Middle Osceola & Mt. Osceola

8/16/2009

Chip, Grant, Zippy and I started from Tripoli Road at 6:50 am and headed up the Mt. Osceola Trail.

We separated at the start of the bushwhack start and Zippy and I headed down the well defined herd path. Along side the herdpath is a rusty steel wire that we would occasionaly trip over. At about 0.15 miles there is a large boulder (ca. 6'x6'x6') on the right closely followed by 5 or 6 blowdowns lying parallel. The main herd path follows the steel wire and continues on another 150-200' before dying in a impregnable sea of tight spruce. Eventually we returned to the blowdowns and noticed that another herd path climbs over the roots of the blowdowns and continues to the right. This correct path to the right regains the spine of the ridge, and continues to the summit of Middle Osceola. There are a few spruce thickets of about 20'-30' that are easily negociated.



There are some limited views of Mt Tecumseh, Mt Osceola and the "Chimney" from the approach to the summit. The register was a soggy mess. I rescued it and brought it home to dry it out and photograph it. I'll be returning to West Osceola in the near future.

I continued on toward West Osceola only a couple of hundred feet before turning around and heading back to find Chip and Grant. I met up with them as they were returning from the summit and together we headed back to the summit of Mt Osceola. They related that they had traveled back and forth from the summit looking for me and worried that I might have found a different bushwhack trail to the top.

After something to drink and Chip took a few more photos we headed back to the car.

GPS track and photos on Wikiloc.

Great description of the route to Middle Osceola which can be somewhat confusing! And over the years, I wonder how many folks have tripped over that annoying wire?!!

1HappyHiker said:

Great description of the route to Middle Osceola which can be somewhat confusing! And over the years, I wonder how many folks have tripped over that annoying wire?!!

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Yes, when the herdpath petered out, I looked at Zippy and said "Wire we going this way?"

Paradox said:

Yes, when the herdpath petered out, I looked at Zippy and said "Wire we going this way?"

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Zippy has a great deal of tolerance..



Steve

Paradox, thanks for the trip report and for getting the register pages from Middle Osceola dried out and returned. When I was up there at the end of July, all those pages were a soggy mess back then too. I felt bad about leaving it there, but during short stops on the summit there's not much one can do to get those things dried out. It's too bad you weren't able to get over to West Osceola, because that register is a soggy mess as well.

My family was spending an extended weekend at my Bro-in-Laws property/camp/cabin in Boscawen so I figured I needed to sneak something in "up there". I woke Grant at 5am and we were on the road by 5:20, at Paradox's by 6:10 and at the trailhead by 6:50. Grant (my 14 yr old) and me planned to do Osceola and East Osceola. Paradox would tag Middle and meet us up on Osceola. After we separated, Grant and I quickly summited Osceola, snacked and headed northeast on the trail to East Osceola. Grant was wearing sneakers and I was concerned about the "chimney". When we got to the secondary peak on the ridge towards East, saw the drop and the rise to East, we both simultaneously decided "that" would be "work" vs what we intended to do this morning, so we headed back to Osceola. After another quick break we headed back down the trail to where we had left Paradox. We headed down the thin path towards Middle, walked, stopped, waited, hooted, whistled, thought we heard him, discussed bushwhacking, decided we might somehow miss him and headed back to the summit of Osceola (now our third time there this morning). After returning to the summit and studying the position of Middle to Osceola, I decidied we could not possibly have missed them, so we headed back down the main trail. Soon we saw Zippy and then Paradox (who naturally wanted to summit Osceola) so we all headed back up for me and Grant's 4th summit of the mountain this day . Good thing there are nice views.

All-in-all a nice, quick summit and hike. Always good to be up there with friends and family.

Here's my pics.

Nate said:

Paradox, thanks for the trip report and for getting the register pages from Middle Osceola dried out and returned. When I was up there at the end of July, all those pages were a soggy mess back then too. I felt bad about leaving it there, but during short stops on the summit there's not much one can do to get those things dried out. It's too bad you weren't able to get over to West Osceola, because that register is a soggy mess as well.

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Ah, you must "Nepharious Nate" Your register entry was in great shape, so I left it with mine. It was the notebook that was the problem. I'm working on the "perfect" design for a canister.

Chip said:

Always good to be up there with friends and family.

Here's my pics.

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Great hiking with you and Grant, and a nice set of pictures!