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- Easter Celebration March 23, 2008 |
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With the high winds predicted for Saturday we had decided to stay home this weekend and do some house chores. So when we received an email Saturday afternoon asking if we were up for a hike on Sunday we didn't need much arm twisting - 90 minutes later we were on our way north.
We met Rebecca and Jeff at the trailhead Sunday morning with bright blue skies, cold temps and a brisk wind. It was cold so it took a little longer than normal for everyone to get their gear organized, but soon enough we were underway. Even though we started out cold, it didn't take long to warm up and we needed to de-layer. The start of the hike is through hard woods which provide little protection from the wind, making it a challenge to layer so we were warm enough without over heating. The first 1.3 miles of the hike is along the Greeley Ponds trail which is a gentle grade with several small stream crossings. Some were froze over, while others we found moving water, but all were easy to navigate over/around. Very quickly we found ourselves at the junction of the Mt Osceola trail. More photos, a change of clothes and we were off. At first the trail has a gentle grade, but soon starts a steep climb. Luckily the trail had been broken out the day before and there was one hiker about an hour in front of us, so the footing for much of it was good. We had been bare booting since the start of the hike, but at one steep section the footing became more difficult causing a discussion of whether we should change to crampons. After some discussion we decided to continue as is. the bad footing only lasted a few hundred feet after which we were back into soft snow. A bigger issue was the amount of snow. Although the trail was packed out very well, stepping off the trail at all resulted in a deep post hole. Because of how deep the snow, we were walking into branches that normally would be over one's head. With most of these coated with a heavy layer of ice, we spent a lot of time doing deep knee bends or crawling through the branches on our knees. It got old quickly. At one point a branch that was pushed aside let go a flying chunk of ice that hit one of us in the face 20 feet away! Soon we were at the slide the trail crosses and were happy to see it covered in soft snow. Across the slide and we were on the ridge exposed to the wind. Some quick photos and off we went climbing towards the first summit of the day. 15 minutes later we came to one of the lookouts with views to the East where we stopped for a drink. Here Rebecca decided she would make a snow angel. Unfortunately, what looked like soft snow was only a layer of 4 inches of powder covering hard crusted ice. No problem - a good laugh was had and Easter Candy came out of Rebecca's pack. Soon we continued on to the summit and started our way over to Osceola. Easy going down to the col, minus more thick tree branches to push through. Much more exposed to wind we cooled down until we started up again. When we got to the "Chimney" we decided to follow the tracks that went around it to the right - still a bit of a challenge as the previous traffic had pushed off most of the snow leaving glare ice behind. This trail has several false summits along the way, but soon came out to where the old fire tower was. Quick trip off to the actual summit for photos and Jeff had bagged two more peaks. More fun and games on the ice before we headed back down. We returned to the a different lookout where the wind was blocked and enjoyed a long lunch basking in the warmth of the sun - almost nice enough to take a nap! But we already had thoughts of dinner, so we pushed on. At the first steep section, one of us slipped and went for along glissade. Of course everyone followed suite and we quickly descended the steep sections of the trail remind ourselves how much fun it is to act like a child! Back at the cars all we could talk about was food. We made a mad dash down to the Common Man in Ashland were we recounted stories from the day and other adventures. A great way to end a wonderful day of hiking with some very nice folks! |
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and our