Tripyramids

Date: 5/22/2020

North Tripyramid Elevation: 4,180’

Middle Tripyramid Elevation: 4,140’

Miles: 11 miles

Time: 6 hours, 26 minutes

Trails: Livermore Road to North Slide Trail to South Slide Trail and back to Livermore Road

WE ARE BACK. The first hike of 2021 did not mess around. Good thing I thought it would be a good idea to bring someone whose only hike before this was the Notch in Amherst. Sarah Melanson wins MVP for this one.

Sarah and I headed north from Brookline with Mary, a woman who I met when I was solo hiking Garfield. I have to say that I did not mentally prepare Sarah for what was to come, nor did I really realize what I was getting into either. My goal was to pick a hike that could be more like a warmup before some of the harder ones to come this summer, so I opted for the Tripyramids since it has a shorter mileage out of the mountains I have left.

And I mean it did start off easy. We hit Livermore Road around 8:45 (there’s a $5 parking fee if you park at this trailhead!); this really is more like a dirt road than a trail—no rocks or roots, just a stroll in the woods. You’re on Livermore Road for 3.6 miles before you split to the North Slide Trail. I had done enough research to know that you’re supposed to go up North Slide first and then down South Slide. And I’ve done Flume Slide before, I didn’t think the North Slide could top that…

Sarah with the thumbs up before we knew what was next...

But then we hit the North Slide. It started out fun—a little rock climbing, but there were obvious hand and foot holds. Then it got sketchy…And Sarah was wearing sneakers with not-great traction, so this wasn’t a great situation. Look at these pictures for yourself and I think you’ll see why we all developed a temporary fear of heights.

There was one especially difficult section where there really wasn’t an obvious way up, and you definitely could not navigate down. A solo hiker had just gone up before us, so he provided some eyes from above to help us through. But I mean there was only so much he could do from his perch—we still had to find our own way up. There was this crack in the rock face that I ended up wedging my feet under and I was able to find small bumps in the rock to curl my fingertips over. But understandably, Sarah, with her running sneakers and limited hiking experience, had some more hesitations than me. I turned around after I finished that section and saw her rightttt on the brink of tears and about to call her mom. She was shaking from fear and I was worried that we may never get her off that mountain.

But we got her mentally ready and talked her through it and from there she was LOCKED IN. She knew if she stopped moving after that point she would revert to the terrified state, so we were flying up the slide. The trail turned more to loose rock where you really have to check that your footing is stable—less terrifying, but still not great. The views off the North Slide are some of the best on the hike since it’s totally exposed, but Sarah couldn’t look down to enjoy them. She did crush the rest of the slide though and soon we made it to the top. Honestly to do that in sneakers is crazy impressive and for that to be your first real hike is insane. If you can do that, you can do any hike in the Whites. Although she did say she would never hike with me again…

Mary and I loved the Slide and for me stuff like that just makes me feel so *alive*. Your body and your mind are so locked in and the adrenaline is flowing. There's nothing like it.

You hit North Tripyramid pretty soon after North Slide (we got there around 11:45); it has some views but not as good as on the slide. There were actually a good amount of people up there and now with vaccines and COVID being less of a risk in the States, it was so happy to see people really socializing and being friendly. Hikers on the trails last year were great too, but something about the energy is just different.

Middle Tripyramid is just a short hike from North (we got there around 12:25), and then we were onto South Tripyramid, which isn’t a 4000 footer.

From there you descend down the South Slide, which is steep too, but doesn’t have the big rock slabs that the North Slide had. It requires a lot of focus, but we made good time with less fear I think.

By now our bodies were feeling the hike and we really couldn’t wait to make it back to Livermore Road. We kept thinking it would be just around the corner, when it definitely was not. I think we almost shed some happy tears when we finally got back to Livermore and then we charged through those last 3.6 miles. Our legs were numb at this point and just carrying us back to the car.

The first hike of 2021 is in the books and I’m now at 30 4,000 footers. Sarah had her first (and likely last) taste of the Whites and I did my first hike with someone I met on another hike—how fun is that! We are back.