North Tripyramid and Middle Tripyramid
July 22, 2023
What a day this was. I have a habit of forgetting details of pretty much anything I do. I’ve never been one to have a great memory, and details just seem to slip my mind easily. Not for this one, though. I’m going to remember this hike forever.
I decided on Friday afternoon to ask my oldest, Cam, if he wanted to go hiking Saturday. My plan was to do the Tripyramid loop, which looked like it was going to be an approximately 10- or 11-mile hike. He has not done anything that long, but I was fairly confident he would be able to handle it based on what he has done in the past. He jumped at the opportunity for a day out with me, so we got our gear ready Friday night for an early start on Saturday. I was looking forward to testing both of us. I kept reading that it was important to do the North Slide going up and the South Slide going down. Everyone said that it was a difficult hike, but definitely doable. I had seen stories of other children doing it, so I was not worried about bringing Cam up there.
We left the house at 4:45AM and arrived at the Livermore trailhead parking area at 6:30. We took our time getting ready and hit the trail at 7. The first several miles along Livermore trail were very easy. It was pretty much flat. In fact, the first several miles are on what is called Livermore Road. It seemed like it used to be a logging road perhaps. I could probably look that up easily to find out. Then, when the trail splits to go to either North or South, that’s when we stayed to the left on Livermore Trail to go towards North Tripyramid. It was still an easy trail to follow as it led us to the Mt. Trypyramid trail. This is when we started going up. The terrain and elevation gain were normal for a little bit. But it didn’t take too long before we made our way on to the North Slide. I soon found out why this is on the Terrifying 25 list, which as the name implies is the 25 most challenging hikes in the White Mountains. I had read a lot of things about previous sections of trails that I have done being very difficult, and I didn’t find them to be that difficult. So, I just assumed this was going to be another spot where people were overreacting. I was wrong. They were not overreacting. It was extremely difficult and at some points, a little uncomfortable. It was some normal rock scrambling at first, but it was still a little wet at the bottom from the rain we had gotten the day before. Thankfully as we made our way out on to the exposed part of the slide, it was all dry. Doing that wet may have been impossible. It definitely would have been dangerous, and I would have thought twice about doing it at all if it was wet. Cam and I had no chance but to slow down to a crawl. We had to bushwhack a little bit where it was wet so we had something to grip and something to hold on to. Going up the wet rocks was not an option at some points. Once it dried out, we were able to stay on the slide and keep moving up. We would only take a couple steps at a time to then re-assess and look up and figure out where to go. There were several times where Cam would stop and tell me he was scared. It was that steep. I never told him, but there were plenty of times where I felt uncomfortable as well. I’m not a fan of heights and we were very exposed up there. But I just kept telling him that we just had to keep taking our time and move forward. We just had to continue to be safe and make sure our footing was good. As soon as I would say that he would move up the slide 5-10 more feet in what felt like an instant. He was so impressive moving up the rocks. He would always need to stop and wait for me as I caught up to him. We definitely worked together to figure out the best route to go up. It wasn’t me telling him where to go every time. There were times where it was questionable which way up the slide was best, and he was quick to find a good route. I was impressed at the time, but I was also so focused on getting up there safely, that I wasn’t able to fully appreciate it. But looking back, I am more than impressed with how Cam did going up there. He kept telling me he was scared, yet he conquered that fear so perfectly. It really did bring me so much pride seeing him work through something in real time and just completely kick its ass. I think it’s very important for children (everyone really) to work through difficult tasks and realize that they can overcome fears to accomplish great things. It will build character in the long-term.
When we made it to the top of the slide, we stopped to look out (and down) to take in what we just did. It was a gorgeous view and it was breathtaking looking down at the rocks that we had just climbed. We even had a little laugh about it now that we were done with it. We still had a little ways to go to get to the summit of North Tripyramid, but it was just some “normal” hiking from here on rather than rock scrambling. We got to the summit of North Tripyramid at 10:30. We took a short break for water and a snack before continuing on towards Middle Tripyramid.
The hike to Middle Tripyramid was a straight shot across Mt. Tripyramid trail. There was nothing overly noteworthy on this stretch. We made up some good time here and got to Middle Tripyramid around 11:15. We kept rolling right along to South Peak, which is not a 4,000 footer. The entire stretch between North and South was easy terrain and simple to navigate quickly. We got to the South peak at 11:40.
From here, we had to go down the south slide to complete the loop and get back to the truck. The south slide was noticeably easier to navigate than going up the North. But, it was still a slow process to make our way down that. It had its challenges as well, most of which stem from the fact that there was a lot of loose crushed stone, which made it difficult to find footing in several areas. Once we got down the slide, it was an easy hike the rest of the way out. We continued on Mt. Tripyramid trail until it came back to meet Livermore trail. It was on Livermore that Cam’s feet really started to bother him. It had been a long hike, so it didn’t surprise me. I just kept telling him he had to put it out of his mind and just keep moving forward until we get to the truck. There is no other option at this point. And, while it was difficult for him to do that, it was a great learning experience for him. He was struggling, but he dug deep and got it done. It’s important that we push back our comfort zones at different times of our lives. The more Cam does that from an early age, the better he will be prepared for adversity in the future.
We were back at the truck by 2:15. We changed, grabbed our lunch from the cooler and got ready to head home. This was by far my favorite hike to date. The summits themselves were not overly impressive. The reason it’s my favorite hike is because I got to witness my oldest son show me how capable he is of doing difficult things. I told him how proud I was of him, and he was extremely happy to have accomplished such a large undertaking. We both had such extreme satisfaction of completing that hike. It wasn’t an easy hike, but we finished it with not too much trouble. We went slow and that was a big reason why we were successful. We were not worried about time. We just took our time and made sure we kept moving forward. Cameron showed me he’s capable of big things and it was important for him to get that feeling of doing something difficult. It’s hard to explain that feeling, but once you feel it, you want to feel it over and over. So it’s my hope that Cam will take away from this experience that he can get that elation if he just pushes himself a little further than even he could imagine.
It has been a tough year so far to get some hiking in, but this puts me at 30, and I’m hopeful to get a bunch more coming up soon.