Amadeus]

#51278

Darn. Thanks for the info. I’ll have to look at the AMC maps when I get back north. The “trail” I’m looking at may just be part of the boundry between Livermore and Lincoln named Scar Ridge. Looked like a nice trail to hike – if it was a trail.

Perhaps this is a good excuse to buy a new guide. The one I have is 5~7 years old anyway.

To EMS! Wooooooooooooooo!

[SilentCal]

#51279

That is the more likely conclusion. I’ve heard the Scar Ridge is a very difficult bushwhack.

[Amadeus]

#51280

OK. The loop is now about 13 miles long. Scar ridge does not exist as a formal trail. A bit much for a Sunday afternoon. At least for me. I suppose it could be done, but I would estimate on getting back to the car at about midnight.

OR

A two day – camp out hike. Ooooooo. Take the loop in the other direction. Overnight somewhere off trail. Quick hike on Sunday to the peak. Hang around, think about life, then a quick hike out.

OR

Just a quick hike in and out. Quickest would be from the Kank (2.5 miles one way), a longer hike could be from Tripoli (3.25 miles one way).

[Amadeus]

#51281

OK. Time to start finalizing things. People need to speak up. Where to meet, what trail to take… With multiple vehicles we can have a more interesting hike (hint hint hint).

I have a good flag, but only a makeshift flagpole. It is made of several interlocking tent poles. I am open to better solutions. It is not very tall & I think that the peak is wooded. Perhaps we need something taller?

Whaddayawanna have for lunch?

[deerock40]

#51282

Hi – I wanted to update you with the number of people from USPS who will be joining us Sept. 11.
We are up to 8 people – some of whom are in better shape than others. With that in mind I would vote for the longer hike from Tripoli Road. I have never gone the Greely Ponds route. How much of a difference in steepness is one from the other? As far as the flagpole is concerned – USPS is only offering the use of their flag. If you want to invest in some PVC piping and duct tape like I’ve seen the other peaks use, I would be happy to contribute.
We are planning to bring sandwiches for the peak and agree with the start time (not later than 9:00) you suggested. Looking forward to participating!!!!!!!!!

[SilentCal]

#51283

Welcome Deerock40! Your going to need a good amount of PVC to get through the trees on East Osceola. But it can be done! Good Luck.

[Amadeus]

#51284

Wow. 8 people. Last year I was all alone….

Sweet. Well, if it is an official USPS flag, it would be great to fly that at the top.

The hike from Tripoli should be a good one, nice and easy (compared to the other direction). Do you all have hiking experience? The WMG says it is 4.2 miles from Tripoli road to east peak, and should take 3 hours and 20 minutes. The times given in the guide are usually for a very relaxed hike, so 9am should work out well.

As stated above, the peak is wooded. If there is sufficient desire to get the flag above the trees, we will have to come up with a tall pole. In the past, I have used a series of tent poles that only extend about 10 feet or so. Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of spare time between now and then for experimentation, construction and test. I am open to ideas, and anything you guys may want to do.

Below, you can click the link to see a graphic of the trail profile. The left side is the trail head at Tripoli road, the right side is the junction with Greeley Ponds Trail. The blue crosshair is on the East peak. If your browser resizes the image, it may be a bit unreadable.

http://www.optisciences.com/images/mtosceola.gif

[deerock40]

#51285

I let everyone know that you are looking for ideas about the flag pole but haven’t gotten any feedback. Plan on bringing the tent poles since I too will not have time this week to come up a bigger, better solution. 🙂 I will ask our postmaster to borrow the flag and bring it with me Sunday. Should we plan on meeting at the Tripoli Road trailhead at 9:00 am then?

[Amadeus]

#51286

Update and more options:

We now have 12 or 13 people for this peak. With this many people, we may want to split up groups. One group starts at Tripoli road, the other from the Kanc. What do you all think?

In any case, I will be on the top at noon with at least the flag pole. The USPS group has the flag.

[Author]

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