Headed in from Waterville to climb the South Slide of Mount Traipyramid for some views and ended up doing the loop over the three summits, descending via Pine Bend Brook and Scaur Ridge Trails.
The flow was unusually low at White Cascade on Slide Brook.
On the familiar Livermore Trail.
Route to the South Slide.
Easy crossing of Avalanche Brook.
A special place.
Gateway to the Wilderness.
A usual rest stop along Slide Brook.
Mostly good footing on the way up the Slide Brook valley.
Beautiful hardwoods at 2900 ft.
The trail crossses over this "debris flow levee" - a train of boulders deposited along the edge of a slide - just before it begins the climb up the South Slide.
The lower part of the first South Slide - the one the trail ascends, which fell in 1869 - is revegetated with conifer forest and moss.
Steep is the name of the game on this climb.
In the first open area are the only two white pines I've seen along the trail's route up the slide.
View of Sandwich Dome and out to the SW from the first open area on the slide.
From the next open patch, a view of the Lost Pass area.
Halfway up the slide is its trickiest scramble.
Looking back down.
Though not as difficult as the North Slide, this is a steep and strenuous climb, with many short scrambles.
A rare blaze.
Large chunks of broken rock on the upper part of the slide.
This way and that way - at the junction with Kate Sleeper Trail near the top of the slide.
Sign and post at the junction.
On top of the world.
Southerly view.
Side angle.
Welch & Dickey with Killington on the horizon.
Looking out to Lake Winnipesaukee and the Belknap Range.
Mount Monadnock, hazy in the distance over a shoulder of Sandwich Dome.
A rugged pitch!
Descending hiker. While I met several parties who had ascended the North Slide, these guys were doing an out-and-back of the peaks using the South Slide.
The trail abruptly eases in fine boreal forest.
Summit crest of South Tripyramid.
The trail squeezes through this rock crevice.
Steep and rough coming off South Tripyramid, They are pyramids, after all.
Ferny fir forest on a gentle part of the ridge.
Still some decent easterly views here if you move around a bit. Chocorua and Paasaconaway are featured.
A graceful peak, is Passaconaway.
Chocorua's horn and the humps of the Sisters.
The wooded crest of Whiteface.
The west view on Middle Tripyramid is almost completely obscured. As I recall, many years ago you could sit here and look out at Tecumseh and Osceola.
A bit of rough scrambling coming off Middle Tripyramid.
Only a handful of scrambles on the generally easy climb to North Tripyramid.
Not much left of the NE view, except in winter with deep snow.
By zooming in, you can pick out a few distant peaks,
There is a nice angle here on Passaconaway.
The infamous typo sign.
And then the dreaded steep and rough descent down the always damp upper section of Pine Bend Brook Trail
For me, this is the trickiest spot on the descent.
Reminiscent of an Adirondack herd path in its roughness.
Once off that nasty section, it's pretty smooth sailing.
Always love the section along the narrow ridge, which gets late day sun.
Scaur Ridge Trail is one of my favorites.
Old yellow birches.
A window on the North Slide, all lit up.
Good footing along an old logging road on Scaur Ridge Trail.
Homeward bound on Livermore Trail, with the last mile by headlamp. This loop over the Tripyramids is 12 miles with 3000 ft. of elevation gain.
