Mt. Osceola and East Osceola

I hiked Mt Osceola and East Osceola this past weekend.  There were five of us that did an out and back from the Tripoli Rd. trailhead.  We totalled about 8.4 miles and had some great views.  Mt. Osceola has an elevation of 4340ft and offers great views to the southeast, East Osceola is 4156ft and has no views.  We had some hikers that were new to the White Mountains and this was a good trail for them to get a taste of the area.  The trail has no really steep sections and climbs steadily from the road.  At least as far as the summit of Mt. Osceola.

We made good time and hiked the 3.6 miles in about 2 hours.  The trail offers some partial views of Mt. Tecumseh as you climb up.  

Once we got to the summit, we had time to rest and eat a little while taking in the mountain views. There were a few other hikers on the summit as well, but it wasn't too crowded. 

We then made our way over to East Osceola, which is about 1.2 miles away.  This part of the trail is more difficult, as it has some pretty steep sections.  One of which is called "the chimney".  We hiked our way down and then back up to the East peak.  There are no views from this summit, it is just marked with a cairn.  There is one outlook on the way up that gives a nice view of Franconia Ridge. Once we reached the summit, we turned around and made out way back.  

Bypass for "the Chimney"

Summit of East Osceola

On the way back a few of us decided to climb up the steep section of the chimney.  It is a very steep but short section of trail.  Both hands were needed to negotiate the climb. 

Looking up the chimney

Climbing

Once we made it back to the first summit it was a long down hill back to the car.  It took us another 1.75 hrs to get back.  

This was a nice hike to start my weekend in New Hampshire.  It had just enough of the ups and downs to get the legs working again and the heart pumping.  The weather was nice, with mostly sun and some clouds.  Temps were in the 70's  and 60's at elevation, with a nice breeze.  Two more 4K footers checked off and a great way to spend a day.