missing hikers on Osceola Trail

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el-bagr

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From the Boston Globe online:

Two Massachusetts teenagers are missing on the Osceola Trail in the WMNF. The article states that nine people went hiking on Wednesday, including two adults and a number of teens attending a wrestling camp, but split up Wednesday morning. Search is ongoing.
 
Yes, there's a switchback where if you go straight you end up on the old phone line trail which heads towards west peak then abruptly turns south.

If they went that way, they should have found a rough, difficult-to-follow trail, and without a map could just be roaming around on the herd paths trying to figure a way out.

This old route is still visible on the historic USGS Plymouth quad at docs.unh.edu. Here's what I once figured out:

It goes down towards Tripoli Mill. Head over to the 1928 Plymouth USGS quadrangle.

Scroll all the way to the top right. Right above where it says "Breadtray Ridge" you see a trail come on to the map then loop back north off the top, then just west it comes back down again. By coordinating with the Franconia Quadrangle, I determined that's the route.

As you can see, it comes down the ridge then right at the bottom, a tiny spur goes back north onto the other map to a building marker (old cabin?). A little further south, it splits again ... one leg goes west to meet up with what is now the East Pond Trail just north of Tripoli Mill, the other leg follows an unnamed brook to Tripoli Road and though not shown on the old topo, that comes out right by the northern end of the Mt. Tecumseh Trail.
 
And in fact, trying to go to West Osceola is exactly what they did:

They were last seen when they struck off the trail about an hour into the hike, Garabedian said.

That was at about 11 a.m. on Wednesday and near the summit. The two, one who was wearing shorts and the other sweatpants, decided to depart the trail and bushwhack, Garabedian said, to the west summit of Osceola.
 
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Having just been up there, I can say that West Bond does look enticing. It is a really pointy peak, and from the backside viewpoint on Osceola, it looks almost close enough to touch. However, there appear to be no views on the ridge over there or on the peak, and I am sure that the scrub was brutal. However, I can see these kids thinking that its only a few minutes away.
 
I didn’t see the reference that they tried to go to West Osceola. I was under the impression that they were headed for Osceola itself.

From Osceola to West OSCEOLA is quite the thick bushwhack, but you have to go up Middle Osceola and down and then up to West Osceola. There are a couple spots between on Middle and West with a bit of a view. I’m ready to go back!!
 
Huh.. I must have been looking at Middle Osceola then.

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=40851

"That was at about 11 a.m. on Wednesday and near the summit. The two, one who was wearing shorts and the other sweatpants, decided to depart the trail and bushwhack, Garabedian said, to the west summit of Osceola. The mountain has two lesser peaks, including the 4,114-foot West Peak."
 
Yeah, yeah. ... West Osceola. Had West Bond on the brain this week....
:rolleyes:
 
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