One Last Hike Before the Snow...the Tripyramids via the Pine Bend Brook Trail

Trip Details
Date: October 23^rd, 2015
Total Distance: 11.41 mi (via Trimble Outdoors Navigator Pro on iPhone 4S)
Total Time: 6 hours 3 minutes
Total Elevation: 3516 ft gained
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Earlier in the week the Presidential Range was looking nice and snow covered, but by mid-week temperatures had spiked back up that all the snow melted including on Mt. Washington. Temperatures were forecasted to drop back down for Friday with the potential of some snow showers. After having to take a few weeks off for construction projects at the house and then some bad weather earlier in October the cold weather was not going to scare Boomer and I, but we were hoping the snow would hold off. Mr. No Pants joined us for a out-and-back up Pine Bend Brook Trail to North and Middle Tripyramid. I had finished my first round of the 48 on these summits and knew the approach from the Pine Bend Brook Trail was in the woods the whole time and the summits lacked views. This was appealing as the trees would offer shelter from strong winds, which were forecasted at gusts up to 50 mph above 4000 ft.

Mr. No Pants joined us as we started at the trailhead in the high to mid-30s, which was pretty close to the high on the day. The trail starts out gradual with great footing for about two miles before this quickly deteriorates for the last 1.2 miles until the junction with the Scaur Ride Trail. The trail basically scrambles over rocks for the remaining length and is the worst for the last mile. The scrambling is not tough and does not require climbing over rocks or anything like that, but when you add the leaf cover and irregular shapes of them it makes footing challenging. Boomer struggled in this part as he is not a fan of scrambling and needed a lot of assistance. He is okay when he just has to jump along flat rocks and the ground keeps increasing, but when the rocks are irregular shaped or the ground on the other side of the rock is lower he tends to psych himself out. I helped him out and we continued on.

Frost rising out of the ground.

Once we gained the ridge the trail leveled back out until the final pitch up to North Tripyramid. Again the scrambling returns and I had to assist Boomer some more. This part had some good sections where he could find his own way through the woods on the side, which was nice. North Tripyramid would become visible from time-to-time before this final pitch and it still was lingering in the clouds. Again this was not a huge deal as it is a view less summit. The wind also started to really pick up around this time too and the trail would sometimes bring us to areas where we were not sheltered from the wind. It also started spitting a flake of snow here and there.

To our surprise when were arrived on North Tripyramid, the clouds had moved away but it was still cold. So we took some photos and had some snacks and then kept moving. The trip to Middle Tripyramid has a few decent scrambles but is otherwise uneventful. Middle Tripyramid is a bit more in the open. Again, due to the cold  we hung out for a few minutes, put on some additional layers, and then continued back to North Tripyramid. We noticed as we started walking away the great view that is present just before the summit. It gives a great view of Mt. Tecumseh, Waterville Valley Resort, and the Osceolas. It was interesting how those mountains were still in the clouds, but that the clouds had cleared off the Tripyramids.

Summit area of North Tripyramid. The view is just beyond these rocks.

Boomer running around the North Tripyramid summit.

North Tripyramid summit

Mr. No Pants keeping the legend alive in sub-freezing temperatures.

Middle Tripyramid summit

The view from Middle Tripyramid. Mt. Tecumseh and the Osceolas are still in the clouds.

After that good view, when we got back to North Tripyramid we checked out that view that is off a very short spur. This was another great view looking towards Mt. Chocorua and the rest of the Sandwich Range Wilderness. After taking some photos we had lunch and then made our way back to the trailhead. Again the leaf cover made stepping tricky through the scramble sections.

View from North Tripyramid. Looking out into the Sandwich Range Wilderness.

Mt. Chocorua

From this point to the junction with the Scaur Ridge Trail, the trail  is the most annoying with uneven rocks and basically non-stop scrambling.

My mileage is off by about 1.5 miles on this trip. If you zoom in on the map I think you will figure out why as the accuracy and precision of the app and the iPhone 4S GPS are just not that good.