Outdoor Diversion: A Hike to the Osceolas on a Beautiful Winter Day

Summits: East Osceola (4,156'), Mount Osceola (4,340')

Trail route: From the Kancamagus Highway via Greeley Ponds XC Ski Trail, Mount Osceola Trail

Trail conditions: Loosely packed trail with some ice under a coating of snow on the steep sections and deep unconsolidated snow on the south side of East Osceola

Weather: Comfortably cold with sunshine and blue sky

Total miles: 7.6

Total time: 7:16

The weather was looking favorable for a hike to the Osceolas. There was several of us that needed these two summits and I would be joining Amy D, Amy L, Jill, Melissa, Jim, Scott and Lisa for this hike. This would be my 10th time to these summits and I knew we were in for a tough hike.

There was an area plowed off on the side of the Kancamagus Highway to allow parking for the Greeley Ponds XC Ski Trail and it easily accommodated our four vehicles with room for more. The Greeley Ponds Trail parking lot was not plowed out. The XC ski trail allows skiing and snowshoeing but no hiking in bare boots or traction.

The trail was well broken out and we started in our snowshoes. It was a nice snowshoe hike to the trail junction with full sun shining down through the trees. As we made the turn onto the Mt Osceola Trail we all knew about the steep sections up ahead of us.

What started as a fairly gradual ascent soon brought us to the steep part of the trail. The snow was loose and there was some sliding backwards on several occasions with some considerable tree hugging along the way. We all made it to the ridge without incident.

There was more snow up here on the ridge but the trail was well broke out cutting through some deep snowdrifts. We stopped at the outlook just before the summit before moving on to the summit of East Osceola. We all took a short break here and then continued our hike to Mount Osceola.

As we dropped down from the summit we got into some deep unconsolidated snow. It made for an interesting descent. We arrived at the chimney and ascended the broken out bypass to the bypass. There was some steep climbing ahead of us but slow and easy got us up past there and finally on the summit of Mount Osceola.

It was spectacular here on the summit with warm sunshine and no wind, a great day for lingering and basking. We took a long break up here and not sure if it was due to the great conditions or delaying the inevitable of having to return the way we came, probably both!

We started our return hike and it wasn't long before I realized that descending was going to be more difficult than ascending. We took our time and carefully made our way down the steep sections of Mount Osceola. Then we ascended East Osceola which didn't seem so bad. But we had some very steep sections ahead of us on the other side.

Some of us swapped out the snowshoes for crampons. I waited until crossing the ridge before putting on my crampons. As I started down I found that even with the crampons it was going to be a very difficult and slow descent with lots of tree hugging. When I reached the slide I went off trail into the deep snow which made for an easier descent. It was nice to get back down to some flat trail. I put my snowshoes back on at the trail junction for the hike out to the Kanc on the XC Ski trail.

This was one of the toughest hikes that I've had to these two summits. I'm glad I was able to join this awesome group of hikers and share the adventure. Congratulations to Jill for gridding out the Osceolas today!

I now need to hike the Osceolas in April and February to grid them out. My grid count is now 526/576 or 91.3%. I have three more hikes this month to grid out March. I'm hoping the weather and trail conditions will be favorable!

Enjoy the photos and video!