Sunday, January 1, 2017

Osceola and East Osceola, 12/29/2016


A note about our fundraising intentions:  One type of the most important and beneficial organizations under attack from a Donald Trump presidency is climate change research institutions.  Climate change is a huge threat to our human species.  The threat will probably grow more dangerous once Donald Trump is in power; Trump has surrounded himself with people who do not believe in man-made climate change.  Sage and I have two parents who are scientists/have scientific backgrounds, and we care deeply about the subject.  Therefore, with this in mind, we would now like to lend our support to the Union of Concerned Scientists.  I will be posting more about this fine organization in future posts.  In the meantime, here is the link to their website.

The Osceolas
12/29/2016
Greeley Pond Trail
7.6 miles
 
There was a winter storm coming; we woke early so we could hopefully get up and over the two peaks and down again before it hit.  When we arrived at the trailhead, I turned on my headlamp and got my phone ready for a trailhead picture.


John Myers came with us!  We always enjoy sharing the trails with him.


There was a glorious, mysterious view from the slide.  Dark mountains overlapped each other, the sky churned dark blue and gray clouds, and snow-covered trees spread over everything like decoration.



The trail was nicely packed out; we didn't have to use snowshoes.


We got up the steep sections leading to the east peak fairly well.  Surprisingly, there wasn't much ice to climb.


Dark summit pictures...




The sky progressively became brighter and brighter as time went on and we hiked along.


We decided to try out the bypass to the bypass!  It was a nifty little pathway through the trees around the actual bypass.


Sage and I walking along...



It wasn't too long before I caught a glimpse of a misty parting through the trees revealing the summit of the main peak.


It was snowy and crisp up there, and we couldn't see a view; mist and fog surrounded the ledge.


Summit photos!  It was pretty windy and I was having trouble getting hair out of my face.



We headed down the mountain...


I had predicted we would be down by 10:00 am, and we were!  The hike was good exercise.  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year's!

2 comments:

  1. Cool. Much better conditions than last year when it was a giant flow of ice most of the way. I need to get up there and try my new Hillsound trail pro's

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  2. We remember that! We went last March and everything was, as you said, a giant ice flow. Took us twice as long as we normally take! Much better this year.

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