Late Afternoon at the North Slide: 6/9/20

With a 2:30 pm start, decided on a longish easy woods walk out to the lower part of Tripyramid's North Slide, where I spent an hour lounging on a ledge.

I always make a brief stop at White Cascade when heading out Livermore Trail.

Livermore Trail is sort of Waterville Valley's version of the Lincoln Woods Trail. But it passes through long corridors of fine hardwoods and quickly gets you into remote backcountry.

 Clintonia (Bluebead Lily) and Starflower were blooming in profusion along the edges of the trail. Also present were pink and white Ladyslippers, Canada Mayflower, False Solomon's Seal, purple Violets, and one lingering patch of Sessile Bellwort (Wild Oats).

 Was out here in 1:20.

Magnificent hardwoods mark the entry into Avalanche Ravine on the Mount Tripyramid Trail.

Peaceful.

Start of the North Slide.

The beginning is easy enough.

First slabs, low angle.

The trail bypasses this mossy section of the slide track.

These ledges are steeper than they look, but grippy when dry.

 A slightly tricky spot at 3000 ft., a quarter of the way up the slide. With a late start, this was my turnaround point. Above here the climbing - and especially descending - becomes more difficult.

 Looking down the bypassed section of the slide track.

Found a comfortable perch and sat and listened to the birds of the high mountains: the soft trill of a Dark-eyed Junco; the plaintive call of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher; the leisurely phrasing of a Blue-headed Vireo; the scolding of a Black-capped Chickadee; the yank-yank of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Breadtray Ridge, Mt. Osceola and East Osceola behind the spring greens of Scaur Ridge.

 Upper Scaur Ridge.

Mossy.

Bushwhacking up the ravine from the base of the North Slide.

The base of the east fork of the North Slide.

This would have been a huge open swath after the slide fell in 1885.

A peek at the top of the North Slide.

One late patch of Red Trillium was in bloom along the Mount Tripyramid Trail. There was still some lingering snow on this north-facing slope on Memorial Day Weekend.

Evening light on the old yellow birches.