Mount Osceola via Greeley Pond Trail

The route starts and ends at the Greeley Pond Trailhead on the Kancamagus Highway, passing East Peak. toreach the summit of Mount Osceola. From the trailhead, follow the Greeley Pond Trail south on a gentle, well-graded path through mixed forest, passing the lower and upper Greeley Ponds — two shallow, mountain-rimmed ponds worth a pause — before climbing gradually to Mad River Notch at 1 mile, a narrow, wooded height-of-land where the trail meets the Osceola Trail. Turn right (west) onto the Osceola Trail; the grade steepens noticeably here, climbing through spruce-fir forest along the flank of East Peak. Reach the open ledges of East Peak at 2.3 miles, gaining roughly 1,800 vertical feet from the notch. Crux: From East Peak, continue west across a shallow, wooded col and up through The Chimney — a 20-to-30-foot rock scramble that is the route's technical crux, requiring hands but no rope — to reach the open summit ledges of Mount Osceola at approximately 3.3 miles. Retrace the route to return; both The Chimney and the climb back out of Mad River Notch are more demanding in the return direction, so pace accordingly.