amstony
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Not looking forward to another LONGGGGG drive to Maine alone 
to do more of the NE 67, I looked locally and decided late Friday night to do East Sleeper, on the NE Highest 100 list, elevation 3860 feet (tradeoff- much less driving time=more hiking time).
Located in the Sandwich Mountains near the Tripyramids, I decided to take a circuitous route over the Tripyramids down the S. Slide a short distance to the Kate Sleeper trail, and onto east Sleeper. Of course the return trip requires you to go back up the slide on the Kate Sleeper trail so you can go back down the S. Slide on the Mt. Tripyramid Trail and back to Livermore trailhead. Sounded like fun! Plus it would help further my endurance and conditioning for my approaching marathon.
After driving and seeing tons of clouds, getting caught in an ominous rain storm, and realizing that the meteoroligists had blown it once again (sunny, 80's- if your a weather guy or gal- sorry) I departed the Livermore trailhead at 9:00 AM, where only a handful of cars were parked.
After shooting down the Livermore trail with brutally humid air, and heading up Scaur Ridge to Pine Bend Brook, I realized had not seen or heard anyone. As I negotiated the steeps on the PBB trail, I finally heard a person coming down the trial. And who was it but HikerBob, whom I had not seen since the Osceolas last year ! After a pleasant conversation, discussing his trip up the N. Slide, his soon to be # 48 hike, and being unable to convince him to go back up and go to East Sleeper with me (smart man), we parted and moved on. Hikerbob went to Livermore via Scaur Ridge and I went to the Mount Tripyramid trail and E. Sleeper.
As I reached the summit of N.Tripyramid at 1115, I kept on moving, having a goal of being at S.Tripyramid at noon. Crossing M.Tripyramid over to South Tripyramid, I realized I had not seen a living thing on the trail (bird, person, snake, black flies)...nothing, except for Hikerbob! At S.Tripyramid I then headed down the Slide trail.......where was Kate Sleeper trail , I wondered if I had missed it! A heavy fog also rolled in, making things worse. I thought of the movie "28 Days" where no one is left alive and your wandering around, and thought some zombies might soon appear!!
Back to reality, checking the map, stopping and looking around I noticed a yellow dot with 3 arrows some distance down the slide. Figuring that was the junction, I headed down, and there was the Kate Sleeper trail, which takes you about 150 yards further down the slide to the actual trail. After negotiating the slide, the blue blazed Kate Sleeper trail is pretty standard, although very lightly used from this direction. The humidity was still brutal, and getting warmer.
After about 45 minutes, and on schedule, I came to a sharp turn on the KS trail, which matched the map/time perfectly. About 1/10 of a mile further I came to a junction, made a left and followed it to the signed East Sleeper summit. It has no views and as far as I know no canister around. So at exactly 1:00 PM, # 61 on the NE Highest Hundred list was done.
I ate a fast lunch, drank more water, snapped some disposable camera pics, and moved out at 1:10 PM. I reversed direction on the KS trail and headed to the South Slide trail. I reached the Kate Sleeper slide portion of the trail, and negotiated that to the junction of the Mt.Tripyramid Trail S. Slide. Here life got interesting as I went UP the S. Slide so I could go DOWN the S. Slide on the other side..... I now also met my first hikers since HikerBob, a couple headed to East Sleeper who were looking for another way to get back to Livermore when they were done. They'd come up S. Slide and they did not want to go down it. I gave them a suggestion and headed out.
Reaching the S. Slide I drank more water, since it was very hot and humid, but things had cleared somewhat and I had great, but hazy, views of Whiteface, Passaconaway, East and West Sleeper and other peaks. I then slowly went down the S. Slide, slipping, sliding, scrambling, and generally having a good time. The loose gravel made me glad I had not gone up it. Its doable but I think would be unpleasant with all the back sliding you'd end up doing! Following the slide into and out of woods it finally reached plain old dirt after about 40 minutes. After walking through the streams to cool my feet, I reached the Livermore/S. Slide trail junction, and began the road walk to the trailhead. Here the most dangerous activity going on was the mountain bikers ripping past me!!
I was back at the car at 4:10 PM. Not a bad day, meeting Hikerbob, a bunch of 4K redo's, an addition to my NE 100 highest list, the S. Slide, and a nice and strenous workout- 7 hours, 10 minutes on the trail (not counting breaks), 15.8 miles, and 3,500 feet of elevation gain, and home by 6:00 PM.
to do more of the NE 67, I looked locally and decided late Friday night to do East Sleeper, on the NE Highest 100 list, elevation 3860 feet (tradeoff- much less driving time=more hiking time). Located in the Sandwich Mountains near the Tripyramids, I decided to take a circuitous route over the Tripyramids down the S. Slide a short distance to the Kate Sleeper trail, and onto east Sleeper. Of course the return trip requires you to go back up the slide on the Kate Sleeper trail so you can go back down the S. Slide on the Mt. Tripyramid Trail and back to Livermore trailhead. Sounded like fun!
Plus it would help further my endurance and conditioning for my approaching marathon.After driving and seeing tons of clouds, getting caught in an ominous rain storm, and realizing that the meteoroligists had blown it once again (sunny, 80's- if your a weather guy or gal- sorry) I departed the Livermore trailhead at 9:00 AM, where only a handful of cars were parked.
After shooting down the Livermore trail with brutally humid air, and heading up Scaur Ridge to Pine Bend Brook, I realized had not seen or heard anyone. As I negotiated the steeps on the PBB trail, I finally heard a person coming down the trial. And who was it but HikerBob, whom I had not seen since the Osceolas last year
! After a pleasant conversation, discussing his trip up the N. Slide, his soon to be # 48 hike, and being unable to convince him to go back up and go to East Sleeper with me (smart man), we parted and moved on. Hikerbob went to Livermore via Scaur Ridge and I went to the Mount Tripyramid trail and E. Sleeper. As I reached the summit of N.Tripyramid at 1115, I kept on moving, having a goal of being at S.Tripyramid at noon. Crossing M.Tripyramid over to South Tripyramid, I realized I had not seen a living thing on the trail (bird, person, snake, black flies)...nothing, except for Hikerbob! At S.Tripyramid I then headed down the Slide trail.......where was Kate Sleeper trail
, I wondered if I had missed it! A heavy fog also rolled in, making things worse. I thought of the movie "28 Days" where no one is left alive and your wandering around, and thought some zombies might soon appear!! Back to reality, checking the map, stopping and looking around I noticed a yellow dot with 3 arrows some distance down the slide. Figuring that was the junction, I headed down, and there was the Kate Sleeper trail, which takes you about 150 yards further down the slide to the actual trail. After negotiating the slide, the blue blazed Kate Sleeper trail is pretty standard, although very lightly used from this direction. The humidity was still brutal, and getting warmer.
After about 45 minutes, and on schedule, I came to a sharp turn on the KS trail, which matched the map/time perfectly. About 1/10 of a mile further I came to a junction, made a left and followed it to the signed East Sleeper summit. It has no views and as far as I know no canister around. So at exactly 1:00 PM, # 61 on the NE Highest Hundred list was done.
I ate a fast lunch, drank more water, snapped some disposable camera pics, and moved out at 1:10 PM. I reversed direction on the KS trail and headed to the South Slide trail. I reached the Kate Sleeper slide portion of the trail, and negotiated that to the junction of the Mt.Tripyramid Trail S. Slide. Here life got interesting as I went UP the S. Slide so I could go DOWN the S. Slide on the other side.....
I now also met my first hikers since HikerBob, a couple headed to East Sleeper who were looking for another way to get back to Livermore when they were done. They'd come up S. Slide and they did not want to go down it. I gave them a suggestion and headed out.Reaching the S. Slide I drank more water, since it was very hot and humid, but things had cleared somewhat and I had great, but hazy, views of Whiteface, Passaconaway, East and West Sleeper and other peaks. I then slowly went down the S. Slide, slipping, sliding, scrambling, and generally having a good time.
The loose gravel made me glad I had not gone up it. Its doable but I think would be unpleasant with all the back sliding you'd end up doing! Following the slide into and out of woods it finally reached plain old dirt after about 40 minutes. After walking through the streams to cool my feet, I reached the Livermore/S. Slide trail junction, and began the road walk to the trailhead. Here the most dangerous activity going on was the mountain bikers ripping past me!!I was back at the car at 4:10 PM. Not a bad day, meeting Hikerbob, a bunch of 4K redo's, an addition to my NE 100 highest list, the S. Slide, and a nice and strenous workout- 7 hours, 10 minutes on the trail (not counting breaks), 15.8 miles, and 3,500 feet of elevation gain, and home by 6:00 PM.
