On Saturday I once again carried the flag up Middle Tripyramid for Flags on the 48. For those of you who don't know, Flags is a 9-11 memorial in which the American flag is flown on the summit of each of the 48 4000 foot mountains in New Hampshire.
This year the Middle Tripyramid and North Tripyramid crews met at the same time and place, at Livermore Trailhead. Five people had signed up to join me in the Middle Tripyramid crew, but only one showed up, TJ. There for the North crew were Ben (the crew leader), Sarah, Erin, Nick, and Alison. After waiting a while for the others we set off. I had originally planned to take the South Slide, but TJ suggested taking the North slide, which the North crew was taking. Since that was the only trail on the Tripyramids I had never been on, I agreed. So both crews started off together.
It turned out that Ben is the trail maintainer for Mt. Tripyramid Trail, and he started brushing on the way up with some loppers he'd brought. TJ borrowed a blade from Ben and started helping him. The rest of us waited at the base of the slide for them. And waited. I was starting to get a little worried about making it to Middle on time, so Sarah went back to check on them, and returned with the flag gear which I had given TJ to carry. The rest of us then proceeded up the slide.
The North Slide is a serious trail, but I didn't have any real problems with it. I wouldn't want to do it when it's wet, though; although it was mostly dry that day the few spots which were wet were very slippery. At one point there's a trail which parallels the slide in the woods a little ways. I took that, but that was a mistake, since it had a number of low branches and I was hiking with several feet of flag pole sticking out of my pack.
I got ahead of the others on the slide, but eventually Nick and Alison caught up. They were carrying the extra flag gear for Middle. When we got to the top of the slide the three of us hiked on over North to Middle. Essentially Team Middle and Team North traded TJ for Nick and Alison.
When we got to Middle we put up the flag with minutes to spare. Then we hung around for two hours keeping warm, talking to lots of hikers who showed up, and passing out cookies.
At first we could see Passaconaway and other mountains to the east, but not the Osceolas or anything else to the west. After a while, though, we were in a cloud and couldn't see anything.
At two o'clock we took down the flag and hiked out over North Tripyramid and down Scaur Ridge Trail to Livermore Trail. On Scaur Ridge it started raining enough to put on our rain gear.
I've now been on the Tripyramids nine times. I've gone up: three times on Pine Bend Brook, three times on Sabbaday Brook, once on the South Slide, once on the North Slide, and once on Scaur Ridge. I've gone down: three times on Pine Bend Brook, twice on Sabbaday Brook, once on Kate Sleeper, once on the South Slide, and twice on Scaur Ridge. I've summited Middle all nine times, North seven times, and South three times.
Thanks to Nick and Alison for helping me out this year, and thanks to everyone involved with Flags for making it such a successful event.
Here are the pictures.
Here is the Flags on the 48 site.
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Cumulus
NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 32/39; WNH4K: 32/48; NEFF: 40/50
LT NB 2009
"One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
- Francis Bellamy
This year the Middle Tripyramid and North Tripyramid crews met at the same time and place, at Livermore Trailhead. Five people had signed up to join me in the Middle Tripyramid crew, but only one showed up, TJ. There for the North crew were Ben (the crew leader), Sarah, Erin, Nick, and Alison. After waiting a while for the others we set off. I had originally planned to take the South Slide, but TJ suggested taking the North slide, which the North crew was taking. Since that was the only trail on the Tripyramids I had never been on, I agreed. So both crews started off together.
It turned out that Ben is the trail maintainer for Mt. Tripyramid Trail, and he started brushing on the way up with some loppers he'd brought. TJ borrowed a blade from Ben and started helping him. The rest of us waited at the base of the slide for them. And waited. I was starting to get a little worried about making it to Middle on time, so Sarah went back to check on them, and returned with the flag gear which I had given TJ to carry. The rest of us then proceeded up the slide.
The North Slide is a serious trail, but I didn't have any real problems with it. I wouldn't want to do it when it's wet, though; although it was mostly dry that day the few spots which were wet were very slippery. At one point there's a trail which parallels the slide in the woods a little ways. I took that, but that was a mistake, since it had a number of low branches and I was hiking with several feet of flag pole sticking out of my pack.
I got ahead of the others on the slide, but eventually Nick and Alison caught up. They were carrying the extra flag gear for Middle. When we got to the top of the slide the three of us hiked on over North to Middle. Essentially Team Middle and Team North traded TJ for Nick and Alison.
When we got to Middle we put up the flag with minutes to spare. Then we hung around for two hours keeping warm, talking to lots of hikers who showed up, and passing out cookies.
At first we could see Passaconaway and other mountains to the east, but not the Osceolas or anything else to the west. After a while, though, we were in a cloud and couldn't see anything.
At two o'clock we took down the flag and hiked out over North Tripyramid and down Scaur Ridge Trail to Livermore Trail. On Scaur Ridge it started raining enough to put on our rain gear.
I've now been on the Tripyramids nine times. I've gone up: three times on Pine Bend Brook, three times on Sabbaday Brook, once on the South Slide, once on the North Slide, and once on Scaur Ridge. I've gone down: three times on Pine Bend Brook, twice on Sabbaday Brook, once on Kate Sleeper, once on the South Slide, and twice on Scaur Ridge. I've summited Middle all nine times, North seven times, and South three times.
Thanks to Nick and Alison for helping me out this year, and thanks to everyone involved with Flags for making it such a successful event.
Here are the pictures.
Here is the Flags on the 48 site.
--
Cumulus
NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 32/39; WNH4K: 32/48; NEFF: 40/50
LT NB 2009
"One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
- Francis Bellamy
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