The weather predicted a nice weekend over Memorial Day. Time to go hiking! I decided to join Boston’s GayOutdoors group, Chiltern Mountain Club, with their climb to the Osceolas : two 4000-footer peaks in the southern reaches of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  

Hugh Mackay and Steve Backhaus were the trip leaders on this outing. Their suggestion was a loop hike, starting at the Mt. Osceola trailhead and ending at the Livermore trailhead. It’s easily done by spotting cars. The Mt. Osceola trailhead is situated at the Tripoli Road height-of-land in Waterville valley, a ski resort area in the southern White Mountains of NH.

Chiltern Mountain Club was hosting their annual Spring Jamboree nearby at the Osceola Vista Campground in Waterville Valley. It was fun reacquainting myself with old friends and making new ones Friday and Saturday night at their campfire. It was quite warm for this time of year - a good sign for those wanting to avoid snow-covered trails!

I met them at the campground for 8:45 am. We started off from the Mt. Osceola trailhead at 9:00 am. It was clear and in the high 50's - conditions were looking favorable for good views and non-snowy trails.

The trail up is well established and fairly easy hiking. It climbs by switchbacks toward the ridge top. Along the way, we get several views of Mt Tecumseh and the Waterville Valley Ski Resort. No highway sounds are heard and we heard the white throated sparrow birdsong many times. In less than 2 hours, we are at the top, after 3.4 mile and 2050 elevation gain.

At the top of Mt. Osceola is a myriad of trails and campsites. I am intrigued, I love camping atop peaks. And there is an expansive panorama, about 200 degree views, across the valley and over many a peak. What a site!!! This is a great spot to watch meteor showers. What a perfect place for this! 

It is breezy on top. It's about 60 degrees out and we're glad we brought extra layers. It's chow time. Ham sandwiches never tasted so good. Crackers/cheese and cookies follow. We take in the view and gather our strength back.

We then head over to the East Peak and it's less breezy. We are hiking in shorts and t-shirts again. There is a chimney between the two peaks, and there are a couple choices up or down it. Neither is easy but I do fine with it. The chimney section is a bit intimidating but most of us went either down or up it. We helped each other, helping to place feet and providing a safety net. It takes a little less than 1 hour to get to East Peak, only a mile away. There is no view from East Peak but there is a campsite hidden away.

We then head down to the Greeley Ponds and the Mad River Notch. We first start descending at a moderate grade, following the pleasant ridge crest. We encountered a few patches of snow and ice. To the left is a good limited view of East Peak and Mt. Osceola. Soon we descend into the shady notch; the trail climbs down steeply on rocky terrain. We then reach a small open slide and put rain gear on as it started to rain. Even so, we could make out Greeley Ponds way down below! 

As we got near the bottom we could see the many high and interesting cliffs that we were on. We reached the Greeley Ponds Trail at the height of land in Mad River Notch.

We arrived here at 2 pm. The rain stopped.

Mad River Notch is a pass in the east-west range of mountains, of which the Osceolas were a part. A couple of scenic ponds (called the Greeley Ponds) are nestled in the height of land in the notch. We headed down the Greeley Ponds trail, over very gentle terrain, towards the Livermore trailhead.

This is a gentle and wide trail perfect for hiking: we could cover a lot of ground easily. The trail was dry, and the surrounding streams were running well from the remaining snow melting up higher. All of the stream crossings were bridged with good and wide cross-country ski bridges.  

The trip was just awesome today.

For more information on Chiltern Mountain Club, visit their website: http://www.chiltern.org

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