You know those days when so many things don’t go as planned? Well, this was one of them! Naively thinking that trailheads wouldn’t be that busy, we got a later start than usual to sleep in just a bit. We got to the trailhead around 10am and the tiny parking lot was completely full – only 3 vehicles fit in the unplowed space. Even the nearby roadside pull offs were full. We drove around a bit, looking for another trailhead with room, and everywhere was completely packed or snowed in.
Resigned to not hiking a 4,000 footer, we decided to drive back past the Osceolas and park on the side of the Kancamagus Highway at a cross-country ski/snowshoe trailhead to snowshoe through a flat section since none of our plans worked out. At least we would get some time in the snowy woods on a beautiful day. But, when we got on trail and looked at a map more closely, we realized that the cross-country ski/snowshoe trail that we parked at actually met up with Mt. Osceola Trail! How serendipitous. We went from planning to hike the Osceolas, to not, to hiking another mountain in the area, to not, to snowshoeing around flat terrain, to not, to hiking the Osceola’s via a route we hadn’t heard of before. This whirlwind of a morning made us start hiking much later than we planned for. Also, all the changes in plans definitely threw off our moods for the first part of the day. Hiking, particularly in winter, absolutely relies on mental fortitude and it took a little bit of time for us to get into a flow and really appreciate being outdoors.
We put on our snowshoes and headed up the logging trail, which parallels Greeley Ponds Trail, towards Mt. Osceola trail. It was a beautiful route, and one that was definitely not well-traveled. We followed a lone set of tracks that stopped at a fallen tree across the path. We had to navigate off trail to find ways around a few of those and a swampy stream area. It was a gorgeous walk in the woods, but took longer than expected because of all the detours. We turned right on Greeley Ponds Trail, which was completely packed down from previous hikers, being the more typical route. Then, at the next trail juncture, we joined Mt. Osceola Trail, and enjoyed about a half to three-quarters of a mile of relatively gradual terrain.
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