Sabbaday Brook Ramble: 6/10/19

A pilgrimage into a favorite valley to visit some logging camps, a small slide and some cascades in a wild ravine under South Tripyramid.

Morning at Sabbaday Falls, no one around except the mosquitoes.

In we go.

Paid a re-visit to this relic cookstove at the site of the Swift River Railroad's Holland Camp.

A peaceful scene, off-trail, along Sabbaday Brook.

Good walking along the section of the trail that follows an old tote road on the east side of the valley for 1.5 miles.

Remnants of another stove at the site of the Monahan Camp. These artifacts are protected by law and should not be removed from the woods

Old lantern remains.

Frying up some leaves.

This old tote road led away from the Monahan Camp.

Along the trail in the lush inner sanctum of the valley amidst the Sleepers, Tripyramid and the Fool Killer.

A favorite trailside patch of purple violets.

Descriptions of this route to Tripyramid in AMC guidebooks of the 1920s mention another camp farther up the valley. Some of these artifacts may have been unearthed by brook overflow during recent storms. Here are the ghost of a shovel blade and what appears to be the sole of a camp moccasin.

Tropical Storm Irene damage along the brook.

There were still quite a few Red Trilliums in bloom in the upper valley, unusually late in the spring.

Foamflower.

Heading off-trail up a tributary brook towards the slide and cascades I wanted to see.

Rubble deposited in the brookbed from the slide. There was more vegetation here than I saw on my previous bushwhack up this ravine in 2015.

The bottom of the slide. I had noted this on my previous visit but continued past it as I was heading up to Middle Tripyramid.

Heading up the slide. It's a small, humble one, that has been here for a while but was refreshed by the torrential rains of Irene.

Ledges bared by the slide.

 Nearing the top the footing was sketchy.

Top of the slide, only about 200 feet in elevation above the bottom.

had caught a glimpse of the top of the slide (left of center, at edge of shadow) from Middle Tripyramid on another hike.

From the top of the slide I could peer back up at Middle Tripyramid, with South Tripyramid to the left.

I really liked the spring-green vista of the Sabbaday Brook valley headwall with the peak of the Fool Killer on the right.I knew of this view thanks to intel from a fellow Tripyramid-area bushwhacker. I put on my headnet and gloves to ward off the vicious swarms of black flies and took a long break here. Dark conifer stripes mark the tracks of three old slides: two on the Fool Killer and one on Tripyramid.

Exiting the top of the slide, a view that makes the flat-topped Fool Killer look like a sharp peak.

I decided that the slide was too loose and treacherous to descend, but the steep slope in the woods wasn't much better, full of hidden rocks and holes. Careful foot placement required.

Back down on the brook, I continued up the ravine.

Back in May on Hedgehog Mountain, I had glimpsed the cascades under South Tripyramid through the leafless trees, and decided I wanted to visit them again.

The lower cascade is a big slab with a waterslide.

Side view. From the top I could just barely get a peek at Hedgehog through the trees.

Streamside scene between the cascades.

The higher cascade is a beautiful mossy sluice.

Layers of ledge and moss.

The upper end of the sluice. I could have stayed here for a long time, but the hour was late and the flies were swarming. Time to head carefully back down the ravine.