Southern Ossipees (NH) Traverse, 11/16/08

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rocket21

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While una_dogger works on the full trip report, I figured I'd post a brief one in the meantime.


Arriving at the meeting place about half an hour early, I was surprised to see a forestgnome look-a-like waiting to go:
sossipeetrav3.jpg




Even with the poor weather forecast, and the possibility of Bob Saget II attending (McRat), a bunch of folks showed up bright and early for perhaps the largest hike ever seen in southern Ossipee history. Multiple people tried to do a headcount - for those who are curious, we had 16, 17, 18, and 20 hikers attending, depending upon who counted and when. The only count any of us were confident in was that there were three dogs.

At one point, MichaelJ refused to continue hiking, because there was a blowdown in the trail.
sossipeetrav2.jpg


Fortunately, hoping to stop MichaelJ from making a scene, TrailBandit cut the log so that MichaelJ could pass through without incident. Happy, MichaelJ belted out a Phil Collins song. Unhappily, the rest of the hikers covered our ears in agony.


Peter Sellers joined us for this hike:
sossipeetrav4.jpg



Just to give an idea of how many people there were, if you look closely, you can see the line of colors stretching almost the entire length of this photo (the steep slope below Black Snoot):
sossipeetrav5.jpg



Just below Big Ball Mountain, it started snowing. While I started cussing because I don't want to shovel again anytime soon, MichaelJ started rejoicing by humming a Phil Collins song about snow or something, while the grim reaper snuck up behind him.
sossipeetrav6.jpg



After picking up the spotted cars, some of us went to the Yankee Smokehouse for a post-hike dinner. This was the last photo I took before the joke McRat was telling resulted in us getting kicked out:
sossipeetrav7.jpg
 
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Apparently my autocomplete functionality doesn't pick up on reschedule hike dates. 11/16/2008 is when this all went down.
 
A huge thank you to rocket21 and Amicus for organizing such an exceptional hike, and to Trail Bandit for reclaiming this wonderful set of trails. The beautiful views (of faraway mountains), varied (albeit occasionally very slippery) terrain, and fantastic company made for a very exciting trip. Plus, I'm now 40% of the way through my Ossipee 10. Score!

Rocket, your pictures are too funny. I seriously don't recall you taking that last one... sneaky.
 
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Great hike today folks...sorry to have to miss some pulled pork at the Smokehouse but I was obligated to a fabulous soup night up in sandwich..

sausage tortelinni, zuchinni/curry... seafood corn chowder, and a award winning tomatoe/ tarragon/and something elsle..chevre?..excellent...several kinds of feremented grape juice,,.then to be followed by 4 pies..life is good

I did however miss out on the good stuff at the smoke house..it takes alot to get kicked out of there...good job..funny how a fun group multiplies the fun..I might add that it was nice to see a few bottles of Tuckerman's on the table...
what a nice loop and good mix of folks..lots of new faces for me..lots of local knowledge...terrific views and some good wind..it was all good and good to meet you all ..see you on the trails soon

thanks jeremy

hike on


a picture or 2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157609299457678/
 
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:)What a great day! I really enjoyed this hike, the views of the low cloud deck over the lake and surrounding hills was awesome. Thanks, Jeremy, for organizing this! It was great to meet so many new people and catch up with folks I haven't seen for awhile. The terrain in the Ossipees was really interesting and reminded me much of the South Taconic Range & The Hudson Highlands. A great place to hike in any season and provided much respite from the winds and foul weather in the higher peaks.


Jeremy, you did such a great job at intoducing this TR -- and with so many VfTTers on this hike -- my vote is for adding to this existing thread!!! :)
 
I was thinking of spending more time hiking in the Ossipees, but gheez, it looks awfully crowded there!:rolleyes:

Just kidding, of course. Looks like a great time was had by all. Sorry I couldn’t make it, but very happy that the weather cooperated for you guys.
 
Just kidding, of course. Looks like a great time was had by all. Sorry I couldn’t make it, but very happy that the weather cooperated for you guys.

Jeepers! Instead of having 1HappyHiker, we had 18SadHikers because you weren't there to join us! I suspect there will be more Ossipee hikes in the future, so perhaps next time!
 
A great day in some awesome mountains (well, very tall hills!:)) My first intro to vftt hikers and a very pleasant one at that. So glad to meet the real people, all 17 1/2 of them, behind the chitchat online. Reading VFTT has taught me how much I DON'T know about hiking, trails, bushwacking, etc . Tremendous pool of knowledge on this site and awesome hikers.

Kudos to Trail Bandit and Mary for the work they have done, and continue to do on the Ossipee East trails.

Thanks, Jeremy.
 
This was truly a great hike. Wonderful views without the elevation, beautiful, dense and seemingly endless birch glades, varied weather and great company really made the miles fly by. It was especially nice to meet so many of you with whom I interact with on here...

Thanks to rocket for putting this together, and to trail bandit for all the work in the area.

I considered this a scouting trip, and a checkmark on an area I had been meaning to visit. I can't wait to go back in better light and shoot some of those outlooks!!! Thanks for all who shared their knowledge...
 
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Here's some pictures of the fun!

Here's a group foto at beginning of the hike right after the heavy rain stopped. You can still see sheets of water in foreground. Big group, but it didn't really feel like a big group since we sort of spread out into various mini-groups re-grouping periodically.

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Descending into the col and looking ahead to the summit of Mt Shaw.

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What in blazes? Any more blazes and the trees will catch fire! :D

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But not this one. First underwater blaze I ever saw.

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The artist himself. Trail bandit. Thanks for sharing!

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Nice cleavage. The rocks I mean. This is natural. The rocks and boulders are visually interesting. They fracture into all sorts of interesting geometric shapes. Many with cool crystals.



This is one rock hopping route. The middle part of the hike has what is called "poor footing". If you hike this route wear some sturdy shoes and be ready to rock hop.

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Last but not least ... a cosmic view of clouds parting over Winnipsauke (Where's my jazzbo spell checker?) Don't know if there's enough room for all these pixels.

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And they all lived happily ever after. Be good to try this route in winter!
 
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Great trip report, Jazzbo! Between the stuff you and I have posted here, we've really raised the stakes for una_dogger's in depth report!
 
rocket21's idea of posting Open Calls here and on Rocks on Top for this excellent loop proved to be a good one. He and I have hiked these trails before with Trail Bandit and Mary and they deserve their increasing recognition. As noted by others, TB and Mary get major props for their years of effort reclaiming these old trails.

A plus for me was meeting a bunch of good people I knew before only from reading their posts, including:

- Jabberwalk,
- Jazzbo,
- Kevin, Judy and Emma,
- LRiz,
- Silverfox,
- Stev-O,
- Amantio, and
- w7xman.

It's always a pleasure hiking with:

- Dougeh,
- McRat (but that guy needs to lighten up a little),
- MichaelJ,
- rocksnrolls, and
- unadogger (but just once, several years ago).

I'm sure I've missed one or two others - my apologies and speak right up.

My poor Raynaud-afflicted hands avoided a world of unhappiness thanks to the spare pair of warm gloves LRiz generously shared. My thin pair weren't equal to the chilly summit winds.

I have not mastered that post-pictures-right-in-your-report technique, so mine are here.
 
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Well, I am working a double and won't be home till late so I vote for the rookie, LRiz to write it!

If you check Article 1, Section 2 of the VFTT Rules and Regulations, it specifically says that hazing rookie members in the event of the veteran member having to work a double is not permitted and can be punishable by multiple red squares and dirty looks :)
 
A few more photos from yesterday:

mtflaggtrail-2008-1116a.jpg

Looking up the Mt. Flagg Trail

mtflaggsummit-2008-1116a.jpg

Looking north from Mt. Flagg

mtshawtrail-2008-1116a.jpg

Looking up the Gorilla Trail (forestgnome take note - the area between Flagg and Shaw, and much of the associated shoulders, are covered in birch like this)

mtshawsummit-2008-1116a.jpg

Looking east from Mt. Shaw

blacksnootsummit-2008-1116a.jpg

Looking at the Belknaps from Black Snoot

bigballmtnsummit-2008-1116a.jpg

Looking at Black Snoot from Big Ball Mountain


One thing that should be noted is that there were three dogs with us yesterday and they were all extremely well behaved and great to hike with!
 
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