A few years back, I was coming off the summit of Mt. Monadnock with one of my close friends, Tony, and we passed a considerably older gentleman heading up the trail, sporting a baseball cap emblazoned with “48 over 75.” As hikers are wont to do, we stopped to chat with the gentleman and his co-hiker. He informed us that, yes, he had hiked New Hampshire’s (NH) 48 4,000-footers after turning 75. Suffice it to say, that conversation served as the genesis of my current quest to, at a much younger age than the aforementioned senescent trekker, ascend the region’s iconic high peaks.
During our time overseas, my wife and I would periodically vacation in New Hampshire to visit her family. During some of those trips, I managed to get up north to climb some of the White Mountains’ Presidential Range, including Mt. Washington and Mt. Adams. Nevertheless, when I had my eureka moment with the octogenarian mountain man, I had only five of the state’s 4,000-footers in my rearview mirror, with a daunting 43 ahead of me.
Since that time, mostly in the company of at least one and sometimes two of my close friends and fellow nature lovers, Tony and Dave, another 14 of the renowned list have been summited – conquered is too strong a word, as experience has consistently shown that we mere mortals only rent a brief stay at the top of our scenic highlands before returning to our quotidian concerns.
The most recent of the peaks to grace the pages of my White Mountain 4000 Footers Passport book was East Osceola, an unassuming – at least from ground level – forested mountain of 4,156 feet at the north end of the Sandwich Range, just south of the Kancamagus Highway. The conventional way to attack East Osceola is from Waterville Valley in the south, first climbing its slightly bigger brother, Mount Osceola (4,340 feet), before continuing on a bit further to complete the modest mountaineering two-fer.
Last August Tony and I attempted to do just that but we were stymied by ever-thickening Canadian wildfire smoke. Upon reaching the apex of Mount Osceola and snacking on the obligatory peanut butter sandwich, we quickly headed back to Waterville Valley in search of cleaner air, leaving East Osceola for another day. On 8 July of this year, that day came.
Dave, Tony and I opted to ascend the mountain from the north, using a shorter – 2.5 miles – but purportedly more challenging approach along the Greeley Ponds and Mount Osceola trails. Starting relatively early on a bright, sunny day, we enjoyed a pleasant first mile before reality set in. From a starting elevation of 1,944 feet, we climbed gently for the first mile, then endured a challenging 1,000-foot slog over the next mile before it got really difficult. The last half mile to the East Osceola summit requires another 1,000 feet of elevation gain over rough, rocky terrain. We did finally, wearily, scramble to the top, which is marked by a large cairn along the trail, offering no views of the surrounding terrain.
There are, however, two outstanding overlooks in the final half-mile trudge to the summit that are unquestionably worth the effort. The first looks north over the Kancamagus Highway into the Pemigewasset Wilderness. The second overlook, just below the top, faces southwest, offering panoramic vistas of Mt. Osceola and other peaks in the Sandwich range.
I recently gave a volunteer talk titled “A Common Man’s Quest to Hike NH’s 48 4,000-footers” for the Appalachian Mountain Club at their facility at Pinkham Notch in the White Mountains. One of the topics we discussed during the presentation was the age-old question for hikers about the ultimate goal of their trekking endeavors: journey or destination. To a person, even for those who had already punched their 48 tickets, the journey – the cathartic time in nature, hiking with friends, the satisfaction of a well-hiked trail- always surpassed the destination.
An encounter at the top of Mt. Mousilake two years ago highlighted the flip side of the journey/destination conundrum. Dave and I had just summited, relaxing with a snack in cool, foggy conditions right next to the Appalachian Trail (AT), which passes immediately adjacent to the peak. Seeing a cluster of young, harried-looking AT thru-hikers heading north towards Maine, I asked the group if their quest was about the journey or the destination. One of the clearly knackered backpackers laconically replied, “At this point, it is only about the destination.”
I plan to keep that in mind the next time I face a climb of 1,000 feet in only a half-mile. In the meantime, get outside and enjoy the trails!
Peterborough resident Robert Beck is an avid hiker who, along with his close friends, takes every opportunity to enjoy the wonderful outdoor opportunities that our local Monadnock area, as well as the wider northern New England region, affords.