Tripyramid South Slides: 11/2/23

On a crisp fall day with wall-to-wall sunshine, I headed back down to Waterville Valley to 1) check on how new home construction had impacted two trails and 2) take the long walk out to the South Slides to bask in the sun and enjoy some views.

 

A new house is under construction right beside the Cascade Path as it climbs towards its crossing of Cascade Ridge Road.

Another new house has been built right on top of the Boulder Path/Lower Snows Mountain X-C Trail as it splits left towards Slide Brook.

Impressive rock steps have recently been built where Cascade Path climbs up a bank from its crossing of Cascade Ridge Road. Previously the bank had been badly eroded.

From here I followed Cascade Path a bit farther, then the Swazeytown (shown here) and Lower Snows Mountain X-C Trails to the 2.2 mile mark on the Livermore Trail.

Along Lower Snows Mountain Trail I dropped down a short side path for a look at the site of the Swazeytown dam on Slide Brook, used to create a "head" of water for river drives on the Mad River in the early 1900s. A beam from the dam can be seen at the lower left. The brushy area at upper right was once a pond that formed behind the dam.

Pleasant walking along Lower Snows Mountain X-C Trail.

Expansive hardwood forest on the final approach to Livermore Trail. November is a great time of year to ramble through the hardwoods.

White Cascade on Slide Brook, next to the Livermore Trail.

The walk out to the South Slide is ideal for this time of year. While the upper elevations of many 4K trails are dark, cold and festooned with nasty ice flows, this trail passes mostly through bright, open hardwood forest and is dry and leafy with good footing and virtually no ice, just a few muddy patches near the bottom.

Into the Wilderness after an easy crossing of stony Avalanche Brook.

Welcome to the wilds of the Sandwich Range.

 

That's a serious blowdown!

An old sugar maple stands guard.

"Needle ice" forms in the soil when the ground is not yet frozen and the air temperature is below freezing.

A favorite sugar maple glade beside the trail at an unusually high elevation of 2900 ft.

From the point where the trail turns left to climb the 1869 South Slide, I bushwhacked across to the base of the smaller slide that fell during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

Ghosts of the flower known as Pearly Everlasting.

Dried-out husks of goldenrod.

Heading up the slide, where it was chilly until I emerged in the sun.

View from my lunch spot on the ledges of the slide.

Looking across the slide to Mount Tecumseh.

From here I bushwhacked across to the remaining open patches of the mostly revegetated 1885 South Slide, aka the Second South Slide. The Kate Sleeper Trail crosses the upper open patch of this slide, 400 feet higher.

From here there was an intimate view of the remote Lost Pass region and Sandwich Dome beyond.

Bushwhacking back across the slope.

I crossed back over the jumbled rocks of the 2011 slide near its apex.

Climbing a strip of the 1869 slide that parallels the wider main part of the slide.

Looking back.

I revisited this solitary white pine in a sea of spruces and firs. I have recently become intrigued by the presence of scattered Eastern white pines on many slides at elevations well above their normal range (this one is at 3400 ft.) and miles from other pines in their usual habitats down below. A future blog post will discuss this in more detail.

I pushed across through some dense conifers to the top of the lower open stretch of the main swath of the 1869 slide, which is the route followed by the Mount Tripyramid Trail. Wide-screen views here at an elevation of 3450 ft.

Looking more to the west. In the distance I could see Killington Peak, Dorset Peak, Stratton Mountain and other distant summits in Vermont.

Looking across the slide to the broad spread of Mount Tecumseh.

Snow guns were firing at the top of the ski slopes. Mount Moosilauke is behind on the right.

Descending slowly and carefully on the slippery gravel and loose rock.

The views open out again at 3250 ft.

There are two more white pines here along the edge of the slide. Birds noted here included a Boreal Chickadee and a Blue Jay, as well as a Common Raven croaking overhead.

This lone gnarled aspen is still hanging on.

The trail down from the South Slide offers a generally smooth and easy descent.

Slide Brook.

Farewell to the Wilderness, until next time.

 

Late October Ramblings: Cape Cod and Kettles Path

CAPE COD: 10/27-10/29/23

Carol and I headed down to the Outer Cape for a fun family visit, which included some walking along sandy Cape trails.

My brother Drew, his wife Kate and I spent a few hours walking and birding on the trails of Massachusetts Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the gems of the Outer Cape.

With the aid of our binoculars and Drew's scope, we identified 18 species during our two-mile walk. Most numerous by far was the Greater Yellowlegs, several groups of which were foraging out on the marsh.

Classic Cape Cod pitch pine forest.

Looking across Wellfleet Bay, we could spot Great Beach Hill in the distance, accessed by the Great Island Trail, one of the best and most remote hikes on the Cape.

Fall color on a sandy slope.

On a sunny 80-degree Saturday, Carol and I took w walk on the winding Nauset Marsh Trail on the Cape Cod National Seashore.

We also made a stop at Nauset Light Beach. Yikes!

The mighty Atlantic.

There were lots of folks taking advantage of what was likely the last sunbathing opportunity of the season.

The temperature was considerably cooler on Sunday as we took a stroll along the Red Maple Swamp Trail. Fall foliage on the Cape!

A glacial erratic along the Fort Hill Trail.

 

View of Nauset Marsh from atop the boulder.

Enjoying the serene scene at Nauset Marsh.

The magnificent home built by whaling captain Edward Penniman in 1868.

KETTLES PATH: 10/31/23

Back to late October reality with temps down in the 20s overnight, setting up a chilly but sunny day for fall maintenance on the Kettles Path in Waterville Valley.

Spruce blowdown on the ascending sidecut section of the trail. About 10" in diameter, it took a while to cut.

Cleared.

Spent nearly an hour brushing out beech saplings along a 0.1 mile section of trail. 

This battered but still towering white ash is a landmark along the trail.

One of 15 drainages cleaned along the way.

The reward at the top of Kettles Path is the marvelous view from the open ledges of The Scaur, here gazing south to Sandwich Dome, Jennings Peak and Acteon Ridge. The sun was warm enough to hang out in just a long-sleeved shirt.

The snow guns were blasting on the upper slopes of Mt. Tecumseh.

Middle and South Tripyramid. The Scaur is the westernmost extension of the Tripyramid massif.

With 2 1/2 hours of daylight left, I hiked along Irene's Path to the fine viewpoint 0.7 mile to the east. The "Rock of Gibraltar" is an impressive sight near the start of Irene's.

A wee bit of color as the trail meanders along the gentle ridge.

As the trail descends off the ridge into the Flume Brook valley, it passes what has become one of my favorite vistas - looking north to the Osceolas and Mad River Notch.

Zoom on East Osceola and the wild gouge of the Painted Cliff.

Seen in the distance through the Notch is the broad crest of Owl's Head in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.

I am always impressed by this rock staircase built by the OBP Trailworks crew. Irene's Path was opened in 2014 as a new access to the Waterville Flume, after parts of the Flume Brook Trail were washed out by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The route of Irene's Path was inspired by a Scaur-to-Flume Trail that  was opened around 1915 but soon obliterated by logging. The round trip from the Livermore parking lot to The Scaur and the Irene's Path viewpoint is 5.4 miles with about 1100 ft. of elevation gain. Note that there is one ledge on a steep switchback on Irene's Path that tends to ice up in cold weather.