Jason Berard
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- Oct 28, 2006
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Greg and I decided to head out for a hike even though the weather wasn't supposed to be great. We were torn between doing Passaconaway or East Osceola, and decided we'd head out, and decide on the way. When we got to the junction where we had to decide, we just sat there at the intersection, staring at the blinking red light, debating the various pro's and con's of both hike for about 10 minutes. Not a single car came up behind us the whole time! 
We eventually settled on East Osceola mainly because I wanted to do Passaconaway from Downes Brook Slide Trail, and thought the stream crossings might be too much of a challenge for us.
We got to the trail head and were surprised to see so much snow. I expected there would be significant amounts of snow further up, but not necessarily at the bottom. The temp was 45 degrees, and a very slight drizzle was falling. We hit the trail at 8:45 am. The trail was really well consolidated, and we headed off with our snowshoes strapped to our packs. At the brook crossing, we hesitated, looking for the easiest way to cross. A brief scan up and downstream didn't yield an easier route, so we headed across carefully. There was really only one spot that was trouble, where the rocks were spaced pretty far apart, but we crossed without incident, and headed up the trail.
We got the the trail junction with the Osceola Trail at 9:45, having taken our time. We saw our first significant blow down here, ( not across the trail), and for the whole trip we were both surprised there was not more significant wind damage from the last storm. In the Upper Valley there was a LOT of wind damage from that storm. We headed up the Mt. Osceola Trail and soon the nice relatively flat terrain was replaced with a moderately steep trail. We were both knew that this only meant it must get significantly steeper ahead, as we had approx. 2000' to climb in 1.5 miles. About a 1/2 mile in the snow was a bit softer, so we donned snowshoes, and right about here, lost the trail a few times. While we put on our shoes, the person who belonged to the lone pair of footprints we had been following came down the trail. We attempted some small talk, but I think we were really interrupting his wilderness solitude. He just smiled slightly, and headed down the trail. From here the trail did get even more steep, but still, we knew it wasn't steep enough to make all the elevation we had ahead of us....and we were running out of distance to gain that elevation in.
Soon we reached the base of a big cliff, and this really cool field of giant moss and tree covered boulders. Places like this make me pause and think of time from a geologic perspective, and realize how brief our time here is. Devil's Gulch in Vermont is another place that has the same feel to me. Soon after this we reached the base of the slide, and this is where it gets REALLY STEEP! The trail heads through the woods to the right of the slide for a while before it crosses the slide further up. I've read other reports of this trail, and it seems under different conditions, this can be a b!*&h, but the snow was soft on top, but still dense , which was really great for traction. It was still raining slightly, and this, plus the laboriously slow pace, and the fact that we were both hungry was definitely having and effect on our moods at this point, and I remember thinking to myself " Irritability is a sign of hypothermia", but both of us were fine. We stopped long enough to have a snack and some water, and headed up, and up........and up. Up ahead we could see a spot that looked like it could be a summit possibly......but it wasn't! The trail turned left here, and seemed like it continued on forever, but finally we reached the summit, and sat down for lunch. It had taken us 3 hours to go 1.5 miles! I would have to put this trail in the same class as Flume Slide trail as far as steepness goes.
It stopped raining during our lunch, which was nice. We finished our lunch, and headed back down at 1:45. What had taken us 4 hours total to climb, took 2 hours on the way down. We got back in the car to head back towards Lincoln, and I tuned the radio to the Sox/Yankees game. About 5 minutes later I hear Manny hit a home run against the Yankees!
We stopped at the Woodstock Inn for a beer, watched the rest of the game(Sox won), and headed home.
This was a surprisingly tough hike, given that its just under 6 miles round trip, but I really enjoyed it despite the rain, which was never really more than a drizzle. If it had been 10 degrees colder, I'm not sure that would've been the case, though.
slideshow here
We eventually settled on East Osceola mainly because I wanted to do Passaconaway from Downes Brook Slide Trail, and thought the stream crossings might be too much of a challenge for us.
We got to the trail head and were surprised to see so much snow. I expected there would be significant amounts of snow further up, but not necessarily at the bottom. The temp was 45 degrees, and a very slight drizzle was falling. We hit the trail at 8:45 am. The trail was really well consolidated, and we headed off with our snowshoes strapped to our packs. At the brook crossing, we hesitated, looking for the easiest way to cross. A brief scan up and downstream didn't yield an easier route, so we headed across carefully. There was really only one spot that was trouble, where the rocks were spaced pretty far apart, but we crossed without incident, and headed up the trail.
We got the the trail junction with the Osceola Trail at 9:45, having taken our time. We saw our first significant blow down here, ( not across the trail), and for the whole trip we were both surprised there was not more significant wind damage from the last storm. In the Upper Valley there was a LOT of wind damage from that storm. We headed up the Mt. Osceola Trail and soon the nice relatively flat terrain was replaced with a moderately steep trail. We were both knew that this only meant it must get significantly steeper ahead, as we had approx. 2000' to climb in 1.5 miles. About a 1/2 mile in the snow was a bit softer, so we donned snowshoes, and right about here, lost the trail a few times. While we put on our shoes, the person who belonged to the lone pair of footprints we had been following came down the trail. We attempted some small talk, but I think we were really interrupting his wilderness solitude. He just smiled slightly, and headed down the trail. From here the trail did get even more steep, but still, we knew it wasn't steep enough to make all the elevation we had ahead of us....and we were running out of distance to gain that elevation in.
Soon we reached the base of a big cliff, and this really cool field of giant moss and tree covered boulders. Places like this make me pause and think of time from a geologic perspective, and realize how brief our time here is. Devil's Gulch in Vermont is another place that has the same feel to me. Soon after this we reached the base of the slide, and this is where it gets REALLY STEEP! The trail heads through the woods to the right of the slide for a while before it crosses the slide further up. I've read other reports of this trail, and it seems under different conditions, this can be a b!*&h, but the snow was soft on top, but still dense , which was really great for traction. It was still raining slightly, and this, plus the laboriously slow pace, and the fact that we were both hungry was definitely having and effect on our moods at this point, and I remember thinking to myself " Irritability is a sign of hypothermia", but both of us were fine. We stopped long enough to have a snack and some water, and headed up, and up........and up. Up ahead we could see a spot that looked like it could be a summit possibly......but it wasn't!
The trail turned left here, and seemed like it continued on forever, but finally we reached the summit, and sat down for lunch. It had taken us 3 hours to go 1.5 miles! I would have to put this trail in the same class as Flume Slide trail as far as steepness goes.It stopped raining during our lunch, which was nice. We finished our lunch, and headed back down at 1:45. What had taken us 4 hours total to climb, took 2 hours on the way down. We got back in the car to head back towards Lincoln, and I tuned the radio to the Sox/Yankees game. About 5 minutes later I hear Manny hit a home run against the Yankees!
We stopped at the Woodstock Inn for a beer, watched the rest of the game(Sox won), and headed home.
This was a surprisingly tough hike, given that its just under 6 miles round trip, but I really enjoyed it despite the rain, which was never really more than a drizzle. If it had been 10 degrees colder, I'm not sure that would've been the case, though.
slideshow here
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