We left Pawtucket, RI at 5:10 pm, the drive up friday evening started as a light drizzle in RI/MA to heavy snowfall in NH made for an interesting ride up. The traffic on RTE 93 was horrible. The chain reaction brakes constantly drove the blood pressure higher and higher. We arrived in Lincoln, NH at 8:30 pm. Powering up at the McDonalds with it's arch and a half lit up outside as it continued to snow. Three cheeseburgers, a large fry and a large coke later we were off to tackle the Kangamangus at 9:10 pm. When Dan turned the high beams on it reminded me of the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars .
The Kank (Rte112) was covered with packed/fresh snow. Zero percent of the pavement was visable, good thing Dan drove - Jeep Cherokee and slap it into 4WD. We got through with no problems although the snow plows coming the other way gave quite a scare....not much room to spare! We arrived at the condo at 10:30 pm where Bob and Gerry had already arrived and began stoking the wood stove. Ahh warmth!
6:45AM the next morning and we're up. Bob and Gerry watching the ever popular Grasshopper on the tube as they prepared for a day of skiing and us a day of snowshoeing! The roads were much better by now, pavement was more visable than not and the temperatures soared to the mid 30's with overcast conditions. Driving mid-way down the Kank (West) just past the hair-pin turn, on the left we spotted the plowed out hikers parking lot. We hoped that the trail was already broken so that it would be somewhat easier to hike and it was..oh joy! We bumped into two guys from Conneticut that were planning to ski off some of Mt Osceola's chutes, yikes!
With an elevation gain of only 400 ft, the trail immediately began to ascend. Early work gave way to level ground and several stream/creek crossings some with frozen ice as bridges, log crossings and some without. Snowshoes were a definate plus since testing the ground with the ski poles resulted in sinking more than 110cm. Around the halfway point, the trail splits continuing straight on the Greeley Pond Trail and branching right to the Osceola Trail. The trail was broken as far as the upper pond but the previous night's snowfall allowed the lead to sink the extra 3 inches. There are also several trail crossings with the X-country ski trails so keep an eye out for those out of control and yield the right of way.
The upper pond was frozen and a view of the Mt. Kangamangus to the east is in plain view. Along the trail Mt. Osceola can be seen as well. The AMC guide mentions a spring somewhere in the vivinity of the upper pond but the only place that we could spot was in the pond. The entire pond was frozen except for a 10' x 10' area closest to the trail that was exposed water and apparently but not necessarily shallow (2 feet). Good snapshot opportunity!!
From this point on the trail was unbroken and taking turns leading was a plus. The sun even made an appearance as we approached the lower pond. The snow at this point was fluffy enough to let us sink waist deep. Two guys who camped out the previous night were packing up as we got to the end of the pond. The view here was fantastic. We hiked around the pond and took a break and lunch not to mention to get away from them loud dudes! The sun was shining now although still overcast and mist moving in and out of the valley. A single raven flew by and I found it strange how quiet it was that we could hear the raven's wings as it pulled itself through the air.
Hiking back seemed to fly by. It seemed peculiar that the hike was so quick. Two miles climbing a mountain may take several hours and actually feels like several hours, compared to an 8 mile "flat" hike where a few hours feels like an hour. Regardless it was a hike worth making.
Remember to practice Low Impact Hiking!
Time from the Rte 112 Hikers Parking lot to the lower pond: 2 hrs
Time from the lower pond to the hikers parking lot: 1 hr 45 min
Special equipment:
