New Hampshire trails · Mount Osceola Trail
Mount Osceola Trail
A 4.9-mile out-and-back in New Hampshire, with 2,042 ft of climbing. Reaches East Peak and other pass/summit destinations. Managed by White Mountain National Forest.
Elevation profile
Most of the climbing sits in the first third — 80% of the ascent, between mile 0.0 and mile 1.6. It gives back about 2,341 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- East Peak (summit)
- Mount Osceola (summit)
- Mad River Notch (pass)
- Thornton Gap (pass)
Heads up
Getting there
OSCEOLA — parking nearby, restroom, fee site. About 1 h 10 min drive (45 mi, 3 of them unpaved) from Laconia. 43.98346, -71.55919 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:30 a.m., the sun rises at 6:59 a.m. and sets at 6:04 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 6:33 p.m. (EDT) — 11 h 05 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 9.9-mile round trip takes roughly 5 h 42 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 12:40 p.m. — 5 h 24 min before sunset.
Loop options
- Mount Osceola Trail + MT OSCEOLA — 12.2 mi loop, 4,865 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Mt Osceola — 0.0 mi
- Mount Tripyramid Trail — 5.0 mi
- Livermore Trail — 5.9 mi
- Bondcliff — 8.0 mi