Peak 3: East Osceola (4156') Date: 07/04/09 Who: Tim, Ethan and Maggie
Pictures
I had a goal to leave the house earlier because it was
July 4th and I was worried about traffic heading into New Hampshire. Ethan
wanted to sleep a bit more and was not easy to coerce out the door. Anyway much
like out last trip we hit the road about 6:20. This time I came a bit better
prepared to find the trailhead. I marked the trailhead with Garmin Mapsource,
used the GPS coordinates in google maps and printed those directions. We made
great time with our normal stop to pick up our donuts (4 glazed, 1 chocolate
glazed and one jelly, mmmm jelly). We were ready to hit the trail just after
9:00.
We started out knowing we could have bagged this peak along
with Osceola 1 week before, and it would have been quite a bit easier.
Our route up Greely Pond Trail to Mount Osceola Trail on Mapsource was planned
to be a quick 2.5 miles each way. The signs seemed a bit more accurate to be
2.8 each way. The profile looked pretty trivial for the first 1.8 miles with
the last .9 holding the majority of the climb.
The hike that I thought would be trivial was anything but....
Walking through wet mud for the first hour and half got us to the Osceola Trail
junction. I ended up with a wet sock and Ethan ended up with a muddy set of
socks and boots... Maggie's white front was pretty much black.
At the trail junct
ion the fun really started
... (up..up..up
).
We went slowly and steady took a few breaks and pressed upward. A few rolling
thunderstorms made us question if we should move further. At one point I dared
to suggest a turn around and Ethan said something like "we are getting so
close". People coming down were slow and cautious. We were passed by a few
hikers in better shape (damn young kids). Towards the top Ethan took a fall
(see his knee in the pictures), none the less the top was near enough
so we pushed
on....
At the top...
Really uneventful summit, not above the tree line, a single cairn marks the spot
and some slight views through the trees. Regardless we earned our lunch (at
1:30). We dumped our packs and selected some food. Maggie had been forgotten
food wise and we selected some nice cheerios for her. During our lunch the
storm started quickly rolling towards us.
On the decent...
Thunder and lightning moved in, we moved as quickly as possible off the exposed
rock faces and into the safety of the trees.
The rain
was relentless til about half way down. It was hard hike down with a very
wet steep rocky trail, Ethan moved impressively with extended polls, we
both took
lots of extra time to avoid a fall. Maggie was still in the up and back mode
(she hikes at least 2 times as far as we do). We were so very happy to finally
arrive at the trail juncture and knew the steep stuff was all done. The mud
ridden, punchon filled path was a welcome path, we made great time from here
back to the car, where we jumped into some dry clothes for the drive to
Bridgeton ME to start our summer vacation
week.
Time: 4.5 hours up, 2.5 hours down. (yuk 7 hours, should have been 3.5)
Distance: 2.8 each way
Lesson's learned: Tim should bring raingear in the Whites,
even in July. Ethan's so called rain jacket might just be a
windbreaker cleaverly named, but it would probably help if he zipped it up.
Always have a change of clothes in car, and some towels. When nature
calls, you just gotta go...
Peak 2: Osceola (4340') Date: 06/27/09 Who: Tim, Ethan and Maggie
Pictures
We left the house bright and early at 6:20 for the 150 mile ride.
Originally planned on climbing Tecumseh, but I as I looked for the Tecumseh
trailhead I came across Osceola trailhead first. After figuring out the pay
use parking lot
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/passes/index.phpasses/index.php) , we headed
out about 9:30. The entire trail was pretty rocky, with all the recent rain it
was a bit slick as well. Very few views on the Osceola trail until the
spectacular views at the top.
Ethan hiked well and quickly, a few slip and slides on the wet rocks by both of
us.... We dealt with a bit of rain and there were quire a few people out for
the day hike. Maggie did a great job staying on the trail and returning with
just a quick whistle. She got many complements on the way.
Unlike our first hike we were able to snap a few pictures before the return down
the trail.
Time: 3.5 hours up, 2 hours down.
Distance: 3.3 each way
Elevation: 2260 (pretty much no up and downs, just all up).
We went pretty slow and the rail was a tough one in the wet/rain. The trail was
very overgrown at places, but had clearly had lots of construction/improvement
work.
On the way back out we passed the Tecumseh trailhead. I took the time to add a
waypoint to tomtom. Lots of great camping on Tripoli
road (have to figure out how the overnight passes work).
Great place for Pizza at exist 24 or 25 in Plymouth Tom's Brothers Pizza....
Good fries too...
Peak 1: Mount Moosilauke (4802') Date: 08/30/08 Who:
Tim, Ethan and Maggie
After the 160 mile drive from Shrewsbury to Warren NH, Ethan,
Maggie (our miniature Aussie) and I started out on our first 4000 foot hike.
The goal was to go up the Gorge Brook trail and hit the summit of Mt Moosilauke
and possibly do the loop to pick up a few other peaks. We parked and followed
the road until we hit the trail. It was a little unclear if we were to go left
or right and right was ascending so we went right. After a little while on the
trail it became clear we were not on Gorge Brook trail, but instead were on the
Ridge trail. Looking at the map it seemed just fine, a bit longer, but we would
go over Mt Jim (4180 ft) and Mt Blue (4550), so in my plan we were going to pick
up three peaks on this one hike.
Ethan moved very well, and quickly, Maggie was her normal wonder dog self. We
talked and joked a bit, but mostly just kept hiking. The climb was rocky for
the most part, but not really all that steep. We crossed what we assume was Mt
Jim based on the GPS elevation and started a minor decent. Once we hit the
Beaver Brook Trail we took a needed lunch break with our Turkey sandwiches
(mmmm). Sitting at the trail junction a group of 4 Alabama AT section hikers
passed. We traded AT stories, one of them was almost done, another had 1100
miles under his belt, the others were just motivating their friend to finish.
Once we rounded Mt Blue, we ran into a pair of hikers. The guy was a "long time
peak bagger" and was helping his wife/companion complete the NH peaks (she was
half way there). He explained that the two mountains we just passed did not
count as Peaks as the calls between the mountains and mt Moosilauke were not far
enough. I felt as if it was cheating anyway, so we moved along towards our
original goal....Mt Moosilauke.
When we reached the summit it was so foggy we could barely see the next cairn.
I took a picture at what I thought was the peak only to realize my camera
battery was likely dead. We continued on and found the sign marking the actual
top of the mountain. I tried hard to snap a 2nd photo here, and hinted loudly
that I was an idiot for not having changed the battery hoping one of the other 5
hikers at the top would offer to snap a photo of Ethan, Maggie and myself and
email it over. My hint was not direct enough, seems as if it would be a no
picture first summit.
We easily found the Gorge Brook trail and started our decent into the fog. The
trail was very well maintained and well traveled. Again the decent was rocky,
but not all that steep. Our decent was uneventful we stopped for a 10 minute
break half way down and walked around the lodge once we got down. Looks like a
cool place for another visit. Just before the lodge we stopped to admire the
mileage sign. We had done 5.9 mile route up and another 3.6 down. We started
at 10:00 and arrived back at 4:00. 9.5 miles in about 6 hours.
I marked a waypoint just as we got onto the Ridge trail and it showed just under
2200, the sign at the road above the lodge showed 2500 ft elevation. I will go
with my waypoint and call the climb (4802-2300) 2500 feet. I go with the
signed mileage and call the loop 9.5 miles.
Ethan endured well, I felt great, and Maggie could have done a 2nd loop. A easy
three hour return to Shrewsbury. After 12 hours away we reached our first
goal...our first 4000 foot peak.