Deb and I got dropped off at the Livermore Road Trailhead and headed down the trail around 7:30AM. For the first 5.7km or so, the trail is a double track road that connects the local xc ski trail network but in the summertime is used by hikers, mountain bikers and trail running events like the Jigger Johnson 100 mile Ultra.  The Livermore road hike is easy making some gradual ascent in shaded forest bliss. The temperature was still cool so we kept our pace high on this section. Finally getting to the trail, we followed a forested path for a short distance before started to ascend the slide slab and rock drainage up North Tripyramid. This slide is well known, and I was excited to tackle it as scrambles are up my alley. It didn't take long to catch up to another group of 4 climbing the slide on this sunny day. We passed them at the crux of the route, on a section that required some foot jamming and looking around for hand holds. It was apparent that Deb and I were more comfortable with these rock moves than the party we passed. Instead of rushing them, we overtook them - something I was happy about as I didn't want loose rock pummelling down towards me on this slide if they were above us. I wasn't wearing a helmet or any other rock gear so we were happy to be higher up. The slide is a mix of slab and at the upper section very loose rock including the ball bearing scree that can cause you to slip quite easily. We took our time and paid attention to our foot placements. The vistas of the ski hill and Osceolas were outstanding on this day and we soaked them up anytime we could. I realized I had forgot my phone in the car so we only had one camera to capture our hike memories.

At the top of the slide, the trail exits on the left into the forest again where in a matter of a minutes you hit the summit proper - a rocky outcropping. We drank some water here (drinking on the slide was almost impossible) and met up with a female hiker who had come up from another trail and wanted to hike down to the slide to see the view. There are no real views or lookouts off the actual summit. We took off on the ridge trail towards Middle Tripyramid and descended a few hundred feet before climbing back up. Just before the Middle Summit, we met up with a local male hiker who was on his way down. On the summit proper, we spoke to a hiker from Boston who also called us crazy for ascending the slide! 

We took a quick summit shot and headed over to South Tripyramid. Here we sat down on the summit to have lunch and to send a Garmin inReach message to my husband to coordinate a pick up time after forgetting my phone in the car. Sidebar: I got a U.S. cell phone plan and love it! Not too far of the South Tripyramind summit a rocky slide with lots of loose rock descends steeply for 1000ft. We intently paid attention to every footstep. Today I was using my husband's hiking poles which I needed for balance and jumping down off big rocks. On the slide, we got hammered by UV rays from the sun. Finally at the bottom, we entered the shaded forest and marched out the lovely dirt ramp all the way back to the Livermore Road. As we walked out, we were passed by several mountain biking parties. Deb and I were chatting and not paying attention to our footing on this easy terrain where she tripped and fell forward scraped a few body parts but wasn't injured seriously. We met up with Glenn who walked in to meet us. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this hike - the slides were so much fun! I wouldn't want to to it on a icy day but today (Friday July 19th, 2024) was perfect!

Hike Stats:
Distance: 17.75km
Elevation: 930m
Time: 6hrs, 13mins
NE115er list: Peak #93 and #94

Deb, Glenn and I drove down to the White Mountains on Wednesday July 17th for a quick 2 day trip before returning to Canada on the 20th. Unfortunately Glenn had a foot injury destined for surgery and was not able to hike so instead he brought his fly fishing rod to fish the mountain rivers instead. After a chilly but peaceful night camping along the Mad River in at the State Campground in Waterville, we drove the hour or so around to the Ferncroft trailhead to begin our hike.

Our route today was to ascend the Blueberry Ledges trail and then continue up over Whiteface Mountain via the Rollin's trail and then tee up with the Dicey Mills trail to ascend and descend Passaconway. This would create a loop to bring us back to the car. The parking lot at Ferncroft is a bit unusual in that you walk back out on the road out of the parking lot to access the trailhead. We found the Blueberry Ledges trail and quickly followed a nice gradual forest path. Not far in you meet a slab section of trail and ascend on rock. Luckily after the rain the night before the rock was dry! The cut-off trail meets the Blueberry Ledge trail in the slab section. At this point I could see why the trail got it's Blueberry name. Almost the entire length of the trail was bordered with blueberry bushes which were not quite ripe at this point in  July unfortunately. After the slab section, the next chunk of trail was a steep ascent on rock stairs. Here we could already feel the July hot air and sweat began to pour out of us. We took a few breaks to catch our breath and before we knew it we hit the ledges. The ledges were a series of short cliff scrambles followed by a fantastic lookout. I enjoyed this section of trail as it required full attention. Some of the rock had become slippery due to wear and grip was somewhat sketchy. We didn't waste any time with some of these moves. We had a sunny dry day to tackle the ledges and glad we picked that route up. The lookouts were fabulous! I used my Peak Finder App to identify a mountain I didn't know in the distance: Mount Chocura! One of the big lookouts had  a bunch of trail signs and I thought for sure it was the summit but it is not. You need to continue on the ridge to a treed summit with a cairn.  A huge let down after the beautiful vistas we saw on top of the ledges.

Continuing on the Rollins trail we met two ladies who were hiking up to Whiteface and had lots of questions about the ledges. They were avoiding the ledges on purpose and thought we were crazy for ascending that way. Once we explained our rock climbing background, they understood why. The Rollins trail required some foot placement focus, but we enjoyed being up high in the breeze and shade. A few big steps up and down required the use of poles and I found out my new Black Diamond Carbon Cork Poles needed to be tightened with an Allen key I didn't have to prevent it from collapsing. Almost over to the Dicey Mills trail, we hadn't seen any other hikers in over an hour. We heard a stick snap in the distance so I assumed it was people ahead. Then it sounded like people doing trail work - the noise sounded destructive. As the noise got louder, I could identify it as a stump being ripped apart which could only mean one thing: a bear! Only 20m away, a black bear was intensely ripping apart a stump to feast on insects. The bear was so distracted it didn't hear us or smell us despite being upwind. We pulled out our cameras but couldn't get a good shot. It ended up taking off after it caught our scent so we made noise and blew whistles to shoo it off. How exciting!

Soon after the Rollin's trail intersects with the Dicey Mills trail where we had to take two left turns to stay on it and head up to the summit of Passaconway. We enjoyed the switchbacks on this trail as it was an easy ascent until the last couple hundred feet of steep rocky trail. We got to a lookout but continued past it to hit the summit proper. I find it weird in the White Mountains that most of the mountain summits don't have a sign or marker. Lots of times you have to guess! We took our obligatory summit photo and then descend down the beautiful dirt ramp that is the Dicey Mills trail. It was a great descent expecially for one of my heels that had an old blister that had been irritated on this hike. Before we knew it we were back at the trailhead where Glenn had drove in to pick us up. Another great day in the mountains!

Hike Stats:
Distance: 18.72km
Elevation Gain: 4039ft
Time: 7hrs, 16 minutes
​NE115er list: Peaks #91 and #92 for me!

Hunter and Slide in a day!

After a 7 hour drive down to the Catskills from home, Deb and I arrived at the Devil's Tombstone State Campground and set up camp for the night. Typical of July, we found ourselves in hot humid weather conditions both during the day as well as at night. The nighttime temperatures barely felt any cooler than the daytime temps, and I tossed and turned all night kicking off my sleeping bag and willing any kind of breeze to blow over me.

Needless to say we were up early around 5:30AM on July 8th, 2024 and after a quick breakfast hopped in the car to drive over to the Slide Mountain trailhead. The drive was made even more interesting as a wheel bearing in my front right wheel had started to buzz on the way down the day before. The hilly and twisty mountain roads made the drive even more daring not knowing if the wheel was going to fall off at any moment. With no garages on the way over, we arrived at the trailhead and started off at 7:55AM. The first 15 minutes of walking on this trail ascends uphill eventually leading to a junction you need to turn right onto a flatter and wider footpath​. Continuing on this flatter terrain, you reach a second junction where you need to turn left. The trail marker colour changes from yellow to red here and you begin to ascend again towards the summit. Nearing the summit, the trail flattens out to a beautiful gravel path and the sense of being close to the summit increases. The smell of Balsam Firs and and small views through the trees gives you the feeling that you have almost climbed the 1700+ feet to the summit. Passing by another junction, you soon come across a beautiful lookout as seen above in the photo. Another minute down the trail you come to a concrete block amongst some trees which is the true summit. After some photo ops, we re-traced our steps down to the parking lot in less than 3 hours. We both thoroughly enjoyed this trail and were happy to have completed it before the heat of the day. Peak #1 complete for the day.  Continue below for Hunter Mountain. 

Distance: 8.63km
Time: 2 hours 49 mins
Ascent: 525m or 1722ft
Temp: 23C plus humidity
Peak count: #89 of the NE 115 list

After a drive back to Hunter, NY, we stopped a garage to get my wheel bearing checked. Yes, it was making noise, but didn't seem to be dangerous to drive...yet. We still had a 7 hour drive to get home! Being re-assured there was no risk of the wheel falling off in the immediate future, we drove the two minutes from the village to the Becker-Hollow trailhead for Hunter. Now after noon, the temperature had risen to high heat and humidity levels. The Becker-Hollow trail is the shortest way up to the summit, but is also steep gaining 2000 feet in 2 miles. The start of the trail is rather flat with all sorts of stone ruins of old foundations or other relics. it wasn't too far down the trail that it starts to ascend. At first the ascent is manageable and gradual, and then becomes steeper and with looser rock. We stopped to take 3 short breaks on the way up to lower our heart rates and drink some water. Sweat was rolling off our chins and I could see sweat rivers flowing down my legs. It was definitely gross hot. About 0.3 miles before the summit there was a junction that we chose to hike the direct route to the summit. Arriving at the top, we took a summit photo that I now see how soaked in sweat my t-shirt was! We then went over to check out an uninspiring tree covered lookout. We walked on a flat path over to the fire tower and met up with another couple who were also about to walk up the tower. We dropped our packs on the picnic tables adjacent the ranger cabin and welcomed the breeze as we walked up the stairs to the top of the tower. We couldn't access the actual top of the tower as it was locked, but we could get up high enough to enjoy the view. We enjoyed the much welcomed breeze and drank in the view of the Catskills. Being the first time in the Catskills, it is a beautiful area with great hiking. We descended down the same blue marked trail we had come up and upon return. We found 2 low flowing streams that crossed the trail nearing the end with just enough depth to scoop some water from to wash our faces and wet the hair on our heads. We finished the day soaked in sweat and stream water but satisfied with our two peak day.

Distance: 8.33km
Time: 3 hours, 23minutes
Ascent: 684m or 2244ft
Temp: 32C plus humidity

*This brings my total up to 90 of the NE115 list! We did get home with the wheel bearing buzzing!