Osceola & East Osceola

It's that time of year in New England: when the mountains start to get snow, and yet it's still balmy down in Massachusetts. I'll admit I love snow, though I am sure that most people in New England (especially after last winter) might not be so enthusiastic about it.

Unfortunately, the early season snow I had encountered on Cannon didn't last long. So, this past weekend I was hoping that Em would finally get a real winter hike experience. And she did!

I was slightly concerned, because there wasn't any snow on the ground in Lincoln, but as the car headed up the Kancamagus small patches started to appear, growing in size.

As we started down the Greeley Ponds trail, we were treated to a winter wonderland!

The trail up Mt. Osceola was relentlessly steep, and has a thin layer of snow in addition to large icy sections. Without a cloud in the sky, the solar radiation was impressive. Depending on what side of ridge you were on it could feel like a spring day in the sunshine, or a bitter, windy, winter day in the shade.

We passed the wooded summit of East Osceola without barely even registering it, and continued along the ridge between the two summits. After a steep scramble up the chimney, we soon came to the summit ledges of Osceola, where we sat and snacked in the sunshine before retracing our steps.