mt osceola summit covered in ice

mt osceola summit covered in ice
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

As I approached the summit, the going got more difficult. Sections of the trail here are partially blocked with huge walls of sloping rock that give you little or no room to get by on the flat. There are many areas where you have to set your boots on a sharply sloping rock. And it was just around this area that most of the rocks had accumulated a slippery coating of ice, perhaps a quarter inch thick. Bummer!

Fortunately, it had been raining pretty much nonstop since I started, and there were streams of fresh running water going over the rocks. Wherever the streams rushed, the ice was gone. So I learned to just put my feet very carefully wherever there was running water. This got me most of the way. Very close to the summit I had some difficulty clambering up a few ice covered boulders, but I managed without slipping.

In this photo, I've reached the old fire tower footings at the summit. Here, the rocks were completely covered in ice! Not sure how well that comes through in the photo.

I took off my backpack and set it down here to look around, taking tiny mincing footsteps to avoid falling.