Pictures for this trip are
HERE After having to cancel a hike of Whiteface and Passaconaway on Sunday (I hit a deer on the way to the trailhead) I was itching to get out.
I couldn't sleep that well on Thursday night and woke up at 2am on Friday. Around 5am I decided, hmmm... I'll go hiking.
I borrowed my wife's car, promised I wouldn't hit any more animals, and headed out at 5:30.
I decided to do the Tripyramids since I've been wanting to do the slides on this hike since I started hiking, but I never got around to it because the trail head is one of the furthest from my house (3 hour drive).
The trail goes over three peaks (North, Middle, and South Tripyramid) making an ascent and descent over two bare landslide areas. It is one of the steepest trails in the Northeast, total distance is 11 miles
The drive to Waterville Valley is not a fast one for me and the skies didn't look too friendly. I hoped the rain would hold off until the late afternoon like the weatherman said it would. At 8:30 I finally arrived at the Livermore trailhead. After a quick gear check I headed out. The first mile of the Livermore Rd has many side trails, which I like. I always tend to over estimate my distance traveled so having landmarks every few tenths of a mile really helps me know exactly how far I've gone. It also breaks up the hike -- Instead of telling myself I've got 3.6 miles to go until the north slide trail I can break up that distance into small sections.
I missed the sign for the South Slide and shortly before the North Slide trail I thought to myself, "I haven't hit the South Slide yet? I must be making horrible time". 30 seconds later I was at the North Slide trail and thought, "wow, I made pretty good time". 3.6 miles in one hour (slow as a runner, but quite respectable for hiking).
I took a drink break and headed onto the trail.
I love scrambling up steep exposed trails, so I get really psyched when I'm getting close to the section of a hike containing the "good stuff". As I started up the base of the slide I knew I was going to love this trail. Already lots of climbing! A short way up the slide the sun decided to peak out for a short while. I hoped it might clear up even more but no such luck. I can't complain though, the cloud cover was high so I still had great views of the surrounding mountains!
About half way up the slide 3 or 4 A-10 thunderbolts screamed overhead doing maneuvers. I managed to snap a picture of one as it passed. Wow they are fast!
The slide was actually a little bit shorter than I expected, but also a lot steeper (weee!). Lots of loose scree mixed with the large slabs.Made for some interesting back sliding in a few spots. I made it to the summit and sat down for some lunch. A short time later a woman reached the summit. She, Lisa, had also come up the North Slide. We chatted for a while and before we knew it an hour had passed. We both had the same hiking plan so we decided to team up, we were both solo hiking this one and so we each welcomed the other's company. We made good time over to the middle summit and stopped for a few minutes to say high to some other hikers and snap some pictures from the view area. Next ot was over to the south summit and down to the South Slide.
The slide was fun, but deceptive, it enters the woods a couple of times making you think you've finished it... only to pop back out onto the slide minutes later. Lots of slipping and sliding on all the loose scree. I managed to fall flat on my ass once. Had a good laugh about that.
Just as we got to the base of the slide it began to rain. Perfect timing since getting stuck on those steep slides in rain would be REALLY dangerous!
The rest of the south slide trail is very flat and we made great time back to Livermore road. From there it was back to the cars with a short stop at the giant Boulder on the Boulder Path.
We said our goodbyes and I headed home.
A great hike even with the cloudy weather!
~Mike
