Trip report
EAST PEAK OSCEOLA TRAIL MAINTENANCE DAY
Trail Maintenance DATE: 06/26/2021 - 06/26/2021
Trip/Event Location: Lincoln, NH
US
Trip Leader(s): Gandalf , JDNnh
Max # People: 10
Trip Guiding / Event Fee: No, I will not be asking participants for money
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Jon and I will be hosting our first of two trail maintenance days to GayOutdoors' adopted trail, Mt. Osceola.
We are hopeful that GayOutdoors has enough energetic, ambitious members to
...Take Exit 32 off I-93, and drive through Lincoln onto the Kancamagus Highway past Otter Rocks Rest Area and the forest service's sign trail sign for East Pond on your right. Continue on to a sign on your right for the Greeley Ponds Trail parking. The distance from the highway exit to the parking area is 10.3 miles.
Please note that parking is very limited and you'll most like have to park off the right side of the highway, Park off to the shoulder as far as you can so that you don't block traffic. We''ll be driving a blue Toyota Tacoma.
Trip Report/Photos
The Mt. Osceola Trail is home to two NH 48 4,000 footers, Mt. Osceola [4,340 feet] and East Osceola [4,156 feet]. Mt. Osceola has perhaps the finest view of any major peak in the southern White Mountains! Since 2013, GayOutdoors has been the trail adopter per a signed agreement with the White Mountain National Forest. We report back to the forest service the results of our work and any issues that should be addressed.
We maintain 5.4 miles of trail starting from Tripoli Road to the Greeley Ponds Trail. The footing is rough and very steep in places however it’s a moderate ascent from the Tripoli Road side and there are outlooks with good views along the trail.
Comfortable temperatures, breezy up high and black flies were not an issue. We were a team of 5 from GayOutdoors as we continue to celebrate Gay Pride month. Finished our summer trail maintenance sweep...went up the Tripoli Road to Mt. Osceola last week. Today we focused on cutting back encroaching vegetation on the trail and placing a few yellow blazes where needed up East Osceola. This included blazing the Chimney so that it's clear that it’s the official trail! I can say with confidence that the entire Mt. Osceola Trail is in great shape!!!
Good day to hike up the peak even though we were in the clouds higher up. Comfortable temperatures and breezy. We met about 20 hikers ascending East Osceola. Trail was extremely dry. On summit of East Osceola we met about three people who accidentally put their hand on the freshly painted blazes so we all had a good laugh. Good camaraderie as the small summit area results with other hikers chatting with each other! Afterwards we returned back to our house for some drinks and appetizers on the deck followed by a delicious dinner prepared by Jon...all paid for by GayOutdoors...including overnight lodging.
Thanks so much to all of our volunteers. This wraps up this summer’s trail maintenance days. A fun tradition!
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