Not in the psychedelic sense but that would make for an interesting hike and an even more interesting blog post I'm sure.
Tripping in the sense that I took quite a few tumbles (more than normal, if you can believe that) while going up, over and down the Tripyramids on this frigid January day. (Sorry people, my creativity is nowhere to be found right now!) ***Side note: I just found out that I was chosen as a finalist to be an ambassador to Vasque and a few other outdoor companies while on the AT this year, so I am having just a wee bit of a tough time concentrating on anything at the moment. Thanks for you understanding [insert smiley face]***
After being washed out by heavy rain on Monday, I headed up north Tuesday morning to meet up with Kyle to hike the Tripyramids. I had asked Kyle the night before if he minded delaying our start time by an hour seeing how the roads may be a little slippery that morning due to a sudden freeze after the warm rain the day before. He had no problem with this so we decided on a 9 a.m. start time leaving from the Pine Bend Brook trail head on the south side of the Kancamagus Highway. Of course the roads turned out to be fine with the exception of the Kanc which had large stretches of ice and snow between many frost heaves and pot holes. This is all part of the Kanc's charm and I wouldn't expect anything less!
Tripping in the sense that I took quite a few tumbles (more than normal, if you can believe that) while going up, over and down the Tripyramids on this frigid January day. (Sorry people, my creativity is nowhere to be found right now!) ***Side note: I just found out that I was chosen as a finalist to be an ambassador to Vasque and a few other outdoor companies while on the AT this year, so I am having just a wee bit of a tough time concentrating on anything at the moment. Thanks for you understanding [insert smiley face]***
After being washed out by heavy rain on Monday, I headed up north Tuesday morning to meet up with Kyle to hike the Tripyramids. I had asked Kyle the night before if he minded delaying our start time by an hour seeing how the roads may be a little slippery that morning due to a sudden freeze after the warm rain the day before. He had no problem with this so we decided on a 9 a.m. start time leaving from the Pine Bend Brook trail head on the south side of the Kancamagus Highway. Of course the roads turned out to be fine with the exception of the Kanc which had large stretches of ice and snow between many frost heaves and pot holes. This is all part of the Kanc's charm and I wouldn't expect anything less!
I arrived pretty early which gave me time to finish my breakfast and gear up. The temp was a solid 6 degrees and the wind was howling away. The sky was grey and there were light flurries falling just as NOAA had predicted. I chose the Tripyramids based on this forecast. The route we would be taking is relatively sheltered the entire way as are both summits. Pine Bend Brook Trail has 10 stream crossings, 7 of which were not completely snow-bridged. They were however, for the most part, easy to rock hop across while keeping our boots dry.
Kyle arrived right around 8:30 and after a few gear mishaps (Mother Nature blowing gloves and other articles across the Kanc and down into drainages) we started on our way right around 9:00. The trail is very easy for the first couple of miles as it is mostly flat with easy stream crossings. The snow packed trail was solid from the freezing temperatures but very choppy due to bare-booters who had passed through when the snow was softer most likely the day before (in the rain!?) or over the weekend. The Sandwich Range Wilderness boundary is reached shortly after 2 miles and it is shortly after that the the climb starts to become moderate. As we climbed this portion of the trail I was mentally battling with myself about my choice of clothing. I usually drop a layer of clothing with in the first 20 minutes of any hike, regardless of the weather (I am incredibly lucky in that my body warms up very quickly with very little exertion). Today though, it took my core a bit longer to warm up and by the time I actually started to sweat we were facing into the wind. I had a feeling that if I stopped to delayer I would regret my choice pretty quickly, that and it was starting to snow, so I left my layers on and pressed up the mountain. The trail conditions gradually became worse with more and more deep and frozen post-holes that we had to tip-toe around.
Upon reaching the junction with Scaur Ridge trail at 3.2 miles there is 0.8 miles left to the summit of North Tripyramid. I had already added another layer, balaclava and goggles before we got here as the blasts of arctic wind were becoming a bit much to take. The last 0.8 miles leading up to the summit is very steep and consists of mostly rocky ledges which were covered in thick ice with a dusting of powdery snow on top. We were fine in microspikes for the most part as we took our time and used whatever we could grab onto for leverage. I did, of course, take a couple of awkward spills here once landing on my knee and once landing on my hand. Ouchie. After what seemed like a couple of miles not eight-tenths of a mile, we reached the summit of North Tripyramid.
Kyle arrived right around 8:30 and after a few gear mishaps (Mother Nature blowing gloves and other articles across the Kanc and down into drainages) we started on our way right around 9:00. The trail is very easy for the first couple of miles as it is mostly flat with easy stream crossings. The snow packed trail was solid from the freezing temperatures but very choppy due to bare-booters who had passed through when the snow was softer most likely the day before (in the rain!?) or over the weekend. The Sandwich Range Wilderness boundary is reached shortly after 2 miles and it is shortly after that the the climb starts to become moderate. As we climbed this portion of the trail I was mentally battling with myself about my choice of clothing. I usually drop a layer of clothing with in the first 20 minutes of any hike, regardless of the weather (I am incredibly lucky in that my body warms up very quickly with very little exertion). Today though, it took my core a bit longer to warm up and by the time I actually started to sweat we were facing into the wind. I had a feeling that if I stopped to delayer I would regret my choice pretty quickly, that and it was starting to snow, so I left my layers on and pressed up the mountain. The trail conditions gradually became worse with more and more deep and frozen post-holes that we had to tip-toe around.
Upon reaching the junction with Scaur Ridge trail at 3.2 miles there is 0.8 miles left to the summit of North Tripyramid. I had already added another layer, balaclava and goggles before we got here as the blasts of arctic wind were becoming a bit much to take. The last 0.8 miles leading up to the summit is very steep and consists of mostly rocky ledges which were covered in thick ice with a dusting of powdery snow on top. We were fine in microspikes for the most part as we took our time and used whatever we could grab onto for leverage. I did, of course, take a couple of awkward spills here once landing on my knee and once landing on my hand. Ouchie. After what seemed like a couple of miles not eight-tenths of a mile, we reached the summit of North Tripyramid.
The summit of North Tripyramid is treed in but there is a short path to an outlook. We were pretty much socked in so after our summit pictures were done we kept moving towards Middle Tripyramid. The 0.8 mile stretch between the two summits was beautifully packed out and there was not a single post-hole to be found! This made for a quick and easy trip over to Middle Tri. The summit of Middle Tripyramid is also treed in but it too has an outlook just before the summit. We stopped here and all we could see were the faint ski slopes of Waterville Valley through the clouds. Upon reaching the summit we took some more pictures as well as a quick break.
From here on out we were to retrace our steps to get back to the car. We stopped again at the outlook but this time the view was a bit different. The clouds were starting to break apart and rise up a bit! It is a pretty magical thing when this happens, it is like a theater curtain being pulled up to reveal the start of the show. We stopped here for a few minutes to watch and take some pics but eventually had to get moving again before we got chilled. By the time we got back to the summit of North Tri blue sky was becoming plentiful and the views from the outlook had really opened up. Now I was REALLY happy about delaying our start by an hour! If we hadn't then we wouldn't have had a single view the entire day! Since the clouds were clearing out we decided to take a short side trip down to the top of the north slide. We had both been there before and knew that the views from the top of the slide were the best views on the entire mountain. I knew of one other person who had ventured down to the top of the slide just a couple days prior and their snowshoe tracks were still lightly visible. We got about 0.1 of a mile down the trail (it is 0.2 of a mile to the top of the slide) and decided it was not in the cards for us that day. The wind was ramping up and the path down is extremely steep and was basically unbroken. Getting back up would have been exhausting. We did a get a great view of the Osceolas from that point though!
Once back at the trail junction we continued our descent down Pine Brook Bend Trail. It was a tedious climb down first because of the icy steep section then because of the heavily post-holed trail which we had to be careful not to step in and twist our ankles. The sun was starting to set behind the mountains which made the now clear sky turn a shade of pale pink and yellow. Looking back, we could see through the trees the mountains we had just traversed; quite a difference from that morning. Despite the plethora of bruises I received from my trips and tumbles it was another wonderful and memorable day out in the woods. Thanks Kyle for accompanying me on a brutally cold day and congrats on your winter check marks!
Once back at the trail junction we continued our descent down Pine Brook Bend Trail. It was a tedious climb down first because of the icy steep section then because of the heavily post-holed trail which we had to be careful not to step in and twist our ankles. The sun was starting to set behind the mountains which made the now clear sky turn a shade of pale pink and yellow. Looking back, we could see through the trees the mountains we had just traversed; quite a difference from that morning. Despite the plethora of bruises I received from my trips and tumbles it was another wonderful and memorable day out in the woods. Thanks Kyle for accompanying me on a brutally cold day and congrats on your winter check marks!