Downes Brook / Kate Sleeper Trails

[DayTrip]

I am considering a loop this weekend going up Downes Brook Tr to Kate Sleeper Tr to Tripyramid Trail and down Pine Bend with a road walk back to my car. I have never been on Downes or Kate Sleeper and have only done Pine Bend in the winter with plenty of snow. Not many trail reports for this area an could use help on a few questions:

1) Are the crossings on Downes Brook as challenging as guide suggests? Can anyone make a comparison to other "classic" crossings like 3rd on North Twin, Lincoln Brook on way to Owl's Head or even Ellis River on Wildcat Trail? East Branch Pemi was running at 306cfs recently so barring significant rain between now and then I would assume crossings wouldn't be too bad (I realize that isn't the direct river basin for that area but I follow that gauge the closest and can translate the values into an expectation of water levels most easily. I do check other gauges).

2) Two years ago I remember a lot of references to horrible blowdowns on Kate Sleeper Trail and I seem to also remember that it was largely cleaned up. Can anyone provide some recent intel on the area? And are the ledges/gravel of East Slide something that will be problematic in icy weather? I don't remember the South slides being that bad but it was a dry summer day when I did.

3) Are there easily recognized spurs or bushwhacks to tag the Sleepers or is this map and compass situation? On map it looks like trail is very close to East Sleeper and goes right over West Sleeper.

Any info on the area would be appreciated. Should have done this hike earlier so I wasn't sure if the wintry/icy potential of the weekend makes this a bad choice. Thanks.

 

[TJsName]

The crossings are likely to all be easy rockhops. There are just a lot of them! After a heavy rain or during runoff season they might be fords.

The Sleepers arr all cleaned up. The work is impressive! The trail is easy to follow.

The spur to East Sleeper is ovious as well, with a well beaten heard path.

 

[yogi]

Check this out:

http://wodc.org/trails13.htm

 

[jniehof]

You've gotten answers on the rest, but the Sleeper trail comes out pretty far up the South Slide. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[TJsName]

You've gotten answers on the rest, but the Sleeper trail comes out pretty far up the South Slide. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If there is a chnace for substancial ice, def bring some traction. Might be nice for the crossings, as well as coming down off the Trypyramid Ridge.

 

[Sherby]

The rollins trail is the one in this area that becomes an ice rink.

 

[alexmtn]

Check this out:

http://wodc.org/trails13.htm

I visited the Kate Sleeper Trail a couple of months ago in the course of a Passaconaway-Tripyramids traverse and was amazed both with the sheer devastation wrought by the storm on so many trees of such large size, and with the amount of cutting and moving that was obviously needed to reopen the track. These photos start to give an impression of the scale we're talking, but are not a substitute for taking the whole thing in in person.

 

[peakbagger]

The FS generally makes sure that no cars are locked in behind gates. On the other hand if there is a unexpected snow dump with the gate open they wont tow you out.

 

[Grey J]

Check this out:

http://wodc.org/trails13.htm

Wow! Nice job by the WODC crew. That's a lot of lumber to cut. Looks like maybe that was a derecho with straight line winds that blew through there.

 

[TJsName]

I think a derecho is technically over a long distance (hundreds of miles). That damage on the ridge looks like it was a microburst.

Wow! Nice job by the WODC crew. That's a lot of lumber to cut. Looks like maybe that was a derecho with straight line winds that blew through there.

 

[DayTrip]

Weather forecast for tomorrow is going down the drain but I think I'm still going to attempt it. Haven't been out in two weeks. Thanks for the info all.

 

[DayTrip]

You are correct TJsName:

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-severe/derecho-explainer-20120612