Ice-Free Bushwhacking

I am not a fan of hiking on steep icy trails, of which there is an abundance this mid-December. I avoided that scenario with a loop on the lower south side of the Osceolas with a combination of X-C ski trails and a whack partway up a spur ridge of East Osceola, then down into the drainage of Osceola Brook. Limited views but many interesting sights on this rather balmy, sunny day.

From the Depot Camp clearing on (icy) Livermore Trail I followed an unmaintained route called the Red Feather Path, which leads past several beaver ponds. This one has an impressive dam.

Looking across the largest pond, with the tip of North Tripyramid in the distance.

A thin layer of snow on Moose Run X-C Trail, but no ice.

Bare ground!

The hardwood whack up the south spur ridge of East Osceola was better than I could have imagined: April in mid-December.

This ridge has a healthy bear population, evidenced by many bear feeding "nests" or "baskets" in the numerous beech trees. On a previous whack on this ridge I had encountered a roaming bruin.

This looks like a favorite feeding spot.

 

Bear's eye view from the bottom.

Tent rock.

 

Sweet hardwood whacking.

Forest scene with Mt. Tripyramid in the distance.

Flat Top.

 

The coolest tree on the ridge was this gnarled old sugar maple.

Zoomed.

 

This multi-pronged yellow birch was the runner-up.

Tripyramid.

 

Open glade in a small col at 2400 ft.

Rising above this col, and hidden in the forest, is this small cliff.

There was not a stitch of snow in the conifer-clad ridgecrest behind the cliff.

A tiny opening atop the cliff provides a framed view of Sandwich Dome, Jennings Peak, Black Mountain and Sachem Peak.

From here I whacked down to Osceola Brook through open, bare-ground conifer forest.

My objective was a cascade known as Osceola Rapids, which was accessible by trail from the 1890s into the 1940s.

 

 

They were briefly described in the 1892 edition of Arthur L. Goodrich's guidebook to Waterville Valley. They were included in the two subsequent editions of the guide and were shown on the accompanying map.

The Rapids were in good flow after recent rains.

In the granite of the brookbed is a large dike of intrusive rock, presumably basalt.

This might be part of the old trail corridor up the Osceola Brook drainage. Around 1900 it was extended from the Rapids all the way up to the ridge between Mt. Osceola and East Peak. Known as the Ravine Path and then Osceola Brook Trail, it was abandoned in the 1940s.

Looking back from the top of the Rapids, with the sun setting behind Mt. Tecumseh.

From Osceola Brook I found and followed an old logging road westward across the slope to the next drainage.

Over here I looked in on a large logging whatchamacallit used in the 1940s by lumbermen working out of the nearby Osceola Camp for the Parker-Young and Marcalus companies.

Dusky view of Osceola from Osceola Vista Campground.