East Osceola 7/26/2008

It has been over a month since I have done any serious amount of hiking. The last 4000' peak I "bagged" was Mt. Osceola. We got caught in a thunderstorm up at about 3000' which kept us from going up and over Mt. Osceola to the East peak. Today we figured that since we were getting a late start, we should try to "bag" East Osceola.

We arrived at the trail head or the "base" as Shelby likes to call it at about 10:45 and found the last parking spot available. It was on the grass, but with the new vehicle, it has a little more clearance than my Jetta so we were able to avoid the larger rocks. At 11:00 we hit the trail and soon hit our first water crossing of the day. The water was very high due to the extreme amounts of rain and thunderstorms we have been having lately. All the crossings of the day were crossable despite the high water.

The rain also caused a lot of muddy patches, but we were able to get through all of them without getting the boots muddy. Only one area caused much of a problem, but with some creative thinking we were able to get around it.

The Greeley Ponds Trail was nice and flat, too bad we only got to be on it for about 1.3 miles. The day after all was about trying to get a view and getting some exercise so we had not choice but to take the Mt. Osceola Trail at the junction.

As soon as we diverted off the Greeley Ponds Trail, the trail steepened and dried out a bit. The trail seemed to relentlessly climb. I see how quickly I can get out of hiking shape after taking some time off. I'll just have to take less time off.

The steepest part however was the easiest. For the most part we were stepping over roots and rocks and everything else, but the steepest part was this ledge with great footing.

Soon enough, we were at the top. There were very limited views from the top, but we were able a quick picture with the Cairn. There were only a few people at the top. Most of the traffic that we saw was headed to Greely Ponds to hang out for a bit. Next time, we'll have to walk the extra half hour and take a look at the ponds.

We had intended on hiking over to Osceola today, but because we hadn't hiked in a while, we could feel our legs already so we decided to start on down the way we came. On the way down, we did get some pictures at the viewpoints that were there. When there are no views from the top of the peaks, it's always nice to have a view or two on the way. Just another reason I like hiking above treeline so much.

I believe that this picture is of the Hancocks and Carrigain.

All in all, another great trip in the whites.