BIGEarl
Well-known member
December 4, 2011: Tripyramids
Trails: Pine Bend Brook Trail, Scaur Ridge Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail
Summits: North Tripyramid. Middle Tripyramid
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
One of the basic rules of life…..
If you want to dance, you’ve got to pay the fiddler.
Sue and I were on a back-to-back weekend. Saturday we hiked Franconia Ridge and the plan for Sunday was to hike the Tripyramids from the Kancamagus Highway. We intended to hike Pine Bend Brook Trail and Mt. Tripyramid trail round trip. Saturday’s hike wasn’t a huge hike but it was tiring. A few sore muscles remained and I was pretty stiff on Sunday morning. Actually, it really hurt to move but I wasn’t surprised. I also expected within .25 to .5 miles everything would be warmed up and I’d be in pretty good operational shape.
We pulled in behind the three vehicles already on the side of the road for the Pine Bend Brook Trail. After getting our things together we set off. My poles were on my pack as usual but soon after leaving the trailhead I realized they may be necessary if I wanted to complete the hike – I was hiking with a very painful back. Clearly, it was time to pay the fiddler. I managed to hike for roughly a mile before I gave in. Out came the poles and we continued. It’s amazing how much work is transferred to your arms through the use of trekking poles. Immediately, the pain stopped. After a short while I realized my legs were in much better shape than expected. Up to that point my thoughts were on the back discomfort and I wasn’t even thinking about my legs. We worked our way through all of the stream crossings without a problem and cleared all of the mud pits with clean boots. There was no ice concern and no snow at all.
By the time we started into the lower part of the steep climb to the ridge I was actually feeling pretty good. We passed the upper crossing and continued to the ridge and everything was great. I still had the poles out but was pretty sure they were no longer needed. We hit the ridge and kept on moving to the junction with Scaur Ridge Trail. Here we made a quick stop. Once we were again underway we came upon some snow that Sue inspected for snowman qualities. Sue indicated if we didn’t find a better supply this place would get a snowman on the way out.
The trail started to ascend North Tripyramid. The section of trail that leads to the summit is all steep rocks and ledge. The poles were more of a problem than anything else. I packed them away and to my surprise found they were no longer any help. I was finally back in the game. The upper two thirds of the climb to the summit had ice flows over the ledges and slabs. We needed to watch our approach to the climb and were able to avoid any problems all of the way up. We made it to the summit generally on plan, got the usual pictures, and set off for Middle Tripyramid. The wind was blowing from the west and we were feeling it on our occasional stops. We tried to keep moving, otherwise we were both going to add a layer to stay warm. In a short time we were making our way through the ascent to Middle Tripyramid with a little more snow and ice than on the approach to North Tripyramid. Sue checked the snow and it was not suitable for snowman body parts. There aren’t many places for views along this route but near Middle Tripyramid’s summit is a viewpoint offering nice views to the west. We stopped for a few pictures but didn’t stay long due to the wind.
We hit the summit, got a few pictures, made the u-turn, and headed back out the way we hiked in. Soon after leaving the summit we had given up enough elevation to drop out of the strongest wind. There, we stopped for a cookie break. That shot of energy came in handy on the re-climb of North Tripyramid. We hit that summit for the second time and stopped to prepare for the hike out. Both of us needed another bottle of water and that was about it. Soon we were headed down the steep descent from North Tripyramid. We reached the lower ridge between North Tripyramid and the junction with Scuar Ridge Trail. Sue decided it was snowman time. Sue created a happy little guy that should be around for a while – assuming no heat wave comes through.
After the snowman break we decided to try and beat darkness on the hike out. I knew it was going to be close. The hike back down was smooth and quick. We dropped from the ridge to the lower elevations of the trail with no problems at all and kept moving. Eventually, darkness won the race and we needed to pull out the headlights. We were probably within a mile of the trailhead but we had more stream crossings and needed more light.
Out came the headlights and we continued toward the trailhead. Some of the crossings had difficult conditions. In many cases the rocks were glazed over and finding safe foot placements were tricky. On one crossing Sue decided on one crossing point and I headed to another a short distance upstream. A rock I went for that appeared to be just under the surface was in fact one of the glazed varieties. My foot hit the rock, shot out from underneath me, and I was horizontal in the stream. Fortunately, I turned and landed on my left arm. All of the important stuff – mainly my camera, stayed dry. The left half of me ended up pretty wet. Sue didn’t get any pictures and I wasn’t interested in a replay.
We made it through the remaining part of the hike without any problems. At the trailhead our vehicle was the last one there, which isn’t unusual. The odd part was there were three vehicles when we parked but we only saw one other hiker all day. Maybe there were some hikers doing some kind of traverse.
I dug out a dry shirt and took care of the wettest part. We stopped at Lincoln Woods and I took care of the rest. It’s always a good idea to have a change of clothes in the truck. Warm and dry again we hit the highway south.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: Pine Bend Brook Trail, Scaur Ridge Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail
Summits: North Tripyramid. Middle Tripyramid
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
One of the basic rules of life…..
If you want to dance, you’ve got to pay the fiddler.
Sue and I were on a back-to-back weekend. Saturday we hiked Franconia Ridge and the plan for Sunday was to hike the Tripyramids from the Kancamagus Highway. We intended to hike Pine Bend Brook Trail and Mt. Tripyramid trail round trip. Saturday’s hike wasn’t a huge hike but it was tiring. A few sore muscles remained and I was pretty stiff on Sunday morning. Actually, it really hurt to move but I wasn’t surprised. I also expected within .25 to .5 miles everything would be warmed up and I’d be in pretty good operational shape.
We pulled in behind the three vehicles already on the side of the road for the Pine Bend Brook Trail. After getting our things together we set off. My poles were on my pack as usual but soon after leaving the trailhead I realized they may be necessary if I wanted to complete the hike – I was hiking with a very painful back. Clearly, it was time to pay the fiddler. I managed to hike for roughly a mile before I gave in. Out came the poles and we continued. It’s amazing how much work is transferred to your arms through the use of trekking poles. Immediately, the pain stopped. After a short while I realized my legs were in much better shape than expected. Up to that point my thoughts were on the back discomfort and I wasn’t even thinking about my legs. We worked our way through all of the stream crossings without a problem and cleared all of the mud pits with clean boots. There was no ice concern and no snow at all.
By the time we started into the lower part of the steep climb to the ridge I was actually feeling pretty good. We passed the upper crossing and continued to the ridge and everything was great. I still had the poles out but was pretty sure they were no longer needed. We hit the ridge and kept on moving to the junction with Scaur Ridge Trail. Here we made a quick stop. Once we were again underway we came upon some snow that Sue inspected for snowman qualities. Sue indicated if we didn’t find a better supply this place would get a snowman on the way out.
The trail started to ascend North Tripyramid. The section of trail that leads to the summit is all steep rocks and ledge. The poles were more of a problem than anything else. I packed them away and to my surprise found they were no longer any help. I was finally back in the game. The upper two thirds of the climb to the summit had ice flows over the ledges and slabs. We needed to watch our approach to the climb and were able to avoid any problems all of the way up. We made it to the summit generally on plan, got the usual pictures, and set off for Middle Tripyramid. The wind was blowing from the west and we were feeling it on our occasional stops. We tried to keep moving, otherwise we were both going to add a layer to stay warm. In a short time we were making our way through the ascent to Middle Tripyramid with a little more snow and ice than on the approach to North Tripyramid. Sue checked the snow and it was not suitable for snowman body parts. There aren’t many places for views along this route but near Middle Tripyramid’s summit is a viewpoint offering nice views to the west. We stopped for a few pictures but didn’t stay long due to the wind.
We hit the summit, got a few pictures, made the u-turn, and headed back out the way we hiked in. Soon after leaving the summit we had given up enough elevation to drop out of the strongest wind. There, we stopped for a cookie break. That shot of energy came in handy on the re-climb of North Tripyramid. We hit that summit for the second time and stopped to prepare for the hike out. Both of us needed another bottle of water and that was about it. Soon we were headed down the steep descent from North Tripyramid. We reached the lower ridge between North Tripyramid and the junction with Scuar Ridge Trail. Sue decided it was snowman time. Sue created a happy little guy that should be around for a while – assuming no heat wave comes through.
After the snowman break we decided to try and beat darkness on the hike out. I knew it was going to be close. The hike back down was smooth and quick. We dropped from the ridge to the lower elevations of the trail with no problems at all and kept moving. Eventually, darkness won the race and we needed to pull out the headlights. We were probably within a mile of the trailhead but we had more stream crossings and needed more light.
Out came the headlights and we continued toward the trailhead. Some of the crossings had difficult conditions. In many cases the rocks were glazed over and finding safe foot placements were tricky. On one crossing Sue decided on one crossing point and I headed to another a short distance upstream. A rock I went for that appeared to be just under the surface was in fact one of the glazed varieties. My foot hit the rock, shot out from underneath me, and I was horizontal in the stream. Fortunately, I turned and landed on my left arm. All of the important stuff – mainly my camera, stayed dry. The left half of me ended up pretty wet. Sue didn’t get any pictures and I wasn’t interested in a replay.
We made it through the remaining part of the hike without any problems. At the trailhead our vehicle was the last one there, which isn’t unusual. The odd part was there were three vehicles when we parked but we only saw one other hiker all day. Maybe there were some hikers doing some kind of traverse.
I dug out a dry shirt and took care of the wettest part. We stopped at Lincoln Woods and I took care of the rest. It’s always a good idea to have a change of clothes in the truck. Warm and dry again we hit the highway south.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
