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September 7, I hiked Osceola and East Osceola, which were my 7th and 8th 4,000 footers. Here are some helpful links I found while researching the hike:
- Hike Mount Osceola – 4000Footers.com
- Hike Mount Osceola from Tripoli Road – northeasthikes.com
- Weather
The Plan
I had originally planned to hike Waumbek and Cabot (NH48 4000 footers) as well as Starr King, Horn and Magalloway (NH 52 With a View) over two days with a short night spent in Pittsburgh NH. A sick pup and some other external factors resulted in a sudden change of plans. After <90 minutes of sleep, I hopped into my car and headed to Osceola Trailhead/Thorton Gap off of Tripoli Road. With the lack of sleep as well as my inability to estimate how long NH hikes will take me (more on this later) I wasn’t really sure how long I’d be on the trail, but I estimated my day would look like this:
- Trail/Peak Name: Osceola Trail
- Intended Route: Osceola Trail off of Tripoli Road to Mount Osceola and East Osceola Mountain.
- The map/gpx file I am using can be viewed here: https://caltopo.com/m/5MPS
- Departure & Return Time/Date: Day hike for Sept 7, 2018. Leave home around 6 a.m. I hope to return home by 6:00 PM at the latest
- Hike Itinerary: I have read that this hike should take 5 to 7 hours. Based on this information and my previous hikes in NH, I am estimating the hike will take me an average of 1 hour per mile, including breaks.
- 7:30 a.m.: start hike
- 11:30 a.m.: Mt. Osceola summit
- 12:30 p.m.: East Peak summit
- 1:30 p.m.: Mt. Osceola summit
- 3:30 p.m.: end hike
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The Outcome
Having spent most of my hiking life in California, I still have not adjusted to constitutes a typical trail in NH. The lack of sleep, the disappointment of needing to cancel my original plans and hiking on the ankle-breaking softball- and basketball-sized rocks (the NH equivalent of talus?) at the beginning of the hike had me questioning why I was even on the trail. Also knowing that I’d have a ton of work waiting for me at home after finishing the hike did not help my mood. I can only really think of one other hike where I seriously considered turning around within the first mile of a hike (San Bernardino Peak, 2011), but I was thinking about it here.
After pushing through the first hour and 1.75 miles of the hike, my mood improved as I reached Breadtray Ridge. On the ridge I got my first peak of Osceola as well as a nice view of Mt. Tecumseh, which was my first 4000 footer after moving back to NH. The most notable thing about the ridge was the number of downed trees … I am curious if most of them were blown over during a particular weather event or if it’s something that’s just happened over a number of years.
Spending the previous Monday deathly afraid of slipping and falling (again) I opted by footwear with Vibram soles to ensure good footing as well as using my hiking poles. Unfortunately the shoes are not waterproof, so things got a little interesting as I neared the summit of Mt. Osceola.
Soon after getting to the bottom of the Chimney, the trail starts to climb again. I knew that I only had a half mile to the summit or so, but this part of the hike seemed to go on forever. When I finally made it to the summit, I was greeted by this friendly pup, another dog and their human. I took a quick summit photo, then headed back to Mount Osceola.
Arriving at the Chimney, I decided to opt for the Bypass again, but here’s a look at both routes:
Heading back to the summit of Mount Osceola, I was happy to be ascending rather than descending. While it was tiring, I was definitely more sure of my footing hiking the trail in this direction. Once I summited again, I took my longest break of the day. The remainder of the trip back to the trailhead was uneventful and quite enjoyable … at least until the last mile, where I encountered the softball- and basketball-sized ankle-breakers again. 🙄
Geek Stats
Mount Osceola and East Osceola Mountain via Osceola Trail || Distance: 7.6 miles || Duration: ~5.5 hrs (including ~20 mins of breaks) || Gain/Loss: ±3261’|| Max Elevation: 4,314′ || Difficulty: Moderate
Since moving to NH, I’ve had a difficult time estimating how long I’ll need to complete a hike. In CA, I was able to look at the stats for a trail and easily come up with an estimate. I am hoping by tracking the info below over a few hikes, my estimates for NH hikes will be more accurate.
| Split Name | Pace | Climb |
| Mile 1 | 35:56 | 686 |
| Mile 2 | 40:31 | 758 |
| Mile 3 | 47:38 | 416 |
| Mile 4 | 59:07 | -251 |
| Mile 5 | 61:45 | 206 |
| Mile 6 | 37:11 | -735 |
| Mile 7 | 37:21 | -779 |
| Mile 8 (partial) | 31:48 | -297 |
| Split Name | Mileage | Climb |
| Hour 1 | 1.6 | +1163, -27 |
| Hour 2 | 1.3 | +900, -131 |
| Hour 3 | 1 | +433, -700 |
| Hour 4 | .9 | +568, -242 |
| Hour 5 | 1.7 | +223, -1440 |
| Hour 6 (extrapolated) | 1.7 | +120, -1300 |
Photos
Gear
- Deuter Airlite 28 – with the large number of packs I’ve been testing and types of hikes I’ve been doing, my Airlite has been sitting in storage for a long time, but this was the perfect opportunity to use it! While I did push the capacity of the pack (I attached a MiniNet so that I could easily carry my rain gear and extra water on the outside of my pack), it performed well.
- Trew BeWild – While it did not rain, the jacket worked well as a wind breaker.
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