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After
a short rest, we started up the Mt Osceola Trail, expecting to
make good time, but it soon became apparent that we would be moving
more slowly than I had anticipated. The trail was a bit slippery,
and Muffin’s new red pack kept falling off of her. I had to go
back down the trail to look for it three or four times. I asked
her why she didn't tell me that it had fallen off, but she wouldn't
give me a decent answer.
At
first, the Mt Osceola Trail was fairly moderate. It wound around
the side of the ridge, and there was a good view through the trees
up to the rocky east end of the ridge.
Just
before we got to the steeper part of the trail, there was a large
boulder cave that could provide shelter in a storm. The snow was
beginning to get a little deeper, but the woods were pretty.
The
trail soon got very steep and ledgy with many short switchbacks
along the way. There were quite a few places that I had to scramble
up snow-covered ledges, then stop to pull Muffin up after me.
Due to the steepness and the extra work I had to do pulling Muffin
up, we took short rests every hundred vertical feet or so.
At
first, there weren’t too many views, but soon they became more
frequent, with especially good views where the trail crossed what
appeared to be a small slide, although it was hard to tell with
the snow on top.
At
the slide, I didn’t notice any trail markers, but followed the
footprints of the person who had passed by the day before. The
tracks led steeply uphill through the trees, and it soon got tougher
and tougher. I was beginning to think that this was not the trail.
Finally, the tracks broke out of the trees onto the real trail
and I realized that the trail had continued across the slide and
then up, whereas I had climbed up to the right of the slide and
then cut back. |
The
rocky east end of the Mt Osceola ridge. The trail wound around
the side of this ridge to approach the climb from the south. |
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