NewEnglandTrailConditions.com
NewEnglandTrailConditions.com:
MA
|
ME
|
NH
|
RI/CT
|
VT
|
Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Osceola, NH
Trails
Trails: Bushwhack, abandoned Greeley Trail, Mt. Osceola Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Friday, July 29, 2022
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: The trailhead on Tripoli Rd had plenty of spaces at 7:30am. It’s a USFS fee area: $5/day. Small lot given how popular the trail is so it easily overflowed by the time we returned even on a weekday. After dropping this car, we drove maybe 1.25mi east or so along Tripoli Rd and parked at a pull off at 1950ft. Tripoli Rd is suitable for low-clearance cars but isn’t in the best of shape now. PITA to drive. I saw a RV driving in as I was leaving…that must’ve been interesting! They’re still doing work on Exit 31 though it luckily didn’t affect me today :)  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment:  
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Trivial 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: The Mount Osceola Trail from the summit down to Tripoli Rd is unblazed, horrifically eroded, and very easy to follow. No major blowdowns but I think there were some small widow makers or learners above the trail up high.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Dogs would probably suffer on the thicker parts of this bushwhack. Most dogs would probably do okay with Mt Osceola Trail. Keep in mind that it’s been a very dry summer.  
Bugs
Bugs: I’m only just now realizing and appreciating this, but there were hardly any! Not a nuisance or a problem at all!! 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: None 
 
Comments
Comments: Bushwhack (abandoned Osceola/Greeley Trail), Mount Osceola Trail

The good for nuthin’ lazy slackers strike again! Today’s objective was to follow the route of the abandoned Osceola Trail. I believe it’s also known as the old Greeley Trail. For info about it, see the link below. Though it rained the day before and we got a bit wet in the morning, the woods dried well and we had excellent weather today with a mix of sun and cloud, reasonable temperatures, and some wind to keep us cool.

Our original plan was to start at just above the 1800ft contour line shown on the 1928-1929 map linked below and head north that short distance to just shy of the ridge seen there. We opted last minute not to do this though as we knew that 1) finding traces of the trail down low in the hardwoods was very unlikely and 2) since the trail according to the old map was actually below this ridge at first, we wouldn’t have much of a geographic feature to follow and we knew we’d just end up on top of the ridge. So, instead, we parked at 1950ft, walked up to a campsite, continued beyond it on what seemed like a herd path that switchbacked some (saw at least one piece of pink surveyors tape) lost it before too long, and generally headed N/NE. I think we we probably came near or crossed the original route around 2100ft.

It’s important to note that the 1928-1929 map and current maps look a little different in this area. In both maps but more so in the older ones, you’ll see a ridge very close to the road that runs almost east-west. On the old maps, the ridge then turns more north-south and the trail seems to continue to follow near it. On newer maps, I’d say the two ridges seem more disjointed and less one, winding ridge. In any case, we quickly came to the first, east-west ridge in good woods and followed it briefly, before coming to a small sag then climbing up to the other ridge, still in good woods. We roughly tried to follow this ridge though it wasn’t well defined. If you go up, you can only go so wrong though ;) Open hardwoods all the way down here. A spot or two of a little hobblebush. Mostly easy-moderate grades and uneventful until…

The grade steepened some and though not crazy steep, we came to some large boulders and such that we had to work around. As I was doing so, I hear “Liam, come back!!” He’d found an artifact… we’re honestly not sure what it was but it was in the shape of a bread tray. Jokes about why we found this here and not on our whack of the abandoned Bread Tray Basin Trail ensued. We postulated that it was some sort of battery insulator for someone’s botany experiment on the trail many years ago. Another friend, having seen it, put forth that it could have been from the telephone wire on the Bread Tray Basin Trail but they moved it over here. In any case, it had NAMES AND DATES on it like graffiti. One of the dates clearly said 1930 something but we couldn’t tell the last digit to get an exact year. The important thing is that this actually dated back to the time the trail was still being maintained which, while cool within itself, also means that we had to be on, or likely very close to the abandoned trail.

We continued on around some large boulders and such with little/no scrambling involved. Shortly after finding the artifact, we ran into a path that we think was the abandoned trail. It took us up into some beautiful, open, moss-carpeted woods. Though the path was quickly lost, we enjoyed good woods, and though we never got the grand gist we were hoping for, we had some “almost views” through the trees here. Also, of interest was this spot where the ground just seemed to give out and there was a drop down of anywhere from a few to a dozen feet or so to some boulders. It was very narrow like a sluice but without the water. Very cool. The grade eased up here too and we enjoyed easy grades and mostly open softwoods for a ways though they slowly seemed to get tighter. Then, I think just shy of 3400ft, we hit the same nasty, thick, blowdown ridden woods, we did last time we were here having come up the SE slide on Osceoala. Unfortunately, this time they were much worse. I saw a discolored area on Gaia at about 3400ft. Normally this means a logged area or ledge/slide. I wasn’t sure what to expect here as it didn’t look steep enough to be a slide and it wouldn’t make sense for one to be right on top of the ridge. Well…I guess blowdown patches are sometimes identified by Gaia as such as well!

I got us into this mess and my friend got us out of it by coming down the west side of the ridge in better woods to avoid the blowdowns and thick woods. This worked well as we came to a small “mini” ledge slide just above 3400ft. My friend postulated that this could potentially be the remnants of a renegades slide. Whatever the case, we took a break and enjoyed a nice view to Tecumseh. The blowdowns seemed to be creeping down this side of the ridge now too and we knew we’d have to push back up eventually so we did. We went through some more absolutely awful stuff before finally getting into thick hut reasonable and not totally blowdown ridden woods, this time on the east side of the ridge. Here, we crossed our previous track from the SE slide just above 3600ft.

Just after crossing to the east side of it and the ridge, I found a few pieces of pink flagging on the ground. We had to assume that this was someone that thought the old trail was here. It wasn’t obvious to us, but I followed what seemed like the most open woods and sure enough I quickly came to an very old corridor. We more or less were able to follow on what we believe was the abandoned trail here from 3700ft to the first switchback on the Mt Osceola Trail. This was a nice surprise as when we were here a month or two before doing the SE slide, we only found one piece of surveyors tape at the very end and didn’t have as good of luck following it. Only two spots of surveyors tape and one spot where we noted an axe or saw cut but still very cool. Just like last time, we hit the boulders just shy of the switchback and lost the path. Can’t go up them, last time we went left but didn’t find the trail, so this time we tried going right to go around but this got very thick so quickly turned around and went left knowing that this was doable from last time.

We hit the current trail at the first switchback, walked a few dozen feet along it, then turned right uphill and followed the ridge north to the summit along the abandoned trail. I’d done this before descending and had found the abandoned trail quite easily in here so knew where to look. Last time, I’d come down in the brush. That looked nasty to us so we turned right before it. Less nasty but took a little longer to come to the footpath. Once on it, I had more trouble following it then I did last year but still was able to stick to it the vast majority of the way. A number of blowdowns obscure the path and/or a just a PITA though some had once upon a time been taken care of as well. The path heads north along the ridge. Some beautiful moss-carpeted footing in here. It comes within eyesight of another switchback with a “turd path” leading to it but stick right and you can continue to follow it almost all the way to the last switchback. Last time I did this I swam through krumholtz to reach this path, having started RIGHT at the last switchback. Wanting to avoid that, this time I tried coming out just below it. Definitely wasn’t on the old trail and was still thick but not as awful as before.

We walked to the summit dealing with the usual deep mud pits to the highpoint. Great to meet Ken and Julie there and chat :) The trail down seemed drier than it normally is to me but you’ve still got that wet rock/ledge to contend with.  
Name
Name: Liam Cooney 
E-Mail
E-Mail: liamcooney96@gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2022-07-29 
Link
Link: https:// 
Bookmark and Share Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense.

Copyright 2009-2024, All Rights Reserved